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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just an observation regarding "attrition"...  Even if only 85% of students who start in the BASIS upper school don't end up finishing at BASIS, it's still a far cry better than the average DCPS high school where only 61% of the incoming class will finish (due to dropping out, a far worse attrition problem than dropping back to a less-demanding school but still graduating).[/quote]

Hi - I was the person who originally brought up the issue of attrition. I agree that the attrition rate on its own may or may not be a terrible thing. But my concern (again referring here to BASIS Tucson which may or may not share commonalities with the experience at BASIS DC) is that the high attrition is indicative of a larger cultural problem readily identified by many veteran teachers who work there and getting much worse since the national expansion, which is that the BASIS owners, who are not educators nor in the classrooms on a daily basis, have increased the academic demands on the kids well beyond a "healthily raised bar" level. So I get upset when BASIS PR sells the few kids who "rock it" at BASIS when, based on personal observation over the years, the pressure now impacts not only those who drop out, but up to 50-70% of the students who remain and tough it out.  There are three primary reasons why students remain despite being overwhelmed and fundamentally unhappy: (1) insistent parents, (2) a strong bond with classmates (forged in the pressure cooker) and (3) a genuine appreciation for the teachers and the intellectual challenge BASIS provides (despite being too much of a good thing). And that, basically, is my concern about BASIS as a model of education. There is much positive to say about BASIS even now, but the reputation of BASIS today is built on the original simple idea - raise academic standards, foster a culture of learning, utilize objective benchmark tests (AP), hire passionate and talented teachers and get out of the way. In my opinion BASIS has strayed far from that original ideal.[/quote]

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