Reply to BASIS DC to open in 2012-2013

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]New to the discussion, but I've perused the last half dozen entertaining pages.

Come on folks, at some point, common sense really ought to intervene.

Basis needs help from the city to screen applicants, or it will run into the same sort of embarassing trouble Yu Ying has (whether that's one white kid, two, or ten on their non-immersion track).  It's just as goofy to think you can build a great Chinese immersion school with hardly a bilingual kid on hand as to think you can churn out Ivy Leaguers without identifying a group of kids with the right stuff from the get go.  Those of you who think it will be peachy if Basis ousts two-thirds of its students must never have been in a doctoral program where this happens.  The cutthroat atmosphere was awful for me and my classmates and it won't be pleasant for DC middle schoolers.  Bite the bullet, find the right kids (a good mix) and build community over the years, affording students career building personal and professional ties for life, like the independents do.  Find the modus operandi or don't make the taxpayer foot the bill - no brainer.  
[/quote]

I disagree, PP.

First, a 5-year retention rate (from 6th to 11th) of 35% translates into a re-enrollment rate of 81%.  That would be a perfectly respectable re-enrollment rate -- below Latin's but above Chavez's.

Actually, I'd be curious to know what Latin's 5-year retention rate is in reality.  Latin replaces departing students with new students all the way through.  The re-enrollment rate Latin advertises includes both old and new students.  The re-enrollment rate among new students is probably higher than among old students, especially given the reports of the exodus after 8th grade.  I would not be surprised to learn that fewer than 35% of Latin 6th graders from 5 years ago are in the 11th grade this year.

Second, BASIS does not oust its students.  Recognizing how challenging the curriculum is, BASIS tries hard to support its students.  BASIS students entering in the fall have been meeting for classes twice a week since March.  BASIS will also provide summer classes, extended office hours during the school year, homework buddies, etc.

Beginning the 6th grade, BASIS students must pass comprehensive exams in order to advance to the next grade.  They get two chances to pass their comps -- one at the end of the year and one at the end of the summer.  If they fail both times, they must repeat the grade.

It is undoubtedly the case that some of the kids who leave BASIS do so because they fail their comps and do not want to repeat the year.  Nevertheless, BASIS is not going to lift the comp requirement to keep those kids.

I hold a PhD as well, PP, and in my program, PhD candidates were not allowed to begin dissertation work until they passed comprehensive exams in a number of subject areas.  Some of my peers had trouble and spent several years completing the comp requirement.  Others passed all of the comps during their first two years.  The comp requirement at BASIS is an integral part of the program, as it was at my university.

Anyway, I suspect that most of the attrition at BASIS comes from kids who pass their comps but decide that the rigorous curriculum is still not right for them, not from kids who fail their comps.  Some kids just want programs that basis does not offer, e.g., a school football team.

The BASIS approach seems to be rather than offer a rigorous curriculum to a select group of kids who are screened at the outset, offer the rigorous curriculum to all takers and see who is capable of succeeding at it.  The BASIS approach seems more equitable to me, and it has resulted in phenomenal success at one BASIS school.

I am optimistic that the BASIS approach will achieve comparable success here in DC.  While I am happy to continue the debate on the pros and cons of the BASIS approach and its relevance to the demographics of DC, the truth is that only way to determine if the BASIS approach works here is to try it here.  The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics