Deal or Basis for DCs? Advice Needed.

[Anonymous]

It is ridiculous 11:28 but with Basis tracking not only for middle school math but for English (not clear for which grades yet) and 8th grade science, Latin and Deal, and maybe even Stuart Hobson and Hardy, will come under pressure to follow suit within 2 or 3 years. Watch for it. Competition, the American way

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, since BASIS hasn't been open long enough to have administered their famous comps, we have no idea if they *should* have kids "doing" Algebra II or Pre-Calc in 8th grade.

Mostly, the BASIS PR machine needs to slow itself down until it can prove it's a good school. Right now, it can't.

Nonsense. The eight kids in Algebra II this year (ranging from 6th to 8th grade) are all doing well. Most, if not all, will pass the comp.

Stop right there. TMI. The only people who would, or should, know this much detail on the 8 kids are teachers or staff. It is unprofessional and inappropriate to post this type of comment with easily identifiable information. If PP I'd a parent, then this is speculation. And also irresponsible.

Find another way to boost.

I'm a parent, not the teacher. The Algebra II teacher stated clearly at the start of the year that he reserves the right to send kids who are not doing well back to Algebra I. No kids were sent back to Algebra I after the first grading period. Also, DC reports on how other kids are doing. Finally, I'm pretty sure that off of the Algebra II kids in DC's class (half the class) made the "90%" club and the Honor Roll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, since BASIS hasn't been open long enough to have administered their famous comps, we have no idea if they *should* have kids "doing" Algebra II or Pre-Calc in 8th grade.

Mostly, the BASIS PR machine needs to slow itself down until it can prove it's a good school. Right now, it can't.

Nonsense. The eight kids in Algebra II this year (ranging from 6th to 8th grade) are all doing well. Most, if not all, will pass the comp.

Stop right there. TMI. The only people who would, or should, know this much detail on the 8 kids are teachers or staff. It is unprofessional and inappropriate to post this type of comment with easily identifiable information. If PP I'd a parent, then this is speculation. And also irresponsible.

Find another way to boost.

I'm a parent, not the teacher. The Algebra II teacher stated clearly at the start of the year that he reserves the right to send kids who are not doing well back to Algebra I. No kids were sent back to Algebra I after the first grading period. Also, DC reports on how other kids are doing. Finally, I'm pretty sure that off of the Algebra II kids in DC's class (half the class) made the "90%" club and the Honor Roll.

Meant "all of".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is ridiculous 11:28 but with Basis tracking not only for middle school math but for English (not clear for which grades yet) and 8th grade science, Latin and Deal, and maybe even Stuart Hobson and Hardy, will come under pressure to follow suit within 2 or 3 years. Watch for it. Competition, the American way

Deal parent who has enjoyed reading through this thought-provoking thread. I know fellow parents who would LOVE more tracking, in English in particular, but we tend to keep quiet on the subject. Speaking out invites the stress associated with making oneself unpopular with school stakeholders with somewhat different values and incentives than one's own, often those with less academic children. If Deal does start to track outside math to keep up with Basis, it will be too late for us. Deal has been "just OK" from the first day. If we'd known what was in store for us this year, we might have moved to Rockville last year, but then hindsight is 20-20.

I,too, hope that "political" threads related to advaned learners start springing up here, a la on the MD boards. DC parents of advanced learners only settle for less than the burbs offer for lack of organization and momentum. The critical mass of DC parents who want and deserve more challenge is already there and the politicians need the wake-up call, guys and gals.

[Anonymous]

Correct me if I'm wrong (the most unnecessary string of letters I have ever typed on DCUM), but isn't tracking considered sort of passe in academic circles?

I'm not taking a stand, I'm asking a question.

I thought now we're all supposed to have diverse schools and classrooms, and we don't label anyone TAG anymore. We just wait until MS & HS and then let them take advanced classes. (At least we can still do that, right? And not have the teacher instructing both Calculus and Pre-Algebra in the same room in the name of "differentiated instruction"?)

My point being, if that is correct (which I'm not saying that it is - I'm just asking) it seems that there are two hurdles to clear. The Ed Policy types will be all about the anti-labeling and anti-tracking as it is out-of-fashion in academic circles. That's in addition to the local political fall-out, which we are all already familiar with.

Or am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

You are right. But education policy swings on a pendulum that is often tied to politics, not solid research. Seems really smart education officials could come up with a way to flexibly group students in a way that avoids the truly bad side effects of hard core tracking. I see this with the fights over reading instruction that focuses on phonics versus whole language. The pendulum has been to both extremes and has currently settled somewhere in the middle. I imagine the same could happen with so-called tracking if politicians get out of the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought now we're all supposed to have diverse schools and classrooms, and we don't label anyone TAG anymore. We just wait until MS & HS and then let them take advanced classes. (At least we can still do that, right? And not have the teacher instructing both Calculus and Pre-Algebra in the same room in the name of "differentiated instruction"?)

My point being, if that is correct (which I'm not saying that it is - I'm just asking) it seems that there are two hurdles to clear. The Ed Policy types will be all about the anti-labeling and anti-tracking as it is out-of-fashion in academic circles. That's in addition to the local political fall-out, which we are all already familiar with.

