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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]help me understand this: is there any prohibition on BASIS pulling in students from outside the DC area, who would PAY tuition? I had heard that other charters accepted out-of-staters with tuition...that might make up the numbers as attrition hits the upper grades[/quote]

I don't think that new kids join BASIS after 6th grade.  Beginning in 6th grade, BASIS students must pass comprehensive exams to advance to the next grade.

I suspect that the school will not admit kids into the 7th grade or higher unless they can demonstrate mastery of the material covered in the prior grade by passing the same comprehensive exams, and kids who are not able to pass the comprehensive exams are offered spots in the lower grades.  [b]Of course, by the 7th or 8th grade, due to the rigorous curriculum, the likelihood that a student transferring into BASIS can pass those exams approaches 0.[/b]The enrollment data presented in the following article support my hypothesis:

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

While enrollment occasionally increases from 5th to 6th grade, enrollment only decreases from that point on.  In particular, enrollment decreases significantly from 8th to 9th grade, presumably due to large numbers of students choosing neighborhood high schools over BASIS.

I don't get the impression that BASIS cares much about keeping numbers up.  They seem to be focused on the quality of the students they graduate, not the quantity.

In any case, they can keep enrollment up in the face of high attrition simply by admitting many more students in the lower grades.  That is, if they want to maintain enrollment at about 500 students for a 8-year program, rather than admit 60 student in the 5th grade, they would admit about 100.

It appears that this the approach they've taken.

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Sorry, I don't follow why, after 7th or 8th grade, due to the rigorous curriculum, the likelihood that a student transferring into BASIS could pass their end-of-year exams would approach 0 when DC has a good many independents, where some parents struggle to afford tuition, offering equally tough academics.  It also has suburbs where parents often move/live primarily because they aren't satisfied with public MS and HS offerings in the District, coupled with lack of funds for independents, but would prefer to live downtown.  So you think that a student could only transfer into BASIS from a DCPS school, or another charter, not simply by virtue of being a DC resident capable of passing a comprehensive end-of-year exam?  It doesn't seem out of the question that dozens of parents outside DCPS and DC Charter with very bright and well prepared kids would look to BASIS for a comparable, tax-supported education if permitted, particularly if they'd been shut out of 5th or 6th grade lottery admissions and the school was prospering.  If residency in the District would be all that was required for a kid of the right age to take, and pass, an end-of-year exam at BASIS in the hopes of being admitted, I'm having a hard time imagining a shortage of qualified takers.  A backdoor route to selective admissions would emerge.  But then many, if not most, of the incoming kids would be middle-class and white, which wouldn't work politically, at least not for some years.  These are awkward public conversations and questions, but perhaps they should be had when taxpayer money is behind BASIS DC.

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.  [b]So a student wanting to enter in 8 or 9th grade would normally not already have a grounding in chemistry or physics. [/b]

This is no different from kids wanting to enter Yu Ying in a later grade.  The vast majority do not have the Mandarin skills to  keep up.  Those who do, aren't allowed to test in because it's against the charter law to be selective.  Basis isn't going to be allowed to cherry-pick any more than Yu Ying is.  Attrition?  Yes.  Selective admission?  No.

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