Reply to Preparation for Basis Exam

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The reason that BASIS DC doesn't backfill after 5th grade is not of the franchise's making. The BASIS Arizona campuses have always backfilled at every grade.  Politicians there don't mind if entering students are giving tough placement exams. Most students who enter BASIS after 6th grade in Arizona must repeat a great, sometimes two, to join the program. In DC, such an admissions system would be considered discriminatory, opening the door to litigation, so none exists. [/quote]

This. The problem is not that BASIS isn't willing to take in kids, it is that DC (in the name of "equity" or some nonsense) has decided that having kids meet a firm standard is...discrimination? Instead of lowering expectations and standards to DC's level, BASIS says "Nah, we're good."

Every BASIS family wishes that the school was bigger and had more space. If I had a free $60k/yr sitting around I'd send my kid to Sidwell. That isn't an option. What drives so many of us mad about DCUM is the posters who act like (i) there is a perfect school (ii) the limitations at BASIS (or any school) can be easily solved or (iii) seem really oddly invested in BASIS's deficiencies. That third one is just weird. These people spend more time and energy on a school they dislike than they do working to improve whatever school they eventually attend. Just seems weird and personal to spend so much time, energy and anger on something you pretend to not care about.  [/quote]

A big part of public school is meeting *all* students where they are. It is hard teaching a classroom where some kids are above grade level, some kids are below grade level, and some kids might have attended 5 schools last year. That difficulty is part of why public school teachers get paid more than private school teachers. It's fine if basis doesn't want to do that and if basis students are thriving in classes where that doesn't need to be done. But then basis doesn't get to be treated the same as other public schools for funding.[/quote]

?? Every public school in DC gets funding based on how many students they have. B[b]y choosing not to backfill, Basis is giving up money.[/b] [/quote]

The poster was complaining that basis (and other charters?) were underfunded.[/quote]
They don't backfill because the city council and the DCPCSB never signed off on the franchise doing so in the District, as they'd always done in Arizona.  The BASIS charter doesn't permit them to backfill after 6th grade. They asked to backfill per Arizona procedures and were told no by the DC ed powers that be.[/quote]

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