How was the meeting with the admin meeting last week at BASIS?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, fortunately most of us parents aren't that unhinged... 2 or 3 nutty parents out of 400+ school families I figure is pretty typical, statistically speaking....

[Anonymous]

I particularly appreciate the extra level of crazy added by the forum host having all anonymous posts... so as I read the thread I literally have no idea who is talking...

FWIW I follow this forum because I used to teach at BASIS (not DC) and I find parent discussions about the school very interesting.

Bottom line for me is that I cannot support BASIS (the charter schools - the new independent school can do what they want I suppose if enough people will pay for the privilege) because they aggressively recruit numbers due to financial necessity and tout it as a school where anyone can succeed but it absolutely and unavoidably is an inappropriate and damaging environment for upwards of 50% of the students there. BASIS is suited for a very rare subset of the student population (motivated, high IQ, good at math, memorization, standardized tests, etc.) with motivated engaged parents to play a supporting role. But providing for these top tier students (who would do well anywhere) in my mind can never justify a system that is guaranteed to cause real and potentially serious and lasting psychological harm to many of the kids who leave each year and many who stay but struggle and suffer.

[Anonymous]

PP here - I also wanted to add that I think even the top tier students would benefit from a more creative curriculum. APs are OK and have a role in prepping for college and provide nice objective benchmarking but BASIS goes way overboard in high school in terms of its AP focus... It becomes a veritable AP test-taking factory at great cost I think to other important educational possibilities for high school students.

[Anonymous]

Ok Basis parents,
BLAST AWAY
HAVE AT ME AND MY KID

I do not believe that a single person who has responded to any part of this thread that has to do with what happened last week in 8La.......... has a child in 8La, or knows a parent who has a child in 8La well enough to get an honest answer about whether or not this is a big deal......... for them, for their child, and now, unfortunately, for the school....

Sorry, but I DO know parents of kids in 8La who DISAGREE with you and your perspectives and your version of things. You are not the All Knowing Lady Oz.

That is absolutely wonderful news! What I have been asking all along is how many worried kids and worried parents should it take for the HOS to deign us with their presence and reassure the kids their grades will not be affected, and then reassure the parents of the same.

PS. Did you SEE the email to us? If baited sufficiently, I will post it. But since you are so out of the loop you probably have NO idea how damaging it would be. So I will make a decision tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I particularly appreciate the extra level of crazy added by the forum host having all anonymous posts... so as I read the thread I literally have no idea who is talking...

FWIW I follow this forum because I used to teach at BASIS (not DC) and I find parent discussions about the school very interesting.

Bottom line for me is that I cannot support BASIS (the charter schools - the new independent school can do what they want I suppose if enough people will pay for the privilege) because they aggressively recruit numbers due to financial necessity and tout it as a school where anyone can succeed but it absolutely and unavoidably is an inappropriate and damaging environment for upwards of 50% of the students there. BASIS is suited for a very rare subset of the student population (motivated, high IQ, good at math, memorization, standardized tests, etc.) with motivated engaged parents to play a supporting role. But providing for these top tier students (who would do well anywhere) in my mind can never justify a system that is guaranteed to cause real and potentially serious and lasting psychological harm to many of the kids who leave each year and many who stay but struggle and suffer.

Thank you for your honest and informed opinion. Whenever there is a BASIS thread, feel free to make your voice be heard because the kids who have been here the longest have only been here three years, with three HOS. many inexperienced teachers who should have been and were fired - but only after our kids lost the entire year, when the writing was on the wall within the first month. Can you explain that?

And could you explain why it would be unreasonable to advocate that parents delay writing checks to the ATF until we have more confidence in Mr. Louis?

What was your experience with the ATF distributions - were they fair, and did teachers talk, because we as donors have no control and no clue about how the money has been, was, or will be allocated.

That in part was my whole point - that students who have made it to 8th, and are facing what Olga Block called "the year of decision," should not have to add a crazy Dean who appears to at least THINK he has the power to threaten ALL their grades because of the misbehavior of one child into the equation of "should I stay or should I go", where the theft in question has now been explained by other veteran teachers in this area to be predictable if not inevitable.... She should not have used candy........

sorry to the parent who thought it was criminal, showed callous disregard for........ who or what was that again?

