BASIS board meeting minutes: I Street elementary Location meets obstacles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

No, because Walls is open about being a selective school and BASIS loves to claim that it isn't selective. And because Walls doesn't make people repeat grades.

Uh, they only let in kids with an A average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

No, because Walls is open about being a selective school and BASIS loves to claim that it isn't selective. And because Walls doesn't make people repeat grades.

Uh, they only let in kids with an A average.

Right. Which they are open and honest about. Unlike BASIS which pats itself on the back for being "pure lottery" and then has various ways of running off the low performers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

You’re not understanding what they’re doing. They’re literally preventing anyone who cannot score a 3 on an AP test to advance to 12th grade. US News looks at the number of seniors who have taken and passed (with a 3) an AP test. There is no way for a kid to make it to 12th at BASIS if they haven’t done that.

Other schools have to keep the kids who are not academically inclined enough to get a 3 on an AP test.

I’m a happy basis parent who understands the problems of the school. Please get it right, there aren’t 9th graders who can’t get a 3 on an AP. Most basis eighth graders have at least one. By twelfth they are done.

??

Preventing the kids you won’t even try to educate from reaching 9th grade is an extremely reliable way of preventing them from reaching 12th grade, especially if you don’t admit after 5th grade.

So you are a believer that every school should be able to teach every student perfectly? DC is probably the wrong place for you as that isn’t how it is set up. You need a large suburban system. Have you considered Fairfax or Montgomery County? It might give you more of what you are looking for, as you need large numbers to make that work.

NP and a BASIS parent. I don't think every school should be able to teach every student perfectly. But I do think that BASIS's "college readiness" score is total hogwash, given that they weed out the kids who would drag that number down. And I think their high rank in US News is not reflective of the quality of teaching at BASIS, which I have found to be spotty, at best.

You don’t understand college readiness or USN&WR rankings. Maybe sit this one out.

And feel free to transfer to a different school.

Pretty sure it's YOU who doesn't understand what US News college readiness rankings are measuring. Other PP's have tried to explain it to you multiple times in this thread. Maybe scroll up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

Walls allows students to advance if they score below a 3 on those APs. BASIS doesn't, guaranteeing their 100% CRI score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

No, because Walls is open about being a selective school and BASIS loves to claim that it isn't selective. And because Walls doesn't make people repeat grades.

Uh, they only let in kids with an A average.

That is definitely gaming the sytem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This[b] is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

Yes, that is basically their argument. These people spend an inordinate amount of time whining about access to BASIS's education on behalf of some underserved straw man. They don't actually care about the underserved who have access to a school like BASIS and thrive. This is DC in 2023. The important thing is performance art.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

No, because Walls is open about being a selective school and BASIS loves to claim that it isn't selective. And because Walls doesn't make people repeat grades.

Uh, they only let in kids with an A average.

Right. Which they are open and honest about. Unlike BASIS which pats itself on the back for being "pure lottery" and then has various ways of running off the low performers.

Basis is neither patting themselves on back nor hiding anything. Basis, as a charter school, is not able to do it any other way. They make it very clear what the model is. If you choose to send your child there despite knowing it is a bad fit, the issue is parenting not disclosure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This[b] is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

Yes, that is basically their argument. These people spend an inordinate amount of time whining about access to BASIS's education on behalf of some underserved straw man. They don't actually care about the underserved who have access to a school like BASIS and thrive. This is DC in 2023. The important thing is performance art.

See: Latin thread on how it is not diverse enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This[b] is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

Yes, that is basically their argument. These people spend an inordinate amount of time whining about access to BASIS's education on behalf of some underserved straw man. They don't actually care about the underserved who have access to a school like BASIS and thrive. This is DC in 2023. The important thing is performance art.

Tough talk for a school with an at-risk percentage of not even 8%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

No, because Walls is open about being a selective school and BASIS loves to claim that it isn't selective. And because Walls doesn't make people repeat grades.

Uh, they only let in kids with an A average.

Right. Which they are open and honest about. Unlike BASIS which pats itself on the back for being "pure lottery" and then has various ways of running off the low performers.

Basis is neither patting themselves on back nor hiding anything. Basis, as a charter school, is not able to do it any other way. They make it very clear what the model is. If you choose to send your child there despite knowing it is a bad fit, the issue is parenting not disclosure.

They chose the yardstick specifically because it's the USNWR yardstick not because they think it's independently valuable. Of course that amounts to gaming the system...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

No, because Walls is open about being a selective school and BASIS loves to claim that it isn't selective. And because Walls doesn't make people repeat grades.

Uh, they only let in kids with an A average.

Right. Which they are open and honest about. Unlike BASIS which pats itself on the back for being "pure lottery" and then has various ways of running off the low performers.

Basis is neither patting themselves on back nor hiding anything. Basis, as a charter school, is not able to do it any other way. They make it very clear what the model is. If you choose to send your child there despite knowing it is a bad fit, the issue is parenting not disclosure.

They chose the yardstick specifically because it's the USNWR yardstick not because they think it's independently valuable. Of course that amounts to gaming the system...

