Reply to What's with all the Basis hate?

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Reply to "What's with all the Basis hate?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I find it interesting that schools like DC Prep and Kipp are referred to as "drill and Kill" but Basis which is also very academically rigorous gets a pass despite it also being a cram school.

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Interesting point.  I am a BASIS parent and do not think BASIS is a drill and kill school.  Of courese the exact definition of drill and kill is not clear.  I think people like to use it to off handedly dismiss a school that pushes poor kids with good success.  Often they have no first hand experience with the school and mainly want to explain away success a school has on standardized tests.

To answer your question (or rather give my opinion) I think drill and kill brings to mind working daily on mid level skills like the times table or basic vocab to successfully pass DCCAS like standardized tests. Typically one thinks this school succeeds at the expense of science or the arts and even in depth adn breath in math and english. Basis is focused on advanced work beyond what is on the DCCAS so it gets a pass on normal drill and kill but accused of the same supperficial approach for AP level work.

I think people are wrong to denigrate KIPP and DC Prep for drill and kill and wrong denigrate BASIS for a similar approach on high level work.  On some level KIPP irritates folks that seem to believe the poor can't do as well as their kids unless some great evil is going on.  Likewise BASIS's problem is the notion that kids in public school can't do advanced work without going crazy or just skimming the surface. My experience is that they can do the work and they can develop a deep understanding overtime.
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