Reply to BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013

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Reply to "BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013"

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[quote=Anonymous][b]A lot of the questions you raise are legitimate. But the question about admitting students to BASIS in later grades is not simply about students wanting entry who are bright and well prepared and willing to work hard. It is about the specialized curriculum that they offer and the unique way it is organized.

For example, I believe basis begins teaching chemistry, biology and physics (?) Simultaneously beginning in middle school to preprepare over multiple years for the ap exam in those subjects in maybe 10th grade. So a student wanting to enter in 8 or 9th grade would normally not already have a grounding in chemistry or physics. [/b]

Useful information.  But what would stop a family, or school, who wanted a bright and hard working kid to attend BASIS in the later grades from having their kid prepped to pass the end-of-year exams?  If the MS curriculum is made public, and includes chemistry, biology and physics, couldn't a bright, focused child get the necessary grounding in these subjects with the support of adults who could help?  The Stanford gifted youth on-line program offers those subjects at the middle school level, and doens't charge an arm and a leg ($500-$600 a class).  My neighbors want their child to attend BASIS, and they're a chemical engineer and a biologist.  Some independents let advanced MS kids take HS sciences.  I wouldn't put it past groups of parents to hire science instructors (having seen this happen in my neighborhood to prep kids to take the Takoma Park MS math/science/computer magnet exam).

The $60,000 question is how open the DC charter board and BASIS would be to allowing an influx of kids who could handle the upper grades curriculum to replace those who dropped out, when selective admissions would be involved.  If the city were to establish a prep program serving low-income MS kids, teaching sciences intensely over summers and weekends, some could also make the cut.  Without city sponsored prep, if replacement kids were allowed, most would be from affluent families and that wouldn't pass muster politically.  It sounds like the franchise will simply run a very small high school in DC, assuming it gets one, seeking to avoid controversy.  That would be a shame, at least in the eyes of some, when a fair number of local kids who would thrive at the school would then be excluded.  I'm not convinced that the wall against selective admissions won't crumble eventually, but it could be a long while.

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