It was friggin candy, and as the other teachers noted, the fact that it was candy was a rookie mistake.

The Chemistry teacher has expressed through her words and actions and attempts to undo the damage that the Dean has done, that she is also incredibly sorry she called in the Dean in the first place.

But we need the Dean to say, in front of the kids and in the presence of the HOS, I'm sorry, I made a threat I could never follow through on, and............... I will never do it again.

Don't think any additional explanations from him will help much, but that is just me.................

[Anonymous]

ha ha don't get me started about the ATF (aka parents paying teachers so BASIS can free up working capital to expand the bureaucracy or open new campuses). At least when I was there we had a fixed contract at the beginning of the year. The ATF was not a bonus and if you look at the thin information about it they never claim it is a bonus. I presume it was just used to pay the contractual salary (which did have lots of bonuses built in for things like attendance, student performance on APs, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, I am not a teacher at Basis but I do teach middle school science and I am cracking up at this thread. This teacher made such a rookie mistake-- I learned long ago that if you are going to use food in a lab, you better make sure it's uncooked beans or something similar, because if you use candy it's not coming back. LOL. Once one of my colleagues had raw potato slices in salt water to show hyper-, hypo-, and isotonic solutions, and a kid actually ate a raw potato slice! Kids that age are nuts, man. (Excuse the pun.) I'm not saying it's okay, and obviously if a kid stole something he or she should be disciplined, but I can believe a kid taking some candy has blown up into some kind of federal case. Goodness.

Me too! I once used flour for an experiment and had a few kids licking the bowl! Rookie mistake indeed! At least if you're using candy expect some pilfering and have an extra bag or two. Moms, in your world it might be akin to being invited to get into a hammock on a lovely beach shaded with Palm trees and with some guy in a loincloth bringing you a piña colada in a coconut shell and a people magazine. Who could resist that?!! Of course we'd all just fall asleep immediately...

[Anonymous]

I heard that at BASIS they shove little old ladies into traffic, spit on babies and set kittens on fire! Worst school EVER!

</sarcasm> Again, so much of what keeps getting posted here just keeps coming across as incredibly narrowly focused, shrill, and overcritical, and really doesn't provide full perspective, or pros and cons from a big picture standpoint. It's nothing that any outsider could ever use for making a sound and reasoned decision whether to send their kid there or not since it's lacking balance. And it also doesn't particularly help current families or staff, since most I know have been turned away by the tone of it and just tune the listserv and discussions like these out and ignore them. While some of the posters may be trying to be earnest, helpful and productive, they need to realize that pushing this hard ends up being counterproductive.

So how about some balance?

Hey, just like EVERY OTHER school in DC, not everyone is going to agree with how they do things, and it's not going to be a perfect fit for every child.

So it begs the question that I'd put out to all the apparent detractors and bashers, if you seemingly hate it so much, but are still there, then why? Obviously part of you must still think the pros outweigh the cons if you haven't left. How about laying those out? And if you aren't a current BASIS family or otherwise involved, then why are you so fixated on it, to the point of joining in on the bashing and detracting? Likewise, obviously there's some degree of fascination there, some pros or other considerations that haven't been expressed?

Also, do we all view it the same?

Is it all just memorization and standardized testing? I'd disagree, from our experience. Does it make kids work really hard and expect a lot of them? Yes, I'd definitely agree there. Could a kid burn out? Maybe. Are there still some rough edges and kinks to work out? Sure - but remember, they only have two years under their belt and are just a tiny way into their third. No fun or creativity? There's no less creative stuff than what I had in school as a kid, DC's done a lot of really great writing so far, along with some really interesting Art projects and fun extracurriculars.

So, it all has to be taken in perspective, and in comparison to the alternatives.

