If not Basis or Latin, where?
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Anonymous
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/290597.page 02/26/2013 05:10
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Anonymous
You keep confirming to us that you are full of baloney. Take this, for example: http://azsciencebowl.us/ - 2013 Department of Energy Science Bowl results for Arizona. BASIS schools swept the Arizona science bowl competitions at both high school and middle school levels, the finalists were BASIS Flagstaff, BASIS Tucson and BASIS Scottsdale, and Scottsdale was statewide winner. And guess what, in its first year out of the chute, BASIS DC swept the DC Science Bowl competition as well, meaning that in the National Science Bowl coming up shortly, BASIS schools will be representing Arizona and DC. Your claim that they don't participate in science competitions and that it's all just AP courses and that there are no extracurriculars or "more interesting STEM endeavors" simply does not hold water. |
Anonymous
Here is a start. don't just skim. Read carefully and absorb: LATIN Mission Statement and Philosophy Washington Latin Public Charter School provides a challenging, classical education that is accessible to students throughout the District of Columbia. A GUIDE TO WASHINGTON LATIN’S CLASSICAL EDUCATION FOR THE MODERN WORLD To All Who Seek to Learn and All Who Love to Teach Many schools are not sure what they stand for, hoping by their ambiguity to reach everyone. Such is not the case at Washington Latin Public Charter School. In joining the community of WLPCS, you have joined a school with a particular mission and culture. Some parts of this mission coincide with modern educational practice and theory; some set us radically apart. WHO ARE WE? Public and Accessible – As a public school, we have civic and moral obligations to use our public funds equitably and wisely, and to accept all students who come to us for an education. Our campus is accessible by public transportation, and we are the only charter school to run a bus; our curriculum is accessible for those who are willing to work with us. Charter – As a public charter school, we enjoy the freedom to design our own approach to the curriculum and to hire faculty as we see fit. We must live within the words, history, and spirit of our charter. While we have greater autonomy, we have greater accountability. Classical and Challenging – In calling ourselves a classical school, we are aligning ourselves with the established wisdom of the ancients, most particularly of the intellectual backdrop of the cultures of Greece and Rome. We believe that many of the tenets of ancient educational theory still pertain to the issues of the modern world. At the very least, our students study the language, literature, and history of the ancients. At the most, we believe, as did the ancients, that education is a training of character, and character is the intersection of intellectual development and moral integrity. Our program is not easy, and its difficulties take more than industry to surmount. We ask our students to read difficult works and to write extended essays, but the greatest challenge comes in our expectation that students will think before they act and do what is right rather than what is expedient. WHAT DO WE BELIEVE? The classical tradition in education, unlike its modern, more progressive counterpart, held that one needed an image of the ideal human in order to aim towards that ideal. The ideal for the ancients was a rational, articulate, civically committed statesman who could hold his own in the public examination of ideas. We have updated this vision for our time and culture. Thoughtful people who will contribute to the public good and continue a life-long quest towards a fuller humanity. Thoughtful – This word unites both the cognitive and the affective aspects of the human being, as does its synonym “considerate.” We aim to teach students how to be “full of thought” – to think through issues for themselves in their personal and professional lives, and to consider the implications of their thoughts for others. We believe that the thoughtful self requires training in both the intellectual and moral virtues. Public Good – In agreement with the ancients, we believe that public and private goods are distinct, and that modern culture continues to blur the distinction. We aim to develop students who will understand the difference between public and private goods, and who will be able to defend their private opinions in a public setting. We also hope that they will contribute to their respective communities. Humanity – Both the ancients and their ideological children, the Renaissance humanists, were unabashed in their belief that the goal of education is the fulfillment of one’s humanity. To be more fully human, one needed to know and come to love the eternal verities, the concepts of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. Their curriculum provided students with disquisitions on the nature of these ideas and examples of people who embodied them. The trajectory of the past century has tarnished these ideals with the reality of humanity’s potential for cruelty and ugliness. We believe, however, that young people still need to know and feel the glory of an ideal even while acknowledging the possible difficulties of the real. Our students also deserve to fall in love with beautiful and good truths, and so realize the fullness of their humanity. The curriculum should inform, provoke, and inspire students. Ultimately, we want them to know. So much of the talk of education now revolves around the notion