Reply to how does BASIS work?

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "how does BASIS work?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What can Basis do to change the admissions to elite colleges?  Serious question.

I mean, every high school in America is facing declining Ivy odds.  The DC privates (I have a kid at one of them) are also 100% facing this decline.  Kids that make it in are either hooked (URM, legacy, VIP, athlete) or they go ON THEIR OWN and do something spectacular outside of school (a talent, research, national competition winner, etc). 
It's no different for kids at Sidwell or NCS--grades, test scores, etc are no longer enough.[b]  This isn't a problem that any school can solve. [/b]

[b]What is the problem is if parents still live under the paradigm that an Ivy spot can be had on grades, test scores and rigorous curriculum alone and are choosing a high school based on this.  You choose  high school (whether it is Sidwell, Basis, etc) because of what the school teaches your kid and their experience at the school.  In 2023 you will always be disappointed if you think that a high school can get you a leg-up for an elite college admission. [/b][/quote]

You want to know what BASIS could do to change admissions to elite colleges?  I feel like the question has been answered in various ways on many a BASIS thread over the years, without doing one iota of good.  After five years at BASIS, glad to have left, here's my list:

*Begin to backfill the way the AZ campuses have since the get go. Lobby the politicians for permission and get it.  Recruit student talent by backfilling.  
*Get students out interning and volunteering around town much younger. 
*Stop pushing 7th grade math on all the kids. If a kid is strong in humanities and average in math, let them quality to take algebra in 8th grade.
*Start tracking for ELA and social studies in MS like the better suburban programs in this area do. My kid was seriously bored/unchallenged in BASIS MS humanities.
*Raise far more money to support far more serious HS ECs, particularly participating in group and individual competitions.  Set up a PTA that raises money and has a say in how it's spent in pursuit of more robust college admissions. Ditch the lame Booster Club fund-raising system controlled by admins.  
*Work much hard on teacher retention and training. Stop putting teachers with weak classroom management skills in classrooms.
*Start thinking outside the box about college admissions. Encourage students to apply from gap years.  Encourage students to go away for a year as foreign exchange students before returning to BASIS, with the HS offering a 5-year track to accommodate them.  
*Encourage students who wish to travel to compete in regional, national and international competitions to do so up to say, 15 days a school year without being penalized for missing school. Set up system whereby they can submit work remotely while traveling to compete in enrichment activities that will burnish their CVs. 
*Stop pushing for students to take all AP exams by the end of junior year. Encourage students to take 2 or 3 APs exams in the spring of senior year along with Cambridge exams in the fall or spring of any year. Encourage students to self-prep for Cambridge exams in unusual/eye-catching subjects, e.g. Islamic Studies, Marine Biology. 
*Start up an instrumental music program, a serious one.
*Test kids for language background on arrival. Offer appropriate language classes to students from 5th grade to build aggressively on their skills. Encourage bilingual students to aim for 4-5s on AP language as early as 8th or 9th grades. Stop forcing students who've taken and passed an AP language exam to take more language classes. Encourage students who excel in languages to do summer immersion, taking Cambridge Intl AS or A-Level exams in Nov. of senior year (at a time when 5s on AP language are a dime a dozen). Raise money for post 11th grade immersion summer programs (standard in suburban schools). Teach more AP languages.

I rest my case. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics