Reply to How was the meeting with the admin meeting last week at BASIS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was being imprecise - yes I agree BASIS clearly represents itself as a school pushing intensive college prep and AP coursework with a heavy STEM focus. But my point is that it also clearly represents itself as a school that, by virtue of its world-renown program and infrastructure, can enable most if not all students to succeed in this endeavor i.e., no selective admissions, no tuition, etc. I have in mind this article http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2014/04/23/basis-and-university-high-are-top-us-high-schools-which-means
and this response by Tucson HOS http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2014/05/06/the-head-of-basis-tucson-north-responds
in which she said, in no uncertain terms, "the mission of BASIS is to provide a world-class education to all children" and "make this challenging curriculum accessible to all students".

The economic reality is that BASIS charter school cannot afford to have a student body limited to those who can really handle the academic curriculum (about 50% in my experience), let alone excel (5-15% in my experience). [/quote]

Right - Making the curriculum available to all kids is not at all the same as touting it as being a fit for all kids.  As you acknowledge, it's referring to removing the typical barriers to entry to a high end college prep program, i.e it's not a costly private or a selective-admission school.  It's open to all who apply - which is not at all the same as touting it as a school that will be a good fit for every student.  And it's ultimately not their place to turn away students who don't thrive or who aren't a good fit, that's for families to decide for themselves.  FYI, from what I've seen in DC, the percentage doing well (i.e. 90s club) is significantly higher than 5-15%, but as for those who struggle, it's a mix of things but the other parts of the equation not spoken to are many that  aren't within the school's control or ability to influence (prior preparedness, home environment or other things).  In terms of economic reality, I get the sense that their planning, projections and models anticipate and factor in attrition, and as such I really don't get the sense that student attrition catches them off guard, much less that it might drive them to compromise or misrepresent in recruitment in order to keep their financials up to par.[/quote]

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