Reply to BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013

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[quote=Anonymous]Wouldn't it be more cost effective for a school like Basis simply to select the kids who probably have the potential to handle half a dozen or more AP classes at the 5th grade or MS level?  High attrition is expensive for the taxpayer.  If a charter can't select kids, why not simply make Basis a DCPS school? Why not push the pols to establish a mechanism for DCPS franchise schools as well as charter?  Basis can learn from Latin, where nearly 3/4 of the white kids are leaving before HS graduation, certainlly not the case with suburban magents.

As far as I can tell, DC's current magnets don't shine mainly because, for political reasons, DCPS is not willing to let them become more than half white in a city that is half black.  Hence, the admissoins tests are easy and loads of kids who aren't well prepped or terribly academic glide in.  Moreover, the quality of instruction is uneven, standards aren't all that high, and the best students are not pushed to take more than a few AP classes, enter INTEL competitions etc.   I've had guidance counselors at SWW and Banneker tell me straight out that Ivy League admissions are not a priority for DCPS.  The schools aren't bad, they're just OK, and that seems to be fine with almost all involved but the most ambitious and able kids.  Excellence is not part of the calculus because the chorus of voices pushing for it isn't large enough yet.  Also, arguably, DC's privates are the best in the country as a group, and they suck in the upper echelon of poor kids in a city with a voucher program.[/quote]

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