Again, while yes, there is obviously a small but very vocal handful of people who are bashing it, consider that it does draw and retain a lot of families, that while we have dozens and dozens of charters and public schools to pick from, BASIS has become the second largest charter middle school in DC, and that there are hundreds of kids and families there who are not joining in this online fray because they are happy with the school and are fine with how it is, and are confident that the rough spots will be worked out, and who signed up for this, eyes wide open - and who would be far more upset if the school were to be watered down, or to have diminished expectations, whether academic or behavior, or in any other way changed to be just like any other school in DC.

[Anonymous]

For the folks worried about the Dean, obviously none of you went to parochial schools, where even big strapping 17 year old tough guys would quiver, tremble and fall into line at the mere mention of the words "MOTHER SUPERIOR".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard that at BASIS they shove little old ladies into traffic, spit on babies and set kittens on fire! Worst school EVER!

</sarcasm> Again, so much of what keeps getting posted here just keeps coming across as incredibly narrowly focused, shrill, and overcritical, and really doesn't provide full perspective, or pros and cons from a big picture standpoint. It's nothing that any outsider could ever use for making a sound and reasoned decision whether to send their kid there or not since it's lacking balance. And it also doesn't particularly help current families or staff, since most I know have been turned away by the tone of it and just tune the listserv and discussions like these out and ignore them. While some of the posters may be trying to be earnest, helpful and productive, they need to realize that pushing this hard ends up being counterproductive.

So how about some balance?

Hey, just like EVERY OTHER school in DC, not everyone is going to agree with how they do things, and it's not going to be a perfect fit for every child.

So it begs the question that I'd put out to all the apparent detractors and bashers, if you seemingly hate it so much, but are still there, then why? Obviously part of you must still think the pros outweigh the cons if you haven't left. How about laying those out? And if you aren't a current BASIS family or otherwise involved, then why are you so fixated on it, to the point of joining in on the bashing and detracting? Likewise, obviously there's some degree of fascination there, some pros or other considerations that haven't been expressed?

Also, do we all view it the same?

Is it all just memorization and standardized testing? I'd disagree, from our experience. Does it make kids work really hard and expect a lot of them? Yes, I'd definitely agree there. Could a kid burn out? Maybe. Are there still some rough edges and kinks to work out? Sure - but remember, they only have two years under their belt and are just a tiny way into their third. No fun or creativity? There's no less creative stuff than what I had in school as a kid, DC's done a lot of really great writing so far, along with some really interesting Art projects and fun extracurriculars.

So, it all has to be taken in perspective, and in comparison to the alternatives.

Again, while yes, there is obviously a small but very vocal handful of people who are bashing it, consider that it does draw and retain a lot of families, that while we have dozens and dozens of charters and public schools to pick from, BASIS has become the second largest charter middle school in DC, and that there are hundreds of kids and families there who are not joining in this online fray because they are happy with the school and are fine with how it is, and are confident that the rough spots will be worked out, and who signed up for this, eyes wide open - and who would be far more upset if the school were to be watered down, or to have diminished expectations, whether academic or behavior, or in any other way changed to be just like any other school in DC.

The general point you seem to be making is don't criticize BASIS in a way that you find unhelpful. That doesn't seem reasonable to expect on a discussion forum about charter schools. Unhappy parents want to vent. And don't forget of course the yang in BASIS boosters. If you are really happy about your school, why hang out of internet fora defending it?

As a teacher the fact of the matter is that I saw many many students leave (almost 15% of one 9th grade class) but for each student that leaves many more struggle on for whatever reason. Leaving a school is a difficult choice for many parents and kids, there are limited options, there are many pros about BASIS, tough to leave friends, etc. Some parents even forced their kids to remain. It happens. In short, I personally was very distressed as an educator and human being seeing the damage inflicted on more than a few students by the BASIS program. No hyperbole, not even pointing fingers since the faculty and admin at my school by and large were excellent. Just the simple fact that a sizable number of kids are not able to thrive, and in fact barely could survive the BASIS curriculum. That is what I saw. That is why I left.

