Reply to Parents of former Basis students - where did you go, and why

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
There's a ton of folks (like us) for whom Wilson is not an option - and [b]BASIS is far and away the best option that we have[/b].[/quote]

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I'm actually surprised that Basis parents expected anything else. Basis schools are designed to shrink as the students age. Why do you think they don't admit after 6th? What did you think was the point of all those high-stakes comprehensive exams? A lottery admission school has to churn through a lot of kids to get results like Basis. [/quote]

I don't think churning is really the right word.  It has such negative connotations after the financial collapse.  But we do indeed have 25 open slots in 6th grade, and we do not admit in 7th, so there is less of a churning opportunity, no?

In addition, in only our second year, our DC CAS scores were, I believe, second only to Deal's.  That suggests that Basis is already attracting the "right kind of student," because as people were quick to point out last year, we cannot completely remediate an entire 5th grade.  So that part is going well.  And before I get flamed, Basis had over 40% of children who were entitled to free and reduced meals, unlike Deal (21% or so) and Washington Latin (18%)

I do not believe that this much attrition was expected, either after 5th or in the upper grades, and the Boosters mailing state some of the "top" students left.

I would just like to know where these kids went, why they left, and whether they are happy, or happier.

My child was dimly aware of several students who were planning to leave who were already in 9th grade.  My understanding is that their intention was to repeat 9th grade elsewhere.  We have confirmed that they left, but do not know where they are - Walls?  Banneker?

I would like to know how that worked out for them.

So if anyone has any relevant specific information they are willing to share, I would appreciate it.  I do assume that the parents of the kids in high school are on DCUM............

Some private schools conduct exit interviews, and that is what I am trying to do - in order to predict what will happen in the next year or so.  Maybe we are so new none of it matters in the long run.  But right now it matters to me.....

Some, like NCS (see the "hot topics" forum), have the attitude that if a child leaves, the problem was with the child not the school, so anything the child or parents might have to say is irrelevant.  There are apparently parents of kids who have graduated from NCS who wish to address the board on the subject of how awful the experience was for their child, and apparently these children are now at good colleges and universities...  So it is department of, you got my kid into Harvard, and I paid you $38k a year to do it, but now I want to tell you that you made my child miserable, or the other students did, or the competitive environment........  It is hard to identify what they are talking about since it is an "atmosphere."  But several parents referred to it as "toxic."

Thankfully, Basis does not seem to have these kinds of issues.  We certaintly don't have any college admissions yet.  [/quote]

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