Basis Charter School - Experience and Insight Requested

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. It’s a myth that most of the families who leave BASIS do it because the kids can’t handle the academics. Many leave for better schools overall, particularly Walls. We burned out on surprisingly uneven teaching and rowdy classrooms.

Basis has rowdy classrooms?

In the middle school, absolutely. BASIS hires too many teachers right out of grad school with little in the way of classroom management skills. These teachers often use BASIS as training to well-paid suburban jobs.

Too many of the kids aren't right for the curriculum and the cramped building--there's no outdoor space or gym--makes some of the younger kids stir crazy, particularly boys.

This sounds bad... I knew there was extremely high turnover, but didn't realize there was a lot of behavior issues.

My 5th grader has never mentioned any behavior problems.

The behavior issues and inability for teachers to discipline at all are the reason my kid left. I escalated to "leadership" and they were useless. And no she didn't "wash out" she had straight A's, distinguished honor roll and is killing it in HS now.

A few years ago, theft was pretty common.

A friend's daughter had her airtagged bookbag (and laptop) stolen. Went home with her classmate to PG county. Of course the police refused to follow the airtag, but the school also refused to take action.

Well let’s just say that there has been a precipitous drop in a certain population over the last few years, perhaps by design but probably also to a salutary impact in terms of behavior challenges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. It’s a myth that most of the families who leave BASIS do it because the kids can’t handle the academics. Many leave for better schools overall, particularly Walls. We burned out on surprisingly uneven teaching and rowdy classrooms.

Basis has rowdy classrooms?

In the middle school, absolutely. BASIS hires too many teachers right out of grad school with little in the way of classroom management skills. These teachers often use BASIS as training to well-paid suburban jobs.

Too many of the kids aren't right for the curriculum and the cramped building--there's no outdoor space or gym--makes some of the younger kids stir crazy, particularly boys.

This sounds bad... I knew there was extremely high turnover, but didn't realize there was a lot of behavior issues.

My 5th grader has never mentioned any behavior problems.

The behavior issues and inability for teachers to discipline at all are the reason my kid left. I escalated to "leadership" and they were useless. And no she didn't "wash out" she had straight A's, distinguished honor roll and is killing it in HS now.

A few years ago, theft was pretty common.

A friend's daughter had her airtagged bookbag (and laptop) stolen. Went home with her classmate to PG county. Of course the police refused to follow the airtag, but the school also refused to take action.

Well let’s just say that there has been a precipitous drop in a certain population over the last few years, perhaps by design but probably also to a salutary impact in terms of behavior challenges.

Yep….


Here are the numbers:

School Year Total Enrollment Black Students % Black
2012–2013 443 244 55%
2017–2018 602 223 37%
2018–2019 637 215 33.7%
2019–2020 640 174 27.2%
2020–2021 663 170 25.6%
2021–2022 650 132 20.3%
2022–2023 663 126 19.0%
2023–2024 690 131 19.0%

That’s a decline from 55% to 19% over a little more than a decade—more than a 65% drop in the Black share of the student body.

This isn’t about assigning blame, but I do think it raises real questions about accessibility, perception, and support structures. BASIS offers a strong, academically focused model—but it’s also fair to ask whether that model is working for a broad and diverse cross-section of DC families. If it isn’t, what’s driving that?

Would love to hear others’ thoughts or experiences—especially from Black families who’ve stayed, left, or chosen not to apply.

[Anonymous]

04:13—

Would you be willing to run Walls or J-R as a control group? Basis isn’t the only school in DC that has become less Black over the past decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. It’s a myth that most of the families who leave BASIS do it because the kids can’t handle the academics. Many leave for better schools overall, particularly Walls. We burned out on surprisingly uneven teaching and rowdy classrooms.

Basis has rowdy classrooms?

In the middle school, absolutely. BASIS hires too many teachers right out of grad school with little in the way of classroom management skills. These teachers often use BASIS as training to well-paid suburban jobs.

Too many of the kids aren't right for the curriculum and the cramped building--there's no outdoor space or gym--makes some of the younger kids stir crazy, particularly boys.

This sounds bad... I knew there was extremely high turnover, but didn't realize there was a lot of behavior issues.

My 5th grader has never mentioned any behavior problems.

The behavior issues and inability for teachers to discipline at all are the reason my kid left. I escalated to "leadership" and they were useless. And no she didn't "wash out" she had straight A's, distinguished honor roll and is killing it in HS now.

A few years ago, theft was pretty common.

A friend's daughter had her airtagged bookbag (and laptop) stolen. Went home with her classmate to PG county. Of course the police refused to follow the airtag, but the school also refused to take action.

Well let’s just say that there has been a precipitous drop in a certain population over the last few years, perhaps by design but probably also to a salutary impact in terms of behavior challenges.

Yep….


Here are the numbers:

School Year Total Enrollment Black Students % Black
2012–2013 443 244 55%
2017–2018 602 223 37%
2018–2019 637 215 33.7%
2019–2020 640 174 27.2%
2020–2021 663 170 25.6%
2021–2022 650 132 20.3%
2022–2023 663 126 19.0%
2023–2024 690 131 19.0%

That’s a decline from 55% to 19% over a little more than a decade—more than a 65% drop in the Black share of the student body.

