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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
The Arizona high attrition model won’t fly in DC for obvious reasons.  Instead, Basis will come under heavy pressure from charter board to manufacture a creative solution to keep struggling students on board, e.g. Yu Ying’s non-immersion Mandarin track (where all the kids are black).   The National Assessment for Educational Progress (think tank giving a small percent of students in every state and DC the same test in 4th and 8th grades) findings on the vast black-white achievement gap  in DC, coupled with non-selective admissions, do not auger well for the school: more than a third of DC white kids currently score in NAEP’s “advanced” category  for reading and math (vs. 14% of white in the highest scoring state, Massachusetts) and 1-2% of black kids.  Politically, will Basis be in a good position to encourage a large percentage of the black kids to hit the road?   The franchise surely won’t bite the hand that feeds it, risking having their charter revoked, by allowing anywhere near the attrition rates seen in AZ.   No, standards will invariably be watered down instead, with victory declared  in the number of AP tests taken per capita (easy to do when there’s no magic AP pass number, and scores of 2s and 3s out of 5 on AP tests are already the DCPS norm).
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You raise several interesting points, PP.

I too have been concerned about the possible watering down of the BASIS curriculum over time as a "solution" to the high attrition rate.  However, I suspect that if push came to shove, BASIS would abandon its charter in DC rather than water down its curriculum.

The BASIS mission statement is unequivocal:

"BASIS seeks to provide an accelerated liberal arts education at internationally competitive levels for all students.  The rigorous college preparatory education at BASIS readies students for the competitive admissions process, helps them become eligible for scholarships, prepares them to prosper at top colleges, and enriches their lives."

Why would BASIS maintain a presence in DC if doing so required the curriculum to be watered down to the point that few of its DC graduates were prepared to attend top colleges? The small overhead the national organization receives per child in DC would hardly justify sacrificing the organization's mission or its reputation.

BASIS is not Latin.  BASIS can leave DC and continue to expand in Arizona.  Latin cannot.

Thus, the real issue, then, is whether the charter school board will drive BASIS out of DC due to the high attrition rate.  I think it is highly unlikely that the charter school board will do so.

The board has adopted a system for assessing charter school performance known as the PMF.  Under PMF, the re-enrollment rate contributes only 10 out of 100 points to the overall assessment.  A five-year graduation rate of 35% suggests a re-enrollment rate of about 81% (.81 ^ 5 is about .349).  Re-enrollment rates for DC charters range from about 55% to about 90%.  Latin, with its re-enrollment rate of 87.9%  received 9.41 of 10 points.  Chavez, with its re-enrollment rate of 71.3% received 4.73 points.

On the other hand, year-to-year growth on the DC-CAS over time of individual students contributes 40 out of 100 points on the PMF (20 points for Reading and 20 points for Math), DC-CAS achievement contributes 25 points (12.5 reading, 12.5 math), and 8th grade proficiency on the DC-CAS math contributes 15 points.  Attendance contributes the remaining 10 points.

The rigorous curriculum at BASIS combined with the comprehensive testing mean that the vast majority of students there will either make academic progress or choose to leave.  Those that make progress will increase the BASIS PMF score significantly, while those who leave will reduce the score by only a small amount.  Why would the charter board drive BASIS out of DC for poor re-enrollment results when re-enrollment is tied with attendance for last place in its assessment scheme?

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The price for staying in DC will be providing an alternate path for the students who can't be in the regular program (a la Yu Ying).  Yu Ying isn't allowed to counsel out the low-performing students, Basis won't be either.[/quote]

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