So as an educator with first hand knowledge I feel that it is my duty to chime in against the PR BASIS puts out (the solution for what ails American public education, #1 ranked, etc). To me what makes BASIS a good school is that it has a reputation for excellence and for that reason attracts excellent teachers and highly motivated and above-average students. But BASIS admin thinks it is excellent because of its "world-renown" program that it devised from on high. They take away initiative and discretion from teachers (and make sure we know that we a replaceable) and adopt a take it or leave it mentality with parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, I am not a teacher at Basis but I do teach middle school science and I am cracking up at this thread. This teacher made such a rookie mistake-- I learned long ago that if you are going to use food in a lab, you better make sure it's uncooked beans or something similar, because if you use candy it's not coming back. LOL. Once one of my colleagues had raw potato slices in salt water to show hyper-, hypo-, and isotonic solutions, and a kid actually ate a raw potato slice! Kids that age are nuts, man. (Excuse the pun.) I'm not saying it's okay, and obviously if a kid stole something he or she should be disciplined, but I can believe a kid taking some candy has blown up into some kind of federal case. Goodness.

Yes and no.

I can TOTALLY agree with you where it comes to Elementary School, 5th graders, et cetera. Yeah, kids are nuts, they don't know better, they make lots of mistakes, they don't listen, and you should EXPECT it. Yeah, I can TOTALLY see handing out candy for a class experiment saying "This candy is for an experiment, and before you even touch it, we're going to count/measure..." but before you've barely even uttered two syllables, little Johnny Turbogullet has already in nanoseconds gorfed his down in one swell foop without even chewing and has shot his hand up, saying, "Umm, Ms. Crabapple, I already accidentally ate mine..." And yeah, that's cute/funny/and totally to be expected.

But this is different. That's not what happened here. These are teenagers, 8th graders, who at that age should be well into knowing better. It's a kid who stealthily and deliberately took something that they knew wasn't theirs. It's a kid who selfishly decided, "rather than the class sharing in a tasty treat, screw them all, I'm taking it all for myself," it's a kid who basically said "F-U classmates, F-U teacher, F-U class experiment." It's behavior that I would never tolerate from my own kid at that age, and I am not at all alone in that regard. If, by the time kids have gotten to be teenagers, are still engaging in that kind of selfish behavior, and at that point still don't have any regard or respect for others or the property of others, then the grownups have failed them and have likely set them up for a ton of future failure, and that's serious and sad business.

[Anonymous]

PP continued.... In other words, I think to the extent BASIS is a good school it is so despite many aspects of the curriculum, admin control and institutional design, not because of it. And, ultimately, I cannot rate BASIS highly and am compelled to speak out against it because of the damage I saw it inflict on a not insubstantial percentage of its student body. I get very angry when I hear BASIS defenders say, "well BASIS is not for everyone." I think it is OK to have niche public schools - one size does not fit all - but don't market BASIS as a school for all when it so clearly is not. When they say attrition is built into the program to me that means harm is built into the program (both for those that leave and those that struggle unhealthily but remain). That is completely unacceptable for a school no matter how strong other aspects of the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard that at BASIS they shove little old ladies into traffic, spit on babies and set kittens on fire! Worst school EVER!

</sarcasm> Again, so much of what keeps getting posted here just keeps coming across as incredibly narrowly focused, shrill, and overcritical, and really doesn't provide full perspective, or pros and cons from a big picture standpoint. It's nothing that any outsider could ever use for making a sound and reasoned decision whether to send their kid there or not since it's lacking balance. And it also doesn't particularly help current families or staff, since most I know have been turned away by the tone of it and just tune the listserv and discussions like these out and ignore them. While some of the posters may be trying to be earnest, helpful and productive, they need to realize that pushing this hard ends up being counterproductive.

So how about some balance?

Hey, just like EVERY OTHER school in DC, not everyone is going to agree with how they do things, and it's not going to be a perfect fit for every child.

So it begs the question that I'd put out to all the apparent detractors and bashers, if you seemingly hate it so much, but are still there, then why? Obviously part of you must still think the pros outweigh the cons if you haven't left. How about laying those out? And if you aren't a current BASIS family or otherwise involved, then why are you so fixated on it, to the point of joining in on the bashing and detracting? Likewise, obviously there's some degree of fascination there, some pros or other considerations that haven't been expressed?

