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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
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.

*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.

*Work much hard on teacher retention and training. Stop putting teachers with weak classroom management skills in classrooms.

*Start up an instrumental music program, a serious one.

I rest my case. [/quote]

Some of your points amount to needing more resources.  Where will Basis get the money?  They already get a lower per student allocation than DCPS schools, so they already have to make do with a lot less.

For your first point, [b]Basis DC would most likely love to do so, but can't due to DC laws.  [/b]
For your second, I agree, but kids can slow down the math acceleration in 9th by taking precalc A, which will largely shore up the Algebra concepts they didn't fully get the first time.
For your third, there's a teacher shortage everywhere. 
 
For your fourth point, absolutely not.  School music programs are only good for the kids dabbling in music, and the non-serious programs are fine for that.  The kids who excel in music participate in local youth orchestras.  High level youth orchestras generally require kids to play in their school orchestra/band, which is a complete waste of time and waste of elective slot for a kid who already is spending a lot of time on private lessons, practicing, and their high level orchestra.  Basis kids can claim that their school doesn't have a true orchestra program, and can thus get the school participation requirement waived.  [/quote]

Not buying that they can't backfill per DC law.  To my knowledge, BASIS leaders haven't lobbied DC politicians to backfill per the AZ system for 15 years now.  Try again; it might work, times are a changin' in the District.[/quote]

I'm not sure why there is so much hate for Basis DC. It's obviously working for many families. If Basis DC chooses to backfill, they can. There is no need to lobby any politicians. All charters in DC can. But whether they do or not, doesn't take away from the kids they do serve.[/quote] You’ve lost the plot. Backfilling done thoughtfully could improve college process outputs. [/quote]

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