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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Hilarious.  ANY school would be better off screening for aptitude and working with available talent.  That's exactly why the private schools do it - [u]because they can[/u].  But, a magnet charter?  That is ground that DC will not cede willingly to the charters.  Charter law does not allow it, and everyone knows that if they could cherry-pick, they would.  So, if anyone is going to allowed to do it, it will be a DCPS middle school.  Not Basis.[/quote]

The following article argues that BASIS uses high attrition as a solution to the rigorous non-selective charter dilemma:

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2011/03/blog-post.html

While the data are a little dated, the spreadsheet presented in the article shows that of the 78 students in the 6th grade at BASIS Tucson during the 2004-2005 school year, only 27 were still there during the 2009-2010 school year as part of the 11th grade class.  (BASIS offers its students the option of graduating in the 11th grade.)  In other words, only 35% of the 2004-2005 6th grade class actually graduated from BASIS Tucson.

At first, the 35% graduation rate seems like a terrible indictment of the BASIS model.  At least that's how the author of the article portrays it.  However, it seems to me that the 35% graduation rate is a natural consequence of a non-selective admissions process for a school with a rigorous academic program.

Suppose your goal is to ensure that at least 35 students complete a rigorous 8-year academic program.  You might choose to accomplish this goal in one of two ways:

Option A: Admit the 35 most promising from a pool of 100 applicants.  (Actually, you might want to admit a couple more to guard against attrition.)

Option B: Admit all 100 applicants and allow them to self-select the 35 who graduate.  (Actually, if you're lucky, more than 35 will make it.)

BASIS has chosen Option B.  In fact, BASIS doesn't have a choice, as the DC charter law does not permit Option A.  However, non-selective admissions is part of the BASIS philosophy, so it would likely have chosen Option B even if Option A were allowed.

Option B is more equitable than Option A.  While Option A offers the rigorous academic program only to the 35 applicants who make the cut at the outset, Option B offers repeated opportunities over many years to all 100 applicants to make it into the 35 through hard work.

Based on national rankings of high schools, BASIS Tucson and Thomas Jefferson in Virginia are comparably ranked.  BASIS Tucson has achieved this success through a high attrition rate, while Thomas Jefferson has achieved it through a high rejection rate.  Only about 16% of the applicants were accepted during a recent admissions round.

To me it seems clear that the BASIS Tucson approach is more equitable, and I hope that the model is as successful in DC as it has been in Tucson.

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