Anonymous wrote:...I quickly counted ~15 out of 27 with MS or PhD
5 PhDs plus school director has PhD

Am I the only one who wonders why a PhD would chose to teach at a charter school? The good ones get tenure at a university or go into specialized business enterprises. Why would a PhD of any good quality choose to teach at a brand new charter school? With no guarantee of anything? It's not exactly the path one chooses when pursuing such a degree. What exactly is wrong with these faculty members?

Anonymous wrote:Check out the faculty profiles. Lots of PhD and MS folks. Also plenty of folks who have experience with the DC student population
https://www.basisdc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=120&Itemid=395

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but honestly it's not pulling in any new group of students that wasn't already applying to Deal OOB and Latin. It's just thinning the same crowd at the top end, and trying to figure out with the lottery luckers on the bottom.

To some degree I share your concern. But my hope is that increased capacity of rigorous programs in DC public schools (charter/DCPS) will lead to more families choosing to stay in the District, creating a positive feedback loop that strengthens the entire system. In my case, our family would have moved over this summer to MoCo, but we really want to stay in DC and so we will send one kid to BASIS and the others can stay at their DCPS school. Who knows how it will turn out, we'll take it year-by-year.

Anonymous wrote:...I quickly counted ~15 out of 27 with MS or PhD
5 PhDs plus school director has PhD

No dog in this fight, but seriously a PhD doesn't mean a person can teach children. Some can and do an amazing job, just not all. Those with training in education at least have demonstrated a desire to teach children.

Anonymous wrote:Check out the faculty profiles. Lots of PhD and MS folks. Also plenty of folks who have experience with the DC student population

https://www.basisdc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=120&Itemid=395

Yes, but honestly it's not pulling in any new group of students that wasn't already applying to Deal OOB and Latin. It's just thinning the same crowd at the top end, and trying to figure out with the lottery luckers on the bottom.

Anonymous wrote:...I quickly counted ~15 out of 27 with MS or PhD
5 PhDs plus school director has PhD

in political science. we'll see......

...I quickly counted ~15 out of 27 with MS or PhD
5 PhDs plus school director has PhD

Check out the faculty profiles. Lots of PhD and MS folks. Also plenty of folks who have experience with the DC student population

https://www.basisdc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=120&Itemid=395

I think there is plenty of demand for the model that Basis is following, but we shall see how time bears that out.

BASIS has a challenge ahead with retention IF it can't adequately prepare students to pass the comprehensive exams. Hopefully, they are ready to meet the challenge with a good high quality program that meets the needs of the students who lottery in. Otherwise, they will have a hard time keeping the doors open. That would be bad because, on paper anyway, they sound like they could be a good school.

Of course, everything is speculation since they aren't open yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis is open to anybody, it's not just for Capitol Hill, or rich white folks.

Yes, it is open to anybody with lottery luck, but I'm having a really hard time imagining a lot of poorly prepared kids from crappy schools (especially those coming out of Wards 5, 7 and 8) managing to get through those end of year exams starting in 6th grade. Rich white kids on Capitol Hill and elsewhere are sent to privates, not city schools.

Getting in to BASIS is no different than any other school with a lottery. STAYING in will be the challenge for some. The status quo of expecting to be able to coast through school without ever doing the work isn't going to fly there, you must pass comprehensive exams to move on. Students and their families will have to make a commitment to do the work and master the material, regardless of their background or where they come from.

Anonymous wrote:Basis is open to anybody, it's not just for Capitol Hill, or rich white folks.

Yes, it is open to anybody with lottery luck, but I'm having a really hard time imagining a lot of poorly prepared kids from crappy schools (especially those coming out of Wards 5, 7 and 8) managing to get through those end of year exams starting in 6th grade. Rich white kids on Capitol Hill and elsewhere are sent to privates, not city schools.

Anonymous wrote:^ So which charter?

probably the Cap City complainer, she stops by often

Basis is open to anybody, it's not just for Capitol Hill, or rich white folks.

^ So which charter?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis has also hired a real ELL specialist who is also a special education teacher.

That itself is a huge plus.
There are high functioing ELL students with few years in the USA ( ie Stoddert ES) who can score low proficient in English and Math, but need an individualized curriculum to improve their language skills.

uh, a REALLY good school would have at least one of each....

Our current charter does not have one.
In fact, it receives monies for ELL students without rendering any services