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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]I actually think BASIS should just be an application school[/b]. Some kind of entrance exam and if you pass it, you can lottery for it. But then require them to backfill when kids leave. Then they can keep their standards but it functions as a real option for kids prepared for academic rigor who want that kind of school. 
[/quote]

I am a happy BASIS parent. Bolded is a TERRIBLE idea. The BASIS model (across the country with a large sample size) says that every kid can succeed in a rigorous environment if provided support and early enough intervention. Testing at 5th grade (or earlier) just perpetuates systemic advantages of wealth and 2 family, 2 income households. The solution is not making it test in. The solution is twofold:

1. Let them open an elementary school so more kids from wider swaths of the city and socioeconomic groups develop the background to succeed
2. Let them give placement (NOT admission) tests so matched older kids can be met where they are in their learning and placed in the proper grade for where they are in their academic journey   [/quote]

This is naive because what you seem not to understand is that a BASIS elementary would simply serve as a "test in" substitute because students who don't have enough support would not do well at that elementary school and thus would not advance to the middle school.

The current system already perpetuates systemic advantages of wealthy and 2-parent, 2-income households. It just hides behind the lottery. The reality is that kids who arrive at BASIS in 5th who don't have good support at home and, ideally, educated parents, do poorly and leave. And many kids never even go to BASIS in the first place because of this. Also BASIS asks a lot of parents in terms of financial contributions, and that culture also pushes out families with less money. But because BASIS can say "we're a lottery school, we take all comers," it can pretend it is offering equitable education. It is not.

Also, read the PP. The idea is not to have an entrance exam at 5th, but to have a screening exam for kids joining at any grade. And to force backfill. So not some 5th grade entrance exam, but a proficiency exam for any kid entering at any grade to make sure they could handle the basic coursework. This would offer MORE opportunities to kids from other socioeconomic levels because instead of BASIS entrance depending on having the kind of parent or guardian who (1) knows what BASIS is and is prepared to lottery for 5th, and (2) can manage the commute downtown for a 10 year old, older kids could lottery into BASIS after passing the entrance exam, which would enable MS and HS kids who have the skills and motivation to move to BASIS on their own impetus or via support from other adults. And they can ride the bus or metro and take that on. As it currently stands, teens in DC are essentially locked out of BASIS. Think about what this means for students across the city who don't have the sort of parent/advocate who plans their schooling 5 years in advance and knows how to navigate systems easily.

The placement exam that would put kids in another grade based on their level is a no go because it ignores the fact that public education serves multiple purposes. You can't put a 15 year old in a 6th grade classroom. It would not work for that kid and it wouldn't work for that classroom. Be realistic.

You need to be pragmatic and not operate with pie in the sky ideals about the education system or what life is like for the average public school student in DC. We need real solutions that give kids a chance to get an education that make sense for the life they are actually living and prepares them for the life they will actually lead. I think if you talked to low income families throughout the city, you'd learn there would be a lot of interst/support in the model I'm outlining because there are many families who want more rigorous education for their kids but who are not part of this UMC professional pipeline in the city that funnels mostly certain types of kids into and through schools like BASIS. You need democratizing methods and the way BASIS currently works is the opposite of democratizing. It's self selection. [/quote]

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