Also, do we all view it the same?

Is it all just memorization and standardized testing? I'd disagree, from our experience. Does it make kids work really hard and expect a lot of them? Yes, I'd definitely agree there. Could a kid burn out? Maybe. Are there still some rough edges and kinks to work out? Sure - but remember, they only have two years under their belt and are just a tiny way into their third. No fun or creativity? There's no less creative stuff than what I had in school as a kid, DC's done a lot of really great writing so far, along with some really interesting Art projects and fun extracurriculars.

So, it all has to be taken in perspective, and in comparison to the alternatives.

Again, while yes, there is obviously a small but very vocal handful of people who are bashing it, consider that it does draw and retain a lot of families, that while we have dozens and dozens of charters and public schools to pick from, BASIS has become the second largest charter middle school in DC, and that there are hundreds of kids and families there who are not joining in this online fray because they are happy with the school and are fine with how it is, and are confident that the rough spots will be worked out, and who signed up for this, eyes wide open - and who would be far more upset if the school were to be watered down, or to have diminished expectations, whether academic or behavior, or in any other way changed to be just like any other school in DC.

The general point you seem to be making is don't criticize BASIS in a way that you find unhelpful. That doesn't seem reasonable to expect on a discussion forum about charter schools. Unhappy parents want to vent. And don't forget of course the yang in BASIS boosters. If you are really happy about your school, why hang out of internet fora defending it?

As a teacher the fact of the matter is that I saw many many students leave (almost 15% of one 9th grade class) but for each student that leaves many more struggle on for whatever reason. Leaving a school is a difficult choice for many parents and kids, there are limited options, there are many pros about BASIS, tough to leave friends, etc. Some parents even forced their kids to remain. It happens. In short, I personally was very distressed as an educator and human being seeing the damage inflicted on more than a few students by the BASIS program. No hyperbole, not even pointing fingers since the faculty and admin at my school by and large were excellent. Just the simple fact that a sizable number of kids are not able to thrive, and in fact barely could survive the BASIS curriculum. That is what I saw. That is why I left.

So as an educator with first hand knowledge I feel that it is my duty to chime in against the PR BASIS puts out (the solution for what ails American public education, #1 ranked, etc). To me what makes BASIS a good school is that it has a reputation for excellence and for that reason attracts excellent teachers and highly motivated and above-average students. But BASIS admin thinks it is excellent because of its "world-renown" program that it devised from on high. They take away initiative and discretion from teachers (and make sure we know that we a replaceable) and adopt a take it or leave it mentality with parents.

I don't put too much faith into BASIS being touted as the cure-all for American education, and I don't think most other people do - and it would certainly be misguided for parents to think BASIS has the equivalent of a shimmering sparkly wand that can magically fix all kids - it doesn't.

But again, consider context - You brought up 15% leaving the schools - unlike monolithic school districts where there's little or no choice, when given a choice like charters, it's VERY common for kids to switch schools at high school, regardless of it being BASIS or any other school system. The beauty of DC is that we now have dozens upon dozens of choices. Also, consider that 40% also currently leave DCPS high schools to drop out altogether, which certainly is quite damaging in terms of life prospects.

As for your previous comment about the "rare" student populace, consider this: unlike some of the other BASIS locations, DC also has a very unusually skewed populace at both ends - while we have 40%, predominantly low SES who drop out, at the other end, given Washington DC's unique position and role where it comes to national and international policy, it's filled with think tanks, research organizations, et cetera and has a disproportionately high number of A-type, and PhD type families (one of the highest concentrations of PhDs in the nation) who've come to DC from all over the nation, and all over the world - that are highly motivated and driven and who are perfectly fine with the acceleration, expectations and workload that BASIS puts on kids - it's not such a "rare" thing here, and certainly a very different demographic, culture and mindset from the southwest, where I also lived for a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard that at BASIS they shove little old ladies into traffic, spit on babies and set kittens on fire! Worst school EVER!

