Reply to Basis fills a gap that shouldn’t exist.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problem with BASIS is that it's not "really simple" as somebody claimed on the last page, not at all. Many 5th graders seem like a good fit for BASIS, so they are sent by their well-meaning parents. From what I've observed, few of these kids "wash out;" no mistake was made in sending them.

What happens is that the teaching proves to be so uneven, the leadership so prone to gaslighting families who encounter difficulties, the facility so lousy, the curriculum so rigid and narrowly focused on test taking, that most BASIS families get turned off the experience over time and leave.

Sure, you can always pull out, but it might be better to face the reality that BASIS is risky business compared to most DMV schools offering consistent rigor from the get-go. BASIS just not a very welcoming program offering a rich or happy educational experience to young people. There are a lot of sharp elbows at BASIS and not much of a community feel. When we left for a private, we were glad to feel included but dismayed to discover that our BASIS MS grad wasn't as well prepared as we'd hoped, other than for chemistry and biology.

Heading to BASIS is to roll the dice in a somewhat risky game of chance. Best to see it that way to hedge your bets, to avoid getting hurt. If you can afford a stronger program/school pyramid that's a better bet for both MS & HS or are willing to move for one, do it. [/quote]

We are dealing with people that stayed the course in DC until late elementary whereas a good deal of truly risk averse types would have never even consider it or decamped to the burbs or private early on. They’ve already rolled the dice so to speak.

If Basis bought a few free years before going private, any minor adjustment/catch-up seems immaterial, or at least a bet that paid off.

And I sort of trust private school admissions committees to assess whether a kid (coming from Basis or wherever) will be a good fit for their school.

This is precisely how we are using Basis - a way station before private — admittedly a bit easier for us because a sibling is already in that pipeline and we are quite confident that our Basis student will be more than fine upon the eventual transition — and we’ll be about $80K less out of pocket. [/quote]

Assuming 2 kids at a Big 3 you are still paying around $400,000 more than the parents whose kids stay the course at Basis.

Given that Basis HS is definitely better than MS (better teachers, better classes, fewer students), someone might question that financial decision.[/quote]

If the HS was so great,Basis would not lose 1/2 the kids after 8th.  The retention rate is not very good.[/quote]

To clarify, I think the HS class is a little more than 1/2 the size of the 5th grade class. A large majority of 8th graders return to 9th. I think maybe about 10-15 out of 80 or 90 have been leaving. That's a mix of moving to private and application schools, and moving out of DC. [/quote]

You're trying to whitewash the attrition. What happens is that more than half of the intake class of 135-140 is gone by the first day of 9th grade. Moreover, by the start of 12th grade, the classes is down to 45-55 students, not more.  We were surprised by how many students left after every high school grade, half a dozen each time.  There's high and unrelenting attrition at BASIS DC, however you slice it. Claiming otherwise won't change that.[/quote]

Other schools have attrition but also socially promote and backfill.

BASIS DC does not.

You are comparing apples to oranges.[/quote]

[b]Why doesn’t BASIS backfill? It’s a public school. [/b]How do they avoid taking new students when there are so many who are initially shut out and would do just fine entering in late MS and for HS. [/quote]

Other BASIS schools backfill -- the incoming kids take a placement exam and are then placed in an appropriate grade level (which might be lower than they were before, if they were coming from an easy school).

The DC Charter Board does not allow BASIS to do that. So, that's why BASIS DC doesn't backfill. It's not a huge conspiracy.[/quote]

Can’t they use other standardized test results? Surely there are the rare superspecial unicorn children who could join without dragging down the whole school and ruining the experience for everyone.

[/quote]

BASIS would absolutely do it if they were allowed to (as evidenced by the fact that other schools in the network do.) of course there are kids who are capable of fitting in.

Again, the DC Charter Board is who is stopping this. They don't want placement exams, and they don't want kids placed below their year bc DC is very pro social promotion.

Take it up with the charter board if you want this changed.[/quote]

Convenient. 
[/quote]

You are absolutely wrong.  DCI uses standardized testing scores as part of placement of kids.

Excuses, excuses….[/quote]

But they wouldn't, for example, take a 13 year old and place them in 5th grade. Which is what the other BASIS schools do if they need to. That's what the charter board won't allow.[/quote]

The charter board has no rule or authority that restricts BASIS or any other charter from doing this. BASIS works fine as it is. It fills a need for many families (or at least for the families that make it in via the lottery). The model works as it is without backfilling.[/quote]

Yes — the education system writ large is failing many, but that’s not a Basis problem. [/quote]

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