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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous].......... [b] I am not bashing BASIS AT ALL. In fact I think at this age it is very good to keep them focused on homework and learning considering what they COULD be focusing on.  We are having a hard time adjusting and I do not say he because I am as well.  I don't want the moms out there to get nervous about sending their kids to BASIS, I mean in the long run its only going to help the kids right? I remember 5th grade being a challenge for me as well ,once upon a time. I just needed some advice. [/b]I know my son doesn't have a learning disability.  He has always gotten good grades and scored high on tests with praise from his teachers.  It is the the abundance of after school work and lack of free time we seem to have that is hard for us to acclimate to.  Hopefully as time goes by he will get faster at completing the work.  My daughter is in a DCPS school as well and I have to say that the amount of work the BASIS teachers and DCPS teachers have put into my kids coming from the beloved fairfax county schools is really actually amazing and much better then fairfax already.  Don't shoot me for saying it but it's absolutely true so far.    [/quote][/quote]

[quote]Actually most BASIS parents responding to this post are saying that parents should back off a bit and relax.  Especially because 5th grade is designed to acclimate the kids and it is not cumulative (except sort of in math and Latin) and there are no comps.  But it sounds like this mom is also finding the homework in DCPS a significant increase from Fairfax - and in terms of education a change for the better - both BASIS and DCPS...  To be honest, it is a significant change coming from anywhere to go to BASIS - even Ward 3 schools which cannot seem to really assign any homework in 4th grade.  That is why they give you 5th grade to get used to it.  [b] It does NOT take a highly-involved parent to make this work (I am not going to speculate on education, but my kids are now doing things I cannot help them with)... Washington Latin is designed for helicopter parents.  BASIS schools are not.[/b] [/quote][quote]

[quote][b]So what you're saying is that it takes a highly-involved educated parent to make BASIS work? All those parents who don't have the time or the education need not apply? Smart money says BASIS is less than 20% FARM this year. Pity the PCSB can't find their frickin' car keys, because any involved governing board would pull the funding on this little enterprise. In the meantime, the Blocks profit. God Bless America![/b][/quote][/quote]

[/quote]I hate idiotic comments like yours but I feel I have to respond...........

[b]Your "smart money" about our FARMS percentage may be right now, but never forget that the first year we opened our doors we scored #3 on the DC CAS, and the second year (the last year of the DC CAS) it was #1 Deal #2 BASIS #3 Washington Latin.  And guess what?  At that point we were over 40% FARMS, a Title I school, getting extra help from OSSE, and surprisingly to you, apparently, while our Title I status qualified us for the extra help, a lot of the kids who needed it were not the FARMS kids.  But it did not surprise me.  [/b]

Now do you want to guess what the FARMS rates were at that time at Deal and Latin MS?  Both under 25% pretty sure.  So since BASIS is a lottery, my hypothesis would be that we are attracting more high SES applicants since BASIS does not get to choose whom it admits.  I for one had no problem with the population when we started and no problem with the population now - because surprisingly, the "FARMS" kids (since there were so many of them) helped us kill the DC CAS. Two years in a row. This speaks more to the types of parents who sent their kids to BASIS DC, and the type of kids who went those first two years, than their race, ethnic origin, or income level.

I know our third year we were no longer Title I.  I know at BASIS you do a disservice to your kid if you do anything more than help with the mountains of paper, and I know we are fully enrolled this year - so more than enough parents in DC want what BASIS DC has to offer.

We started out where Washington Latin did in 2007 - one of those two years their [b]high school was 39% FARMS - and their DC CAS scores reflected it[/b].  Our demographics just shifted a heck of a lot more quickly, and maybe that is because of the difference in the schools.  I like to think so.  Maybe it is the product of absolute desperation. But we have kids coming every year who are zoned for Deal and they came at the beginning as well.  We also have kids from private school who have been there since the first year.  Whatever the case, you cannot blame a lottery school for its population.

But in the case of BASIS, you ought to have the grace to remember where BASIS started out in terms of our FARMS population and how well our population did when we were "that kind of population."  [b]A Title I school in its second year of operation beat every other middle school on the DC CAS except the almighty Deal, and we KNOW how much money many of those parents have.  Because that kind of success in two years - where we did not change the population but the kids got better educated to the point where 44%? were advanced in math, says something remarkable about the kids in the school......... and to an extent the school itself - but BASIS could not have taught all these kids to score so high if they weren't willing to learn.  [/b]

But no parents do NOT have to hover and it is actively discouraged so whether parents are just working all the time, have another kid who is sick, there are a myriad of reasons why you could not helicopter parent but the point is at BASIS you should not.  And it has jack to do with SES it is the school culture to get kids to take responsibility for themselves and their academics early.

So please just shut up already.

Who cares if the Blocks get rich if their schools actually educate our kids and our kids are enthusiastic about it?
I don't.  [/quote]

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