Reply to Basis Charter School - Experience and Insight Requested

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]+1000. It’s a myth that most of the families who leave BASIS do it because the kids can’t handle the academics. Many leave for better schools overall, particularly Walls. We burned out on surprisingly uneven teaching and rowdy classrooms. [/quote]

Basis has rowdy classrooms?[/quote]

In the middle school, absolutely. BASIS hires too many teachers right out of grad school with little in the way of classroom management skills. These teachers often use BASIS as training to well-paid suburban jobs.

Too many of the kids aren't right for the curriculum and the cramped building--there's no outdoor space or gym--makes some of the younger kids stir crazy, particularly boys.
[/quote]

This sounds bad... I knew there was extremely high turnover, but didn't realize there was a lot of behavior issues. [/quote]

My 5th grader has never mentioned any behavior problems.[/quote]

The behavior issues and inability for teachers to discipline at all are the reason my kid left. I escalated to "leadership" and they were useless. And no she didn't "wash out" she had straight A's, distinguished honor roll and is killing it in HS now.[/quote]

A few years ago, theft was pretty common.

A friend's daughter had her airtagged bookbag (and laptop) stolen. Went home with her classmate to PG county. Of course the police refused to follow the airtag, but the school also refused to take action.[/quote]

Well let’s just say that there has been a precipitous drop in a certain population over the last few years, perhaps by design but probably also to a salutary impact in terms of behavior challenges.

[/quote]

Yep….

Here are the numbers:

School Year	Total Enrollment	Black Students	% Black
2012–2013	443	244	55%
2017–2018	602	223	37%
2018–2019	637	215	33.7%
2019–2020	640	174	27.2%
2020–2021	663	170	25.6%
2021–2022	650	132	20.3%
2022–2023	663	126	19.0%
2023–2024	690	131	19.0%

That’s a decline from 55% to 19% over a little more than a decade—more than a 65% drop in the Black share of the student body.

This isn’t about assigning blame, but I do think it raises real questions about accessibility, perception, and support structures. BASIS offers a strong, academically focused model—but it’s also fair to ask whether that model is working for a broad and diverse cross-section of DC families. If it isn’t, what’s driving that?

Would love to hear others’ thoughts or experiences—especially from Black families who’ve stayed, left, or chosen not to apply.[/quote]

Your data doesn't men what you think it means. Couple of reasons. First, 12-13 was the first year of schools' operation so it was an unknown quantity. Lots of families signed up for BASIS without knowing anything about it. Comparing that to enrollment once known quantity is apples to basketballs. Second, school opened with only lower grades. School is certainly less black in higher grades (which is fair for discussion) but, again, as raw data showing YoY of black total enrollment it isn't meaningful. You'd have to look at grade by grade to see if less black. Third, all schools are seeing declines as more students identify as multiracial. This is a trend across demographic data. Finally, if you actually look at your data set you'll see it is flat or virtually flat for years where all 8 grades were offered.

So other than the fact that you misinterpreted the data and it says the opposite of what you think it says, you NAILED IT![/quote]

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