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[quote=Anonymous]I'm the mom of a 5th grader who's with you, 22:31, in wondering about the longevity of the BASIS experiment for high-SES parents, whatever's happened in AZ.

Although things are going well enough so far (with rote learning more of a problem in AZ), I find myself thinking about how keeping high-SES families won't necessarily become a self-fullfilling prophecy even if the academic program remains strong.  Our kids are still young enough that the element of self-selection at the school, coupled with good information about what to expect academically, largely trumps the achievement/social gap between most high and low-SES kids.

A good many (most?) of the low-SES 5th graders face home lives that seem likely to derail them at BASIS eventually, or to result in the curriculum being watered down in the interests of keeping them. For example, my DC has become friendly with a boy who not only makes the commute from Ward 8 alone at age 11 but babysits for younger siblings after school.  My kid reports that teachers seldom correct his friend's Eubonics grammar when they hear it, so he's taken it upon himself to flag double negatives in the interests of "helping" this boy.  I've explained that his campaign, while well-intentioned is almost certainly going to offend and alienate.

What I hear in talking to other middle-class parents about how long they think they'll stay sounds no different than what I heard at our Hill DCPS school, it's the same old "we're playing it by ear by-by-year approach."  These are parents with what I suspect are private contingency plans that are very much alive- independents, Latin, MoCo, Fairfax, whatever.

I'd like to hear from parents at various points on the stay or go (maybe) spectrum.  We seem to concur that Basis is going well SO FAR but how confident do we feel that it will go well for almost 8 more years..??   As yet another family with life savings sunk into a row house, and communities ties in DC that we'd hate to sever, taking it year-by-year is getting old for us.

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