Reply to October waitlist data is up

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS.  It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into.  This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all.  So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic.  What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced.  BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS.  The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible.  This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents.  [b]To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school. [/b] [/quote]

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, [b]given the tough Walls admissions situation[/b], but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.[/quote]

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS [b]without any acknowledgement of what came before.[/b] [/quote]

I agree with this sentiment.  As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS.  I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school.  If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools).  WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS.  I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff).  Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.   
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Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?
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They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.[/quote]

Convenient.[/quote]

Childish and conspiratorial response.

BASIS schools in other cities do backfill where they are allowed to give placement tests. It would be a heck of a lot easier for BASIS to backfill than to refill the school population with 5th graders based on attrition in 7 other grades.
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Wonder why they can’t figure it out in DC. How about a GPA cut off like Walls? Not good enough for BASIS?
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Your reply makes no sense. Walls is an application HS. BASIS is a pure lottery. There are no admissions requirements. That's how the charter was set up. BASIS wasn't seeking to create a test in program, merely to conduct placement tests for kids who matched. DC said no. [/quote]

Actually no. Walls is a lottery now. Have anyone who puts BASIS on their list also provide their GPA just like Walls. Then pick names out of a hat like Walls. Would that be too difficult?[/quote]

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