</sarcasm> Again, so much of what keeps getting posted here just keeps coming across as incredibly narrowly focused, shrill, and overcritical, and really doesn't provide full perspective, or pros and cons from a big picture standpoint. It's nothing that any outsider could ever use for making a sound and reasoned decision whether to send their kid there or not since it's lacking balance. And it also doesn't particularly help current families or staff, since most I know have been turned away by the tone of it and just tune the listserv and discussions like these out and ignore them. While some of the posters may be trying to be earnest, helpful and productive, they need to realize that pushing this hard ends up being counterproductive.

So how about some balance?

Hey, just like EVERY OTHER school in DC, not everyone is going to agree with how they do things, and it's not going to be a perfect fit for every child.

So it begs the question that I'd put out to all the apparent detractors and bashers, if you seemingly hate it so much, but are still there, then why? Obviously part of you must still think the pros outweigh the cons if you haven't left. How about laying those out? And if you aren't a current BASIS family or otherwise involved, then why are you so fixated on it, to the point of joining in on the bashing and detracting? Likewise, obviously there's some degree of fascination there, some pros or other considerations that haven't been expressed?

Also, do we all view it the same?

Is it all just memorization and standardized testing? I'd disagree, from our experience. Does it make kids work really hard and expect a lot of them? Yes, I'd definitely agree there. Could a kid burn out? Maybe. Are there still some rough edges and kinks to work out? Sure - but remember, they only have two years under their belt and are just a tiny way into their third. No fun or creativity? There's no less creative stuff than what I had in school as a kid, DC's done a lot of really great writing so far, along with some really interesting Art projects and fun extracurriculars.

So, it all has to be taken in perspective, and in comparison to the alternatives.

Again, while yes, there is obviously a small but very vocal handful of people who are bashing it, consider that it does draw and retain a lot of families, that while we have dozens and dozens of charters and public schools to pick from, BASIS has become the second largest charter middle school in DC, and that there are hundreds of kids and families there who are not joining in this online fray because they are happy with the school and are fine with how it is, and are confident that the rough spots will be worked out, and who signed up for this, eyes wide open - and who would be far more upset if the school were to be watered down, or to have diminished expectations, whether academic or behavior, or in any other way changed to be just like any other school in DC.

The general point you seem to be making is don't criticize BASIS in a way that you find unhelpful. That doesn't seem reasonable to expect on a discussion forum about charter schools. Unhappy parents want to vent. And don't forget of course the yang in BASIS boosters. If you are really happy about your school, why hang out of internet fora defending it?

As a teacher the fact of the matter is that I saw many many students leave (almost 15% of one 9th grade class) but for each student that leaves many more struggle on for whatever reason. Leaving a school is a difficult choice for many parents and kids, there are limited options, there are many pros about BASIS, tough to leave friends, etc. Some parents even forced their kids to remain. It happens. In short, I personally was very distressed as an educator and human being seeing the damage inflicted on more than a few students by the BASIS program. No hyperbole, not even pointing fingers since the faculty and admin at my school by and large were excellent. Just the simple fact that a sizable number of kids are not able to thrive, and in fact barely could survive the BASIS curriculum. That is what I saw. That is why I left.

So as an educator with first hand knowledge I feel that it is my duty to chime in against the PR BASIS puts out (the solution for what ails American public education, #1 ranked, etc). To me what makes BASIS a good school is that it has a reputation for excellence and for that reason attracts excellent teachers and highly motivated and above-average students. But BASIS admin thinks it is excellent because of its "world-renown" program that it devised from on high. They take away initiative and discretion from teachers (and make sure we know that we a replaceable) and adopt a take it or leave it mentality with parents.

I don't put too much faith into BASIS being touted as the cure-all for American education, and I don't think most other people do - and it would certainly be misguided for parents to think BASIS has the equivalent of a shimmering sparkly wand that can magically fix all kids - it doesn't.