This isn’t about assigning blame, but I do think it raises real questions about accessibility, perception, and support structures. BASIS offers a strong, academically focused model—but it’s also fair to ask whether that model is working for a broad and diverse cross-section of DC families. If it isn’t, what’s driving that?

Would love to hear others’ thoughts or experiences—especially from Black families who’ve stayed, left, or chosen not to apply.

Your data doesn't men what you think it means. Couple of reasons. First, 12-13 was the first year of schools' operation so it was an unknown quantity. Lots of families signed up for BASIS without knowing anything about it. Comparing that to enrollment once known quantity is apples to basketballs. Second, school opened with only lower grades. School is certainly less black in higher grades (which is fair for discussion) but, again, as raw data showing YoY of black total enrollment it isn't meaningful. You'd have to look at grade by grade to see if less black. Third, all schools are seeing declines as more students identify as multiracial. This is a trend across demographic data. Finally, if you actually look at your data set you'll see it is flat or virtually flat for years where all 8 grades were offered.

So other than the fact that you misinterpreted the data and it says the opposite of what you think it says, you NAILED IT!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. It’s a myth that most of the families who leave BASIS do it because the kids can’t handle the academics. Many leave for better schools overall, particularly Walls. We burned out on surprisingly uneven teaching and rowdy classrooms.

Basis has rowdy classrooms?

In the middle school, absolutely. BASIS hires too many teachers right out of grad school with little in the way of classroom management skills. These teachers often use BASIS as training to well-paid suburban jobs.

Too many of the kids aren't right for the curriculum and the cramped building--there's no outdoor space or gym--makes some of the younger kids stir crazy, particularly boys.

This sounds bad... I knew there was extremely high turnover, but didn't realize there was a lot of behavior issues.

My 5th grader has never mentioned any behavior problems.

The behavior issues and inability for teachers to discipline at all are the reason my kid left. I escalated to "leadership" and they were useless. And no she didn't "wash out" she had straight A's, distinguished honor roll and is killing it in HS now.

A few years ago, theft was pretty common.

A friend's daughter had her airtagged bookbag (and laptop) stolen. Went home with her classmate to PG county. Of course the police refused to follow the airtag, but the school also refused to take action.

Well let’s just say that there has been a precipitous drop in a certain population over the last few years, perhaps by design but probably also to a salutary impact in terms of behavior challenges.

Yep….


Here are the numbers:

School Year Total Enrollment Black Students % Black
2012–2013 443 244 55%
2017–2018 602 223 37%
2018–2019 637 215 33.7%
2019–2020 640 174 27.2%
2020–2021 663 170 25.6%
2021–2022 650 132 20.3%
2022–2023 663 126 19.0%
2023–2024 690 131 19.0%

That’s a decline from 55% to 19% over a little more than a decade—more than a 65% drop in the Black share of the student body.

This isn’t about assigning blame, but I do think it raises real questions about accessibility, perception, and support structures. BASIS offers a strong, academically focused model—but it’s also fair to ask whether that model is working for a broad and diverse cross-section of DC families. If it isn’t, what’s driving that?

Would love to hear others’ thoughts or experiences—especially from Black families who’ve stayed, left, or chosen not to apply.

You aren't asking about a cross section. You are suggesting that if BASIS doesn't work for all (or most) black families then maybe there's a problem. I don't get that line of thinking. Why should a black kid who excels in that environment have to answer for other black kids who aren't equipped or aren't good fits? You are defining blackness as somehow less capable of academic rigor. You are suggesting that blackness in academic settings is defined by Dunbar or Eastern with 0% on grade level. People like you (and I actually believe you are black) do more harm than good, notwithstanding your likely good intent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:04:13—

Would you be willing to run Walls or J-R as a control group? Basis isn’t the only school in DC that has become less Black over the past decade.

I don't have the specific JR data, but the black percentage at JR fell primarily because of a huge increase of in-bound kids deciding to attend (which took away OOB slots). It started in earnest when Michelle Rhee took over as superintendent in 2009.

Here is a quote from a Beacon article in February:

Teachers who have worked at Jackson-Reed for a long time have noted the demographic shift even over the past decade. Health teacher Rebecca Bradshaw-Smith pointed out that there was “a huge shift between 65 or 70% African-American in 2010, when [she] got here,” to now. Currently Jackson-Reed is one of DC’s most diverse schools, with our student body being 28% Black, 26% Hispanic, 36% white, 5% Asian, and 5% mixed race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. It’s a myth that most of the families who leave BASIS do it because the kids can’t handle the academics. Many leave for better schools overall, particularly Walls. We burned out on surprisingly uneven teaching and rowdy classrooms.

Basis has rowdy classrooms?

In the middle school, absolutely. BASIS hires too many teachers right out of grad school with little in the way of classroom management skills. These teachers often use BASIS as training to well-paid suburban jobs.

Too many of the kids aren't right for the curriculum and the cramped building--there's no outdoor space or gym--makes some of the younger kids stir crazy, particularly boys.

