Reply to how to address the under enrollment at Brookland Middle School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]BASIS attracts some families because 1) the academics are rigorous, 2) the school has a no social promotion policy and 3) the kids have to take 6 AP exams to graduate -- meaning the fact that they learned something (or didn't) is validated externally.

To be blunt, parents of strong students figure that while there may be kids below grade level in their children's 5th or 6th grade classes (except for math), by 7th those kids will have either caught up, or will have left the school.

It's really controversial, and their high stakes test policies in middle school sometimes catch 'good' students too, who struggle in a subject.

That's not something DCPS can do, and something no other charter chooses to do.

[/quote]

I'm the previous poster that mentioned BASIS, as an example of how a rigorous program can attract students, even when the school lacks other things that most parents want.  You're right that there are some things about BASIS that wouldn't work in DCPS.  I still there are things that DCPS can do it institute a rigorous curriculum, and these things would attract more students.[/quote]

If your goal is to get high-SES families through rigor, good luck. Lots of folks in Brookland say they won't use BMS because it lacks rigor, but they're trying to get their kids into places like Shining Stars and CMI...which have a lot going for them but rigor isn't really among them.  And lots of folks in Brookland already feel like they have rigorous options, like KIPP or DC Prep. Replicating their models, which absolutely raise achievement for many students in a majority at-risk student body, could be attractive to some people but a) is hard to do in a DCPS vs. a charter and b) probably wouldn't make the DCUM crowd any happier.

You have to figure out what you want: a school that is attractive to rich people (organic meals, tracked classes, inquiry-based learning), or a school that raises achievement among kids who come in behind (extended school days/years, trauma-focused services, remediation, along with plenty of physical activity and fun stuff that isn't just math and reading worksheets), or a school that tries to do both but kids rarely meet each other across the divide. [/quote]

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