But again, consider context - You brought up 15% leaving the schools - unlike monolithic school districts where there's little or no choice, when given a choice like charters, it's VERY common for kids to switch schools at high school, regardless of it being BASIS or any other school system. The beauty of DC is that we now have dozens upon dozens of choices. Also, consider that 40% also currently leave DCPS high schools to drop out altogether, which certainly is quite damaging in terms of life prospects.

As for your previous comment about the "rare" student populace, consider this: unlike some of the other BASIS locations, DC also has a very unusually skewed populace at both ends - while we have 40%, predominantly low SES who drop out, at the other end, given Washington DC's unique position and role where it comes to national and international policy, it's filled with think tanks, research organizations, et cetera and has a disproportionately high number of A-type, and PhD type families (one of the highest concentrations of PhDs in the nation) who've come to DC from all over the nation, and all over the world - that are highly motivated and driven and who are perfectly fine with the acceleration, expectations and workload that BASIS puts on kids - it's not such a "rare" thing here, and certainly a very different demographic, culture and mindset from the southwest, where I also lived for a while.

OK glad you don't fall for the marketing, but do you agree that BASIS markets itself as a school for all who are willing to work hard? You are right it is a niche school but the charter model needs bodies in the seats for funding.

I also support charter choice and oppose monolithic unified districts - one size does not fit all.

And I am sure there are many stellar students in DC from across the socio-economic spectrum who will end up at BASIS and excel academically. I still think for them that BASIS's standardized test-centric approach will short change them but whatever, they will do fine. But these sorts of kids will only be some percentage of the student body at BASIS DC or any other campus, and I would expect well less than 50%. For their parents, if that is what they want then that is fine. But I am concerned about out those that leave and those that struggle but remain. Freedom of choice does not alleviate my concern for those that get pushed out for no other reason than "they couldn't hack it". Nor of course does it address the problem of those who remain but are totally overwhelmed. I see this not as a student issue but as a real and systemic problem in BASIS model but they don't see it that way and, because it is a model imposed from the top down and they have their #1 ranking, they are not inclined to change. So I don't teach there any more and I speak out against them from time to time. Truth to power, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP continued.... In other words, I think to the extent BASIS is a good school it is so despite many aspects of the curriculum, admin control and institutional design, not because of it. And, ultimately, I cannot rate BASIS highly and am compelled to speak out against it because of the damage I saw it inflict on a not insubstantial percentage of its student body. I get very angry when I hear BASIS defenders say, "well BASIS is not for everyone." I think it is OK to have niche public schools - one size does not fit all - but don't market BASIS as a school for all when it so clearly is not. When they say attrition is built into the program to me that means harm is built into the program (both for those that leave and those that struggle unhealthily but remain). That is completely unacceptable for a school no matter how strong other aspects of the program.

I really have to disagree with you on your suggestion that BASIS is being marketed as a "school for all." When we checked into the school, we read up on it and went to their open house, virtually everything we saw and heard, and since then have experienced as a family for the last 3 years has consistently presented BASIS as a school pushing intensive college prep and AP coursework with a heavy STEM focus. Most definitely NOT a school being touted as a "school for everyone". If college is not your plan, then why go to a school that expects students to do AP coursework? If math and science aren't your kid's bag, then why send him to a STEM focused school?

What it's not? It's not a big sports school with a football stadium and cheerleaders. It's not a language immersion school. It's not a school of the Arts. It's not a vo-tech. It's not a general education school. It's not a liberal arts college prep where kids walk around wearing identical neckties and sweatervests emblazoned with Hufflepuff and Gryffindor crests. There's lots of things that it isn't, and that's fine too. But again, BASIS doesn't offer, market itself as, represent itself as, or even remotely pretend to be any of those things to anyone. And as for it not being "for everyone" - that's fine too - the DC charter school system is chock full of niche and specialized offerings like language immersion, Montessori, IB, ELL, and so too is the DCPS public school system, with its many specialized schools, like SWW, Ellington School for the Arts, Banneker, et cetera, we have a diverse population with many diverse needs and interests, and frankly I can not ever see a "one size fits all" approach that would uniformly, consistently and completely satisfy all of those.