of preparation. We are preparing students for standardized tests, for college, for citizenship, for success in their professional lives. While we acknowledge preparation as a worthy goal, we want our curriculum to do more than that. We also hope that our curriculum will inform, provoke, challenge, and inspire our students so that ultimately they have a deeper knowledge both of themselves and of the world they enter as adults. Inform The classical tradition made a distinction between information and knowledge. Having good information is the first step towards deep knowledge and in this modern Age of Information, it is very easy for students to get information. Our curriculum aims to give students the background they need in a range of subjects and to provide access to the cultural literacy that will enable them to think further and know more within the major academic disciplines. We aim to train students to sort through information and decide what is essential. Given the vast amount of information a curriculum could cover, we aim to choose only what is necessary to move students to deeper knowledge. Provoke The quintessential image of the classical tradition is that of Socrates wandering through the marketplace provoking people to challenge their own views and refine their definitions. His provocation of others ultimately cost him his life. Throughout our curriculum, we aim to provoke our students, literally “call them forth.” Real education cannot happen unless a student’s affective side is engaged and his/her self involved. We aim to provoke students by putting in front of them conflicting views on controversial subjects so that they can begin to see themselves as active participants in their own education. For the ancients and for us, education is a process of waking people up to their own possibilities. Inspire In his dialogue “The Symposium,” Plato describes the quest for knowledge as a journey of love. To see the truth is for Plato to fall in love with the beautiful; one’s eyes, when enlightened, are filled with the light of beauty. So too, we aim to remember that education should be a beauty-filled experience. We aim to inspire our students, or literally “breathe” life and beauty into them. Our curriculum focuses on ideas and works that will awe our students, whether these are pictures of the solar system, images of a cathedral, or gorgeous sentences. Our selection of literary and historical texts also aims to inspire our students and presupposes a commitment to a classical canon of literature that has passed the test of time. This canon includes works from diverse civilizations, but also acknowledges that some literary works are more worthy of study than others. Know Knowledge for the ancients was the highest level of commitment to an idea that a student could demonstrate. There was nothing superficial about knowledge. In asking our students to engage themselves in their own education and to make ideas theirs, we are asking them to commit to a deep knowledge. Only from such a deep knowledge can moral action emerge. We aim for a student to be so committed to some ideas that he or she will be willing to defend them in the face of critique and doubt. A trusting, gracious relation between teacher and student should be at the heart of every classroom. While we applaud the curricular decisions of our ancient models, we do not aim to replicate the dynamics of the ancient classroom. The relationship between teachers and students should be ones of mutual respect and trust. We aim for students to trust their teachers so that they will speak out in class, be willing to make a mistake, try out for a team, lead a group, or extend themselves in every way possible. We aim for teachers to trust their students so that they will allow students to lead classes, to speak out in disagreement, to challenge received ideas. We encourage graciousness and decency in all our dealings with one another. We also wholeheartedly believe in the potential of our students to take charge of their own education and to learn, over time, the liberating power of self-discipline. Learning should happen all the time and in every space. School is more than the time teachers and students spend together in the classroom. School also happens in the hallways, in the lunchroom, on field trips, on the soccer field, and at end-of-the-year ceremonies. We believe in using teachable moments to train our students’ moral sensibilities and model for them how adults make moral decisions. The students are watching the adults at all times, most intently when it is least expected. We admire the ancient model of a Socrates who walked in his bare feet around the marketplace, asking questions and leading young people to better lives. Assessment of how we are doing is crucial and should be multi-faceted. One of the better developments of modern educational theory has been the cry for more accountability in schools. Schools should be able to tell parents and the public how their students are doing. Unfortunately, the wish for accountability has become something of a mania and is currently strangling rather than helping many schools. At WLPCS, we want to know how our students are doing against barometers we ourselves define. We understand our obligation to prepare students for various standardized tests, but we do not want to reduce our curriculum to those alone. We are in the process of creating our own assessments of our unique approach to curriculum, including several performance assessments and tests of cultural literacy. WHAT DO WE DO? We know our students. The only way to bring students along on their own path of education is to know