Or am I wrong?

But there are basically no advanced classes at Deal (or Hardy, or Stuart Hobson) outside 7th and 8th grade math. There are in most MoCo and Fairfax middle schools, including self-contained test-in magnet programs (e.g. Takoma Park MD math/science and Eastern MS in Sliver Spring humanitie, each taking around 16% of applicants county-wide). Basis is hiring a remedial English teacher, which they don't do in Arizona, because they've found that too many kids lack grade-level reading and writing skills to handle their curiculum.

Anti-labeling and anti-tracking may be out of fashion but more challenge for middle-class kids is about to become all the rage in DC as more parents come into elementary schools EotP and want to stay in the public system. Call challenge what you like, the chorus clamoring for it isn't going anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Basis is hiring a remedial English teacher, which they don't do in Arizona, because they've found that too many kids lack grade-level reading and writing skills to handle their curiculum.

BASIS 5th grade parent here -- I'm on the Yahoo Listserv, and I know a bunch of BASIS families and we obviously talk about the school and share stories of our experiences. That being said, I haven't heard that a new remedial English teacher is coming on. I feel a bit out of touch, I guess. How do you know that this new person is starting? What grades are they teaching? What's the long term plan for the kids needing remedial English?

[Anonymous]

BASIS 5th grade parent here -- I'm on the Yahoo Listserv, and I know a bunch of BASIS families and we obviously talk about the school and share stories of our experiences. That being said, I haven't heard that a new remedial English teacher is coming on. I feel a bit out of touch, I guess. How do you know that this new person is starting? What grades are they teaching? What's the long term plan for the kids needing remedial English.

An English teacher mentioned that the remedial person will probably focus on 7th & 8th grade instruction, done via separate classes, starting in early 2013. It doesn"t sound like there IS a long term plan, or a policy on tracking outside math and 8th grade+ science. I wish something had been put in writing to parents about English tracking. Maybe the head is trying to steer clear of more controvery for now. Wonder how it will net out if the entire second English track is AA, like Yu Ying's (highly likely). If Basis could just start earlier in the elementary grades, or go with selective admissions, the MS wouldn't be having these problems.

[Anonymous]

^ YY's second track is for Chinese, isn't it, not English, but we take your point. Brent parent interested in BASIS here. Our school has essentially been tracking for math and English in the upper grades (kids taught the same subject in separate classrooms by different teachers during the same scheduling block). If younger Brent kids move onto public middle schools where they are thrown into English classes with kids who struggle, you can bet that a new generation of parents is going to fight back, being it at Basis, Stuart Hobson, Deal or new schools that pop up (e.g. DCI at Walter Reed).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ YY's second track is for Chinese, isn't it, not English, but we take your point. Brent parent interested in BASIS here. Our school has essentially been tracking for math and English in the upper grades (kids taught the same subject in separate classrooms by different teachers during the same scheduling block). If younger Brent kids move onto public middle schools where they are thrown into English classes with kids who struggle, you can bet that a new generation of parents is going to fight back, being it at Basis, Stuart Hobson, Deal or new schools that pop up (e.g. DCI at Walter Reed).

The main track is dual-immersion - 50/50 English/Chinese. The alternate track (the one that was not envisioned in the charter, but invented to accommodate low-performing students in the leading edge class) is essentially all English with some Chinese instruction. That's not a bad thing really. You can survive and thrive in America without mastering Mandarin; the same cannot be said for English literacy.

[Anonymous]

Whatever the case, it's worth considering that with diverse DC elementary schools like YY and Brent already tracking in higher grades (via differentiation in separate classrooms), middle schools catering to middle-class families, like Deal and Basis, will surely come under steadily increasing pressure to follow suit beyond math. The DCI thread that's been going for nearly a year includes posts on the subject. I draw a parallel to the implementation of Curriculum 2.0 controversy in MoCo where kids who have already been accelerated in ES generally no longer are, leading to a political backlash this election cycle, with parents of advanced learners organizing to back candidates who favor more support for gifted kids. Easy to imagine a similar grassroots campaign on the part of District middle school parents.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one here who doesn't quite understand how the 'two-room tracking' construct at Brent is supposed to influence how things are done at (currently non-tracking) Deal?

@ 17:48 -- Brent kids don't go to Deal, for starters, and even if a few somehow manage to squeak in OOB, those 6 or 8 parents aren't going to successfully agitate to achieve a new paradigm where hundreds of (mainly) Ward 3 parents could not.

Also, it's kind of amusing to think that the growing body of EoP middle class parents agitating for tracking is going to somehow succeed where generations of upper middle class parents did not succeed at Deal. But, I will keep an open mind.

[Anonymous]

"Also, it's kind of amusing to think that the growing body of EoP middle class parents agitating for tracking is going to somehow succeed where generations of upper middle class parents did not succeed at Deal. "

I don't think you can underestimate silliness of a self-important body of parents residing on Capitol Hill.

After all, these are the same people that were going to create "Jefferson Academy" making it a viable alternative for upper middle class Capitol Hill families.

I say this as a parent who would love to have a test in program for middle school in DC.