Reply to Lack of Social Promotion at BASIS?

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Reply to "Lack of Social Promotion at BASIS?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I favor kids being academically prepared to go to the next grade. At the junior high level it's hard to begin to demand this. [/quote]

So the alternative is what?[/quote]

It's called "meeting them where they are" and finding an academic pathway to a HS diploma.  Just because a student isn't going to take AP classes doesn't mean they're not worth educating or don't deserve a HS diploma.  A public charter school doesn't get to say "we'll only take the wheat thank-you-very-much, the chaff needs to be sent back to their neighborhood school."[/quote]

[b]Why not?[/b] The achievement gap has proven impossible to close.  Why do we guarantee the failure of charters by demanding that they close the achievement gap?

The charter law creates a financial incentive to serve the needs of all children, provided those needs can be served for about $9,000 per student per year, plus the facilities allotment.  Charters that focus on particular segments can serve the needs of those segments more efficiently.

What's wrong with having a charter that focuses on providing a rigorous college prep curriculum?  Clearly, not all DC kids are college bound.   Aren't the needs of those DC kids who are not college bound better served by charters that provide vocational training?

Isn't the charter law about school choice?  About creating alternatives to DCPS?[/quote]

Because if charters are allowed to cherry pick the best students and leave everyone behind we'll have a two-tiered system for sure.  Charters offer choice, they also offer the district schools competition so that they will reform.  I am all in favor of more rigorous schools.  If DCPS wants to create a magnet MS, then it can be selective.  But charters have to educate everyone who walks through the door, regardless of ability or disability.

Basis may go the way of Latin and Yu Ying and skew disproportionately upper middle-class, but at the end of the day they don't get to choose their students.[/quote]

BASIS does, however, get to choose which of their students advance to 7th grade, 8th grade, etc.  Is there any difference other than in 5th and 6th grade?
[/quote]

As has been discussed many times on this board, Yu Ying won't take new students after 2nd grade.  And more significantly, it actually does track, apparently starting in 2nd grade.  But hey, at least they created an alternative education for students who still want to be at the school (even if they aren't fluent in Mandarin).[/quote]

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