them. We insist on small class sizes and an active advisory program to allow teachers to know their students as adolescents and as learners. We ensure that each student has at least one adult whom he/she can trust. We aim to engage the families of our students with constant feedback about how their children are doing. Our lofty curricular goals require educational intimacy; we cannot afford to allow our students to be anonymous. We use Socratic seminars We aim for Socratic teaching to be at the heart of what we do in the classroom. Dialogue is our preferred pedagogy as it asks students to “involve” themselves in an idea and in a community of shared talk. While teachers may be the initial catalysts for a discussion, we aim for students to take up the challenge of wrestling with ideas among themselves. We also recognize that students need to be trained in Socratic methods and to understand how to form an opinion. To that end, we work on the components of critical thought. We assign meaningful homework. Homework serves two functions: a chance to practice new concepts and the time to prepare for the next day’s lesson. Socratic teaching is not possible unless students come to the experience with some previous investment in the ideas. We try not to give tedious homework unless the tedium of repetition is a necessary component of constant practice. We use classical pedagogical methods of drill and memorization. While the Socratic method of inquiry provides a pedagogy for our moral discussions, we also are not reluctant to use the old-fashioned methods of drill and memorization. Students are asked to chant vocabulary words, multiplication tables, and other discrete pieces of information so as to internalize them. We also believe in asking students to memorize poetry and pieces of prose they find pleasing. What is learned by heart becomes part of one’s deepest self. We ask students to write. Writing, unlike speaking, is not a natural skill, and is therefore much more difficult to teach. But writing well is central to a life of thinking well, and we therefore take on the challenge of teaching our students to write well. Students write in a variety of genres and learn the process of brainstorming, drafting, and editing. We also use student writing as an integral source of getting feedback about students’ learning. BASIS BASIS DC seeks to educate American students at an internationally competitive level. With raised academic expectations, implemented through an accelerated curriculum that pushes students to reach their highest academic potential, BASIS prepares middle and high school students to compete with their peers in countries with highly performing educational systems, such as Finland, Canada, Japan, and Korea. The BASIS educational philosophy, which is quite straightforward, rests on three legs: A rigorous curriculum, student accountability, and knowledgeable and effective teachers. Rigorous Curriculum We implement an internationally benchmarked and challenging liberal arts curriculum. Student Accountability We teach students to take responsibility for their educational achievement. We hold students accountable for mastering grade level material through Comprehensive and Board Examinations. We teach students organizational and study skills in the early middle school grades. Knowledgeable and Effective Teachers BASIS recruits and hires knowledgeable and effective teachers who are capable of conveying difficult concepts and content to young students. BASIS rewards teachers for the learning gains made by their students through the Annual Teacher Fund, a private fundraising campaign that raises private dollars to provide top quality teachers with salary supplements and bonuses. BASIS gives its expert teachers a large degree of autonomy in curriculum design and pedagogy. |
Anonymous
| Interesting how neither mention the experience of the faculty. Kind of scary too. |
Anonymous
10:52 here. I was responding to a anti-BASIS post made this morning in which Latin parents are described as "grounded" and BASIS parents as seemingly "expecting the sun, moon, and stars." The clear implication of that post is that the realistic expectations of Latin parents are lower than the unrealistic expectations of BASIS parents. In my post, I simply agree with that poster and note that this is not necessarily a good thing. My assertion is not a "loaded assumption," but rather a conclusion based my experience as a parent at both schools. Out of gratitude for the many benefits my family derived from our time at Latin, I try not to mention Latin in my posts. However, it is hardly controversial to observe that the academic expectations at BASIS are higher than those at Latin. The academic expectations at BASIS are probably higher than those at any open enrollment public school in this county, and probably higher than those at many test-in and magnet schools. Have a look at the curriculum, PP: https://www.basisschools.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86&Itemid=97 I did not mentioned the Ivy league, nor I do not think that attending an Ivy league school is necessary for my children to be successful in life. For the six or seven years, my children will seven hours a day, fives days a week, and almost 40 weeks a year in class. I simply want them to acquire as much knowledge as possible during that time. Latin and BASIS are schools after all. |
Anonymous
| Latin is like a Catholic school without the specific religion. Which is kind of nice. . . |
Anonymous
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10:52 again. Sorry for the grammatical errors. Had a meeting and hit "submit" without proofreading.
