Reply to Basis DC Precomp and Final Comp Exams

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Recent meeting at Basis confirmed by head of school that material on the pre-comp exams were not taught, causing students to fail, yet, students are being held accountable with failing grades. - Basis is working on fixing this issue maybe so that students are able to pass the exams and proceed to the next grade, parents not willing to take this chance with their children.  I believe this is the reasoning for many students lack of return to Basis the following school year and the low amount of students transitioning into Basis High School.  Can anyone here confirm if students are allowed to transfer into a DCPS or Private school to the next grade if failed final comps or certain courses at Basis?[/quote]

I don't mean to be rude, but you did not understand what was said at the meeting. It is really important at a time when people are making decisions about going to Basis that this kind of post does not go uncontradicted.

Every teacher at every single Basis school has the right to go to that HOS and say "we did not get to this" and the kids are not held accountable on the Basis part of the precomp - which is half of the precomp.  That is one of the safeguards that I love, and it is true on the Basis portion of the precomps and comps.  I also love that there is a Basis wide portion of the precomps and comps so that we can measure how we are doing against other Basis schools.  Last year I think we had some of the largest numbers of advanced students in math on the DC CAS but we have been behind here in DC from the get go compared to Arizona.  It is getting better though, as our economics scores demonstrated.

This is, however, the reason for the attrition after precomps - which do not start until 6th grade, so kids who come in 5th have an entire year to learn study skills and test taking skills.  Some kids just cannot learn at this age to master an entire half year's worth of material, and in those cases it is obvious that the comps are not going to be better.

Usually kids do about the same in the class and on the exams, as Mr. Aiken explained.  If most of them don't, the teacher usually ends up being fired at the end of the year.  If your kid doesn't, then maybe they need better study skills if they were an outlier.  You can always go talk to Dean Reynolds and probably find out how your kid did versus the other kids on the exams.  You should also definitely go look at the precomp with your child.

There was less of that kind of talk in this talk than the talk last year, which I also attended.  Both talks were given by Sean Aiken, but he was the HOS last year.  The HOS this year is Cameron Louis, who barely spoke at all.  Sean Aiken is now in charge of the curriculum on a more global level.  I would have liked to hear more of what we heard last year - which classes kids all did badly in, because that is reassuring as well.

But what he was trying to get across is how the curriculum is designed, because from an outsider's perspective it can look pretty scattershot in courses that are not APs or math.  And I think he did a good job of explaining it, and the databases they have created, and how you can tell if every kid gets a question wrong but they all answer the same way that the teacher needs to review that material before the comps, whereas if every kid gets the question wrong but does not go for the "distractor" maybe there is a larger problem.

But the teachers at Basis keep getting better and better as well - having been there from the start.

PS.  There are curves I believe on precomps and comps the same way there are on some tests at Basis.  They will not let an entire class of kids fail because of a crappy teacher.  I heard but have not confirmed that everyone tanked the Basis wide portion of the 8th grade World History precomp, but my kid still got an A in the class.

Sean Aiken did admit that the Basis portions of the precomps contained too many hard questions, which is why almost every school saw a drop in their scores - but that does not mean that all of those kids are failing.

I think they are very clear about the system, and the only time it doesn't work is when they have bad teachers.
But comps are worth half your grade for the year - so if your kid is not a good test taker, and cannot become one, Basis is no place for them to be in high school.  On that point, you are right.  But people leave for high school for many reasons.  The average attrition rate between 8th and 9th at Basis schools is 40% - and it is not in many cases because kids are struggling academically.  They want to do sports, they want a larger school, they don't want to have to take 6 APs and Calculus to graduate.  That is why 8th grade is called "the year of decision" in the words of Olga Block.

I think you completely misunderstood what happened at that meeting.  In many ways as a school we are continuing to improve in comparison with our Arizona counterparts, and that is the most important thing (as long as your kid is not failing).  If your kid failed their precomps, reach out to Basis.  Review the precomp with your child and meet with your child's teacher.  As one of the teachers said, they want to see you.  That is what parent hours are for.

But I think the system at Basis is pretty darn close to as fair as you can get.  The rule that if you get a 5 on an AP you get an A in the class no matter what, in order to avoid arbitrary grading in high school, is one of many that they have to try to insure that the grading is fair to everyone.  Not every student can handle comprehensive exams, and not every teacher can teach at a Basis school.  It is a process to figure it out, that is why coming in 5th grade is so important.

I wish you luck, and I hope I have clarified this for you.  [/quote]

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