This sounds bad... I knew there was extremely high turnover, but didn't realize there was a lot of behavior issues.

My 5th grader has never mentioned any behavior problems.

The behavior issues and inability for teachers to discipline at all are the reason my kid left. I escalated to "leadership" and they were useless. And no she didn't "wash out" she had straight A's, distinguished honor roll and is killing it in HS now.

A few years ago, theft was pretty common.

A friend's daughter had her airtagged bookbag (and laptop) stolen. Went home with her classmate to PG county. Of course the police refused to follow the airtag, but the school also refused to take action.

Well let’s just say that there has been a precipitous drop in a certain population over the last few years, perhaps by design but probably also to a salutary impact in terms of behavior challenges.

Yep….


Here are the numbers:

School Year Total Enrollment Black Students % Black
2012–2013 443 244 55%
2017–2018 602 223 37%
2018–2019 637 215 33.7%
2019–2020 640 174 27.2%
2020–2021 663 170 25.6%
2021–2022 650 132 20.3%
2022–2023 663 126 19.0%
2023–2024 690 131 19.0%

That’s a decline from 55% to 19% over a little more than a decade—more than a 65% drop in the Black share of the student body.

This isn’t about assigning blame, but I do think it raises real questions about accessibility, perception, and support structures. BASIS offers a strong, academically focused model—but it’s also fair to ask whether that model is working for a broad and diverse cross-section of DC families. If it isn’t, what’s driving that?

Would love to hear others’ thoughts or experiences—especially from Black families who’ve stayed, left, or chosen not to apply.

This is classic misinformation, ignoring socioeconomic trends and much else.

1) Just compare School Without Walls:

-In SY12-13, Walls was 44.7% black.
-Black enrollment at Walls has gone down every single year since then.
-In SY23-24, Walls was 25.2% black.

Unlike BASIS DC--which is 100% lottery and open to every single student in DC for admission to 5th grade---Walls selects its freshman class each year.

Do you think that the Walls model is working for black families? Why is Walls picking fewer black students every year?

2) Take a look at other DCPS schools.

For example, Janney is only 5% black.

Do you think black students should be bused to Janney to increase racial diversity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:04:13—

Would you be willing to run Walls or J-R as a control group? Basis isn’t the only school in DC that has become less Black over the past decade.

White pop in 1990/2000/2010/2022 (% of total population): 166,865 (27.6%) / 160,987 (28.1%) / 211,985 (35%) / 252,150 (37.5%)
Black pop in 1990/2000/2010/2022 (% of total population): 393,414 (65%) / 342,238 (60%) / 302,621 (50%) / 291,274 (43.4%)

Schools don't exist in a vacuum. Less or more black or white people isn't inherently good or bad. Not to let actual data get in the way of the desired narrative or anything...

[Anonymous]

Basis had destroyed lives and no one cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basis had destroyed lives and no one cares.

I do.

What’s even worse is that some investors in Arizona got rich off of it.

It’s bad enough when public education fails a kid, but it’s pretty infuriating when it happens because an investor in Arizona hoodwinked some local families into trusting them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis had destroyed lives and no one cares.

I do.

What’s even worse is that some investors in Arizona got rich off of it.

It’s bad enough when public education fails a kid, but it’s pretty infuriating when it happens because an investor in Arizona hoodwinked some local families into trusting them.

Urban public schools have destroyed way more lives for way more money. See Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis had destroyed lives and no one cares.

I do.

What’s even worse is that some investors in Arizona got rich off of it.

It’s bad enough when public education fails a kid, but it’s pretty infuriating when it happens because an investor in Arizona hoodwinked some local families into trusting them.

Urban public schools have destroyed way more lives for way more money. See Baltimore.

Well, if I ever live in Baltimore I’ll keep that in mind.

Anyway…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis had destroyed lives and no one cares.

I do.

What’s even worse is that some investors in Arizona got rich off of it.

It’s bad enough when public education fails a kid, but it’s pretty infuriating when it happens because an investor in Arizona hoodwinked some local families into trusting them.

Hard to know which is more ridiculous: How y'all act like being an "investor" is a terrible, evil thing or how y'all thing what rich people really want to invest their money in, of all the things in the world, is a school that teaches geometry to children, as if nothing could possibly be more lucrative.

[Anonymous]

Half the kids at the high school near me are standing outside smoking pot in the middle of the school day. But, sure, let's focus on how BASIS, with some of the highest test scores in the city, is the real problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis had destroyed lives and no one cares.

I do.

What’s even worse is that some investors in Arizona got rich off of it.

It’s bad enough when public education fails a kid, but it’s pretty infuriating when it happens because an investor in Arizona hoodwinked some local families into trusting them.

Hard to know which is more ridiculous: How y'all act like being an "investor" is a terrible, evil thing or how y'all thing what rich people really want to invest their money in, of all the things in the world, is a school that teaches geometry to children, as if nothing could possibly be more lucrative.

DP here: This statement is very surface level understanding of what was presented so far and is invalidating the issues that the posters have been highlighting. No one is complaining about geometry per se. Pls reread the thread with a critical eye to fully understand the depth of the issues.