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Anonymous
What's scary is things like the many "experienced" DCPS teachers who are so "experienced" that they are basically retired on the job, or the "experienced" teachers who even after 20 years of teaching the same material still can't or won't explain the concepts. "Experience" in and of itself is not the panacea, what's needed is teachers with traits like being knowledgeable, energetic, helpful and effective. But that said, actually it's also incorrect to say that "neither mentions the experience of the faculty" because if one visits their sites in depth, they both actually DO talk about the experience and qualifications of their faculty. |
Anonymous
No real ax to grind here but just a pet peeve about the BASIS promo materials I see (like the accolades for #1 ranking mechanically based on number of AP tests given per student). What the list of college acceptances for any given year shows is that at least 1 kid applied and got into a bunch of colleges. This really says nothing about the track record.. I do happen to know that all BASIS kids go to 4 year colleges, but the majority to state universities or 2nd/3rd tier out of state schools. Not that this is a bad thing, but let's evaluate a school based on meaningful data, not advertising material. |
Anonymous
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PP here - wow this site really could benefit with username system!
Just to clarify I teach at the BASIS high school campus in Tucson. I follow BASIS DC threads out of interest to see how this charter is faring as it expands at a rapid clip across the nation. Certainly it is a love it or hate it kind of school (at least among frequenters of charter school online chat forums!) Personally I preferred it when BASIS was a niche school for a few extremely gifted and/or hardworking kids, and the academic program was much less accelerated and AP-focused than it is now. The corporatization of BASIS and increase in size and academic acceleration has negatively impacted the culture and strength of the program here IMO, both for teachers and students. BASIS DC has the potential to be a unique organic learning community (like we were back in the day) if it is allowed to do its own thing. I worry that the corporate model will prevent this from happening. I like charter schools but I see no good coming from this "educational management corporation" model. Charter operators I think should be limited to one or two locations, all within one state. The BASIS owners I think have profit, not educational excellence, foremost in their minds as they engage in this expansion. Real educators know that a successful school community in comprised of a 1000 intangible elements, forged in a cultural crucible over many years. There is no magical "BASIS" recipe for educational success, though desperate parents might like to think otherwise. |
Anonymous
I agree with this characterization. Expectations are rising at Latin though. |
Anonymous
| I would hire someone who went through Latin and did well even if they did not get to a top-twenty college. |
Anonymous
Folks like you keep saying it's just APs, but that's a metric right there - BASIS AZ schools have a 100% college acceptance. A measure that most other schools around the area cannot meet in the first place. Let alone the number of acceptances to Ivies and top colleges and universities like MIT, Caltech, and Stanford. It always sounds like continually moving the goal posts further and further out into the unobtainable. Here, here's a free BMW. "Snif, yeah, but I wanted a Ferrari." Here's a free Ferrari. "Snif, yeah, but this one doesn't have a solid gold steering wheel." |
Anonymous
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Absolutely BASIS AZ schools have a 100% college acceptance rate, which is to be celebrated, but of course only for all students left in the program by senior year. Attrition is typically about 5-15% per grade per year. Attrition is another important statistic IMO not because it suggests BASIS is not right for every student - I support creating charter schools to serve different population segments - attrition these days in Tucson worries me because many students who leave (and many who stay despite serious misgivings and issues) are being negatively impacted psychologically and intellectually by the BASIS program. This may or may not be the case in DC as it gets up and running. I don't think any amount of accolades can outweigh hurting a single child. Again, I have seen this first hand in Tucson and believe it is a direct result of the BASIS model as applied here. This may or may not be the case (yet or ever) in DC.
But, coming back to my original point, this isn't about ferraris or moving goal posts, its about intelligently and fairly evaluating the pros and cons of a charter school model. On both sides of this debate there are useful facts and statistics, but listing the most prestigious college acceptances in any given year (which I see a lot on this forum in support of BASIS) is not as powerful as it might at first seem to be, because the acceptances to elite schools are usually due to the successes of a very few of the graduating students. Boy do I wish we had an AZurbanmoms site. I do enjoy hanging out with you all! Still can't believe this is all anonymous though. Makes for very confusing discussion to refer to people by the time of posting! |
Anonymous
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No, BASIS isn't a perfect fit for everyone, but in DC, with 43% of students going to a diverse array of charter offerings, one has the luxury of many other options that may be a better fit.
As for "goal posts", what is that "goal school" in terms of public school achievement if something like that even exists within the Washington DC jurisdiction? Is there a better public school in Scottsdale or Tucson? Is that vision of perfection that you seem to be striving for even realistically achievable? And if there is a better model, why aren't the folks who think they have that better model out there starting that better charter? |