They chose the whole model for that purpose. Who cares? Is it a good fit for your kid or not? If no, just go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

No, because Walls is open about being a selective school and BASIS loves to claim that it isn't selective. And because Walls doesn't make people repeat grades.

Uh, they only let in kids with an A average.

Right. Which they are open and honest about. Unlike BASIS which pats itself on the back for being "pure lottery" and then has various ways of running off the low performers.

Basis is neither patting themselves on back nor hiding anything. Basis, as a charter school, is not able to do it any other way. They make it very clear what the model is. If you choose to send your child there despite knowing it is a bad fit, the issue is parenting not disclosure.

They chose the yardstick specifically because it's the USNWR yardstick not because they think it's independently valuable. Of course that amounts to gaming the system...

Basis parent here, and I agree with you for the USNWR stuff. Passing an AP exam is not even slightly a high bar, but Basis is undoubtedly requiring it to game their USNWR rankings.

That doesn't mean it isn't a good school, and it also doesn't mean that it's specifically "running off the low performers." Basis provides a lot of support in the forms of student hours, tutoring, test corrections, and the like to help struggling kids pass their classes. Any reasonably average kid who is a motivated, hard worker should be able to handle Basis and even pass that one required AP test. The biggest difference between Basis and most other schools is that kids are held accountable at Basis. If you don't do the homework, you get a zero. If you turn it in late, you lose points. If you're struggling in a class, you are expected to attend student hours and learn the material. If you don't use classtime and study hall time constructively, you're going to end up overwhelmed with homework. If you only learn the material to a B level, they're not going to give you an inflated A.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This[b] is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

Yes, that is basically their argument. These people spend an inordinate amount of time whining about access to BASIS's education on behalf of some underserved straw man. They don't actually care about the underserved who have access to a school like BASIS and thrive. This is DC in 2023. The important thing is performance art.

See: Latin thread on how it is not diverse enough.

Oh, I am enjoying the hell out of that one too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This[b] is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

Yes, that is basically their argument. These people spend an inordinate amount of time whining about access to BASIS's education on behalf of some underserved straw man. They don't actually care about the underserved who have access to a school like BASIS and thrive. This is DC in 2023. The important thing is performance art.

Tough talk for a school with an at-risk percentage of not even 8%.

You don't seem to understand what is happening here. See, we're MAKING FUN OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU. How are you not getting that? You are a performance artist more concerned with protecting the poor kids who aren't good fits for BASIS than the the kids who get a far better education there than they would at their IB school. But you don't care really care about 8% or the kids who are stuck in failing schools. You just want to burnish your Woke scores and show how enlightened you are.

tl;dr And?...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You call it “gaming the system” but making sure a student gets a 3 on one AP exam by senior year should be the minimum goal of all schools. This is not a high bar. It’s sad that most schools don’t make “college readiness” more of a priority.

+1. Basis is ”gaming the system” by having high standards? That is a stupid argument.

DCPS doesn’t even require one AP class to graduate. You can take an auto mechanics class instead. No wonder most DCPS schools fail at preparing kids for college.

+2. While DCPS doesn’t require an AP class, Walls effectively requires 2 AP classes (Basis requires 6 AP classes). I guess that Walls is “gaming the system” too.

No, because Walls is open about being a selective school and BASIS loves to claim that it isn't selective. And because Walls doesn't make people repeat grades.

Uh, they only let in kids with an A average.

Right. Which they are open and honest about. Unlike BASIS which pats itself on the back for being "pure lottery" and then has various ways of running off the low performers.

Basis is neither patting themselves on back nor hiding anything. Basis, as a charter school, is not able to do it any other way. They make it very clear what the model is. If you choose to send your child there despite knowing it is a bad fit, the issue is parenting not disclosure.

They chose the yardstick specifically because it's the USNWR yardstick not because they think it's independently valuable. Of course that amounts to gaming the system...

Basis parent here, and I agree with you for the USNWR stuff. Passing an AP exam is not even slightly a high bar, but Basis is undoubtedly requiring it to game their USNWR rankings.

That doesn't mean it isn't a good school, and it also doesn't mean that it's specifically "running off the low performers." Basis provides a lot of support in the forms of student hours, tutoring, test corrections, and the like to help struggling kids pass their classes. Any reasonably average kid who is a motivated, hard worker should be able to handle Basis and even pass that one required AP test. The biggest difference between Basis and most other schools is that kids are held accountable at Basis. If you don't do the homework, you get a zero. If you turn it in late, you lose points. If you're struggling in a class, you are expected to attend student hours and learn the material. If you don't use classtime and study hall time constructively, you're going to end up overwhelmed with homework. If you only learn the material to a B level, they're not going to give you an inflated A.

I agree with everything you say. Nonetheless, if USNWR changed their yardstick, I can virtually guarantee you that BASIS would too. It doesn’t mean BASIS isn’t a good school — indeed, I hope my kids get in — but it doesn’t mean the rankings should be taken with a grain of salt.