Reply to BASIS students, what school were they in last year?

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Reply to "BASIS students, what school were they in last year?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I'm not justifying anything, I'm just pointing out the reality that the whole system has to fight over children in order to get funded and remain sustainable.  If anything, schools like BASIS help to close the gaps  in that flawed system by meeting more of the unmet needs.  From the time I started tracking BASIS early in the spring until now, BASIS has never sold anything other than a vision of hard work, rigor, comprehensive exams, high performance and high expectations, there's no "bait and switch" for students who might wash out down the road - they knew the expectations at the outset, there isn't any story to be told of "kids being used" in any way other than what they and their families chose for them.[/quote]

So, at least from your perspective, it’s parents’ and students’ own damn fault if BASIS doesn’t work out for them.  After all, BASIS was up-front from the beginning about the work required and if students can’t/won’t do it, then they deserve to flunk out.

It’s my perspective that this is not a good model for a public school with open admissions.
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I disagree, PP.  From my perspective, this is a fine model.

BASIS has an open admission policy so that all families that might be interested in the rigorous college prep curriculum it offers have the chance to try it out.  There is no shame in enrolling a child in BASIS for a year or two and leaving once it becomes clear that the amount of work required to be promoted to the next grade is more than he/she is able or willing to do.

Note that comprehensive exams do not start until the end of sixth grade.  Thus, a bright kid from a failing elementary school has two years to catch up to his/her peers before facing comprehensive exams, and the school provides a great deal of support to help that bright kid catch up.

If BASIS had a selective admissions policy, they would only admit those kids that were ready to tackle the rigorous college prep curriculum on day 1.  Only families that were confident that their kids could handle the coursework would invest time studying for the entrance exam.  Furthermore, a cottage industry would probably spring up offering test prep services for the BASIS entrance exam, placing poor children at a disadvantage.  As a result, the bright kid from the failing elementary school would never have the chance to succeed there.

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