Reply to Basis fills a gap that shouldn’t exist.

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Basis fills a gap that shouldn’t exist."

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Bottom line, choose Basis and high chance it will not be a good fit either in middle or high school.

No guarantee of anything and you take your risk, play lottery, try to get into private or move.

Chances of any of the above options gets lower each year.  The only sure thing is move.

The end [/quote]

Is moving really a sure thing?

We know families that moved from Ward 6 to MoCo, or Arlington, or Fairfax mainly for schools and seem to regret it. We also know people who paid through the nose to send their kids to the perfect seeming DC privates only to find that their children were miserable at these schools. We even know people who nervously sent a kid who was deeply average at math in ES to BASIS only to discover that the kid liked the program well enough to stay through high school.

I'm no BASIS fan; we only lasted a couple years. But I no longer believe in sure things where adolescents and their schools go. [/quote]

So true. Sometimes I think we agonize over school choice because it’s easier than grappling with the real challenges of adolescence. [/quote]

+1. Why is this concept so hard to understand? Pick the school that is best for your kid! For some that will be BASIS, for some it won’t. For some it will work for only middle school, for some it will work all the way through. Deal with it, because that’s what you chose to deal with when you decided to become a parent.[/quote]

If only you could simply pick. Not in DC, with the lottery system and schools that are basically closed out after fifth or sixth grade, due to limited seats and, in the case of Basis, no backfilling. [/quote]

From this thread, most people don't want to send their kid to BASIS anyway, so it should be easy to get a lottery seat if you are one of the few who do.[/quote]

At least 50% of kids who lottery for BASIS don't get spots. Also, the lack of backfilling compounds this problem because even though some of the kids who DO get spots later decide it's not for them and leave, if you have bad lottery luck the one year you can enter BASIS (5th) then you will never get a spot there again.

The no backfilling is a major reason BASIS attracts a lot of negative attention on these boards. It's important to understand this. And you can defend the no backfilling policy if you want but if you can't understand why it pisses people off, especially given the level of attrition at BASIS and how miserable that 5th grade lottery is for parents thanks to the near impossibility of getting into Latin or DCI, then you don't understand this conversation. Latin and DCI have lower attrition *and* they backfill. All the acceptable DCPS middle and high schools are required to backfill if they have space. Only BASIS doesn't backfill which means [b]it's the one acceptable MS/HS option in the city[/b] that you have exactly one chance at. Of course that is going to result in resentment and criticism.[/quote]

Wait - this is a bit schizophrenic. In this thread, I keep hearing about all the ways that Basis is fundamentally UNacceptable, e.g., lack of flexibility, poor physical plant, sparse extracurriculars, sky high attrition, etc.

If Basis is so awful, who cares about its relatively narrow entry pathway and aversion to backfilling? 
[/quote]

Those criticisms only emerge because people are resentful about how unavailable BASIS is as an option. It makes BASIS an all or nothing option, which heightens criticism of their approach. If BASIS were an option you could opt into later, when it was clear your kid would do well in their system, people wouldn't be as critical.

The backfilling issue makes BASIS exclusive and out of reach for a lot of families, and that's going to attract negative attention.[/quote]

But Latin is even more exclusive, even with (sibling) backfilling. This is pure emotion and pathetic. [/quote]

So Latin and DCI do backfill?
[/quote]

Yes - but not to a degree adequate to address the problem of two few UMC-acceptable middle and high schools. Those schools may allow more opportunities for later entry, but statistically, one has a much better chance at getting a 5th grade slot at Basis (~50%) than EVER getting a spot Latin or DCI.

[/quote]

Weak teaching is my biggest fear at Basis. Looking at it as a prospective parent, I see lower compensated non-union teachers and a fairly standard administration. Is this overcome by the cohort since the Basis model weeds out at-risk kids? In other words, having more kids from educated  parents will help children excel even if the teachers are sub-optimal? Asking because this is a major reversal for my family if we pursue Basis; we are currently in a Title 1 school with a high at-risk population, but fantastic administration that attracts high quality teachers. [/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