Reply to PARCC results: how will they be communicated to families?

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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][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I view ITS’s policy of not adding kids after Count Day much differently than any school that simply does not allow new students after initial grades. I agree both are bad in a public school— and charters ARE publics, even though they sometimes like to pretend they aren’t. But this ITS policy isn’t nearly as egregious to me. I get the rationale (it really can be tough on classrooms to add new students after the kids have finally settled in, as I know well as a DCPS parent). It’s a reality of school, but it’s tough on everyone.

But [b]schools like BASIS or Latin refusing to backfill [/b]in subsequent years is really craven. Even private schools take kids mid-MS or mid-HS! A good school would not struggle to incorporate them. It really looks like an obvious grab for higher test scores. It’s gross. The ITS thing is annoying but doesn’t offend me in the same way.[/quote]

We have been through this before, people. BASIS is unique in DC because it does not do social promotion. Kids don't have to leave, but they will be required to repeat a grade if they do not pass the comprehensive exam. No exceptions. BASIS wanted to accept kids after 5th. They do at other BASIS schools. But DCPCSB won't allow them to administer a test to put the kids in the proper grade level (without regard to age). It would make no sense to have a school that tells kids that are not meeting the standard they have to repeat a grade but let new kids enter into that higher grade even if they can't show mastery of the material.

You can disagree with whether BASIS should socially promote. But that's the argument/policy disagreement. "Backfilling" is a red herring to avoid talking about BASIS's social promotion policy.   [/quote]

Neighborhood schools have to take kids who are below grade.  Even those who speak literally no English at all.  They have to suck it up and deal with it as best they can.  But wah, BASIS couldn't possibly cope without an entrance test.  Even though other schools have to.

The idea with backfilling is that we don't want to create a system where if your 5th grade lottery number is bad, you have no hope for getting into a good school.  [b]What would the school system be like if every school allowed itself to do what BASIS is doing[/b]?  Do we want to live like that?  BASIS is free-riding on other schools' willingness to handle the tougher kids and do the hardest educational work.  But feel free to pat yourself on the back for those great test scores![/quote]

Your response is all over the map and internally inconsistent. At one point you ask, what would it be like if every school stopped social promotion and required kids to actual master material before moving to the next grade - PERISH THE THOUGHT and clutching my pearls. You aren't even making the case you think you are. If BASIS was allowed to administer the test and put kids in appropriate grades they'd take backfills and then there would be hope of getting in after 5th - problem solved! Neighborhood schools have to take kids who enroll and are forced by DC policies to put them in their grade level by age, regardless of whet they actually know. And then DC makes it impossible to hold a kid back so they get moved along and graduate with a useless degree.

BASIS has higher standards than all other schools. I'm ok with that .  [/quote]

Because people don't want over-age kids in their classes!  Do you want your 5th grader to be with 15 and 16 year olds who aren't doing well?  Come on.  Think about what you are saying.  And because repeating grades doesn't actually solve anything.  If the kid was going to learn the material in a regular classroom setting, they would have learned it the first time.

"Higher standards" my foot, they're just running off the kids who are harder to educate.[/quote]

And because in a system without social promotion kids would simply drop out.  They would grow up into uneducated adults.  See, this is a school *system*.  The goal isn't just to operate one school and pat yourself on the back for great test scores without any caring for the kids who start but don't finish.  The idea is to educate the residents of the jurisdiction, thinking of *all of them* including those who drop out.  And all schools should be good citizens of the school system and take a fair share of the more difficult educational work.  If BASIS's attitude towards its strugging students is basically "f*ck'em", then [b]yes, people are not going to think well of your school despite its cherry-picked test scores.[/b][/quote]

Two things:

1. The test scores aren't "cherry picked". We just have a ton of highly qualified kids who take the test. You seem not to understand what "cherry picked" means.
2. The vast majority of BASIS families don't care what you think. Too busy helping our kids with advanced work to worry about your jealousy.[/quote]

The cherry picking is in creating a school that's poorly suited to serve any struggling student, and intentionally refusing social promotion because it's a way of getting rid of them.  Yes, most of the kids do sit for the PARCC, the cherry picking happens before that.

I'm not at all jealous, my kids are doing great, thanks.[/quote]

That's not "cherry picking" scores. Again, you don't understand what the term means. Everyone there takes the test and the published scores are for all kids. The kids who repeat also take the PARCC test and their scores count ,too.

A world gone mad where you speak about "intentionally refusing social promotion" like that's something to be embarrassed about.

If you are so happy and not at all jealous, why are you more interested and invested in what is happening at BASIS than most BASIS families? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.[/quote]

Because I think it's selfish and poor citizenship to operate a school that shirks the harder work of educating the students of DC.  It's in really poor taste to talk about how great your school is, how happy you are with it, when it comes at this kind of cost to others.  I don't believe for a second that BASIS is actually against social promotion for principled reasons.  I think they know perfectly well it's a way of getting rid of the kids who struggle.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a parent of a child who struggled academically.  Would you want them to repeat and repeat and repeat, growing older and more embarrassed and friendless?  Or would you want them to have services and an age-appropriate setting?  If BASIS didn't work out, would you want them to be shut out of other schools because it's 5th grade or never?

Try to think about the functioning of the school system as a whole, including for kids who aren't academically gifted or who don't speak good English yet.  Try to think beyond your own family.  [/quote]

I think if we demanded excellence instead of allowing mediocrity to be the standard everyone would be better off. I think it is racist to assume black and brown and poor kids can't achieve when demands are made for achievement. I think your approach is condescending to those groups.

We have choice. Charters are their own LEAs. Plus, I call BS on your moral argument about a system. JKLM doesn't give a damn what happens in Ward 8. The noise from Deal and JR about ending OOB enrollment tells us a lot.

"One system". Puhleeze. [/quote]

Pushing kids out with socially inappropriate placements is not "demanding excellence"!  It's just running people off FFS.  [b]If BASIS were particularly great at serving at-risk, SPED, and ELL kids then you might get more traction.  [/b]But it isn't.  And getting good results takes a lot more than demanding it.

Is BASIS owned by a Chinese hedge fund?[/quote]

What? I guess you want to talk about that, totally different topic. BASIS doesn't do those things well. And...? Only you seem to think that's an issue. I just want a kick a** academic program.

Traction with what? Bleeding heart, performative white folks who think that black and brown kids should be held to a lower standard...and somehow think that's progressive? Yeah, not looking for validation from that population

BTW, what school does your kid go to? I assume Eastern? [giggles][/quote]

None of your business where my kid goes, but it isn't a school owned by a Chinese hedge fund.

You can call me whatever you like.  I consider myself a person who cares about the functioning of the school system as a whole, and who cares about children who aren't academically gifted equally as much as I care for those who are.  Maybe some day you will see that BASIS' supposedly good results are due to avoiding the most difficult work, and that those choices are poor citizenship of the school system.  [/quote]

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