Reply to I am confused between Stuart Hobson Middle School vs. Deal Middle School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Every BASIS parent event I attended included an intense pep talk on how their college admissions are "The best in DC!"

Some admin invariably would always reel off a list of high powered colleges recent grads were admitted to. Yea, MIT, HARVARD, YALE. They did this even if the meeting was to talk about fundraising or an another unrelated subject.  The drill got embarrassing over the years.

The further we get from BASIS, the better I understand why families of some of the highest achieving middle school students leave for programs where school leaders aren't as obsessed with MIT, Harvard, Yale. I point this out as an MIT grad.[/quote]

No one cares where you went to school.[/quote] We care. When MIT grads think that relentless Basis intensity on college admissions is a drag, I’m gonna agree, me with my degree from a small public univ down South. The complaint is valid and you guys know it.[/quote]

You care where PP went to school?

Sure, Jan.[/quote]
I used to work at BASIS DC, where caring obsessively about admission to name schools is standard. The franchise's approach to college prep is c/o Olga Block, who isn't an educator. Their rigid formula for admissions success only gets many of the students so far, because it doesn't celebrate individual learning styles, interests, backgrounds and preferences like the nation's top HS magnet programs do. Students who crack MIT and Ivies at BASIS DC either have parents who pump substantial family resources--money, time and energy--into shoring up their extra curriculars/enrichment over the years, or they're low-SES students who get something of a break in admissions. When I attended a NYC magnet as a low-SES student from a home where English wasn't spoken, things were different. If you arrived speaking a language tested by AP, the school would do everything it could afford to help you retain and build on your language knowledge from the get-go. There was an arrangement with NYC whereby students were encouraged to take language courses at community colleges (for free) if they'd run out of language challenge in the school's curriculum. We were encouraged to take AP exams for which we'd prepped outside the school as early as 9th grade, not just for languages, but for music, art etc. The school even had an arrangement with Johns Hopkins CTY whereby low SES students could take summer courses in any subject they liked without paying. BASIS is nothing like that, because the franchise isn't headed up by educators. BASIS pushes families around because they can in a city where parents are desperate for high-performing public schools. The intensely acquiescent parent culture doesn't help. I've heard similar complaints about Stuart Hobson and Deal. [/quote]

A magnet and a charter are two different things. To expect Basis DC to act like your NYC magnet is unrealistic. The fact is that the suburban schools in the DMV are excellent, and most people will move there if they want the type of opportunities you had in NYC.[/quote]

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