Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep patting yourself on the back for not choosing Basis. So you have no connection to Basis but feel the need to bash it and predict that it will "fail" for what purpose other than justifying your own reasoning for not sending your kid there. Whoopdidooo!

New poster. Wait a minute - sounds like the previous PP signed up initially, then got cold feet for good reason. Such posters surely don't want any particular DC public school to fail; they want and deserve selective admissions but aren't served by current options. Only highly gifted kids aren't served well - the special needs kids are, the performing arts-minded kids are at Duke Ellington, the "slow" kids and sport-oriented are all over the place. What's sad is that while high-SES families find a way forward, for the most part, low-SES G/T kids get thrown under the bus.

I see a purpose in pointing out that tossing kids who couldn't score proficient on the DC-CAS into the same classes as kids who probably could have scored "advanced" for a higher grade level than their own isn't sound policy. Where's the "bashing" in making factual statements about bona fide deficiencies in DCPS and DC Charter? Far too many upper-middle-class parents continue to hit the road for privates and the burbs and we are all poorer for the exodus (if nothing more, our property values don't benefit). The city should stem the tide somewhere, as NYC does - calling such parents names is what serves no purpose.

I agree that tossing kids who couldn't score proficient in DC-CAS into the same class as kids who score high isn't sound policy, it's masking the problem rather than actually dealing with it.

But I'm not sure I'm following the line of thinking in your first statement. How exactly are low-SES G&T kids being thrown under the bus? G&T kids regardless of SES should do fine at schools like Latin or Basis, aside from logistical challenges like transportation, and whatever challenges the young learner may have at home - which would face the low-SES student regardless of school choices. Even if DCPS established a school specifically for low-SES G&T students I am sure those same challenges would exist there as well.

+1. For an intelligent exchange on the merits of selective admissions and ability grouping vs. in-class differentiation at the ES & MS levels, you need to get off these DC threads and on those for independent schools, and VA and MD public schools.

DCPS and DC Charter parents will invariably claim that serious ES & MS ability grouping is unfair, unrealistic or both, given the current political calculus, helping explain why it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Dead-ended to raise such points here.

If a high-end kid was in a DCPS or DC Charter ES or MS before Basis, you can bet that they're coming in without having having been challenged unless their parents arranged challenge outside school. I say this having done my practice teaching at a MoCo Center for the Highly Gifted, where the curriculum was at least 2 years ahead of anything I've seen for 4th & 5th grade throughout DCPS and DC Charter. Not a bad thing that Basis will track for math, but I'll be really surprised if they don't water subject matter down in DC.

Anonymous wrote:Keep patting yourself on the back for not choosing Basis. So you have no connection to Basis but feel the need to bash it and predict that it will "fail" for what purpose other than justifying your own reasoning for not sending your kid there. Whoopdidooo!

New poster. Wait a minute - sounds like the previous PP signed up initially, then got cold feet for good reason. Such posters surely don't want any particular DC public school to fail; they want and deserve selective admissions but aren't served by current options. Only highly gifted kids aren't served well - the special needs kids are, the performing arts-minded kids are at Duke Ellington, the "slow" kids and sport-oriented are all over the place. What's sad is that while high-SES families find a way forward, for the most part, low-SES G/T kids get thrown under the bus.

I see a purpose in pointing out that tossing kids who couldn't score proficient on the DC-CAS into the same classes as kids who probably could have scored "advanced" for a higher grade level than their own isn't sound policy. Where's the "bashing" in making factual statements about bona fide deficiencies in DCPS and DC Charter? Far too many upper-middle-class parents continue to hit the road for privates and the burbs and we are all poorer for the exodus (if nothing more, our property values don't benefit). The city should stem the tide somewhere, as NYC does - calling such parents names is what serves no purpose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really does seem like a good number of the Yu Ying and Basis bashers are private school parents justifying their choices. It gets really old, hearing, "Just you wait and see!" Maybe things will change. Maybe Basis will figure something new out in DC.

I wish only the best for these schools even though we expect to chose other schools for our kids.

However, the Basis boosters saying, "Basis isn't for everyone" also bug me. Because actually it is. Whether it likes it or not.

I'm planning on keeping my ADHD GT kid away from Basis, but believe me there are parents whose kids have way bigger challenges than mine who are at Basis right now. And it is the legal duty of the school to serve them. The school's very survival depends on this.

"Basis isn't for everyone" isn't about Basis.

Face it, most of the charters aren't for everyone. Latin isn't a good fit for lots of students, immersion schools like Yu Ying or Mundo Verde aren't for everyone, Options is for troubled kids, St. Colettas is for disabled kids, and so on. DCPS isn't a good fit for lots of students, either - which is precisely why so many charters have popped up, they are serving more specialized demand. So if it "bugs you" and you are going to question Basis on that score, then frankly you have to question every single school in the city on that same premise.

+3

Anonymous wrote:Super great points 14:21.

You wait, most of the Basis boosters will have fallen by the wayside before 12th - without selective admissions, thoughtfully done, the writing is on the wall for great attrition at Basis before and during HS, or, at a minimum, a law suit-generating second track, a la Yu Ying.

Parents who were never on the path to Bronx Science, or one of the other highly competitive HS programs in the country, do lack experience with selective admissions ES and MS programs. So they're happy to buy into pie in the sky thinking, assuaging their white/high-SES guilt via buying into open lottery admissions as the route to the success high-end charters like Basis and Latin.

No dice, but your view will still be a hard sell. If you lack funds for privates, I'd head to the outer burbs, where they speak your language of logic and pragmatism, fluently.

More FUD. How refreshing.

I think Basis is going to be great for my smart but ADD kid. He needs a very clear procedure and they have that. Also loves the curriculum. Three science courses!

Anonymous wrote:Actually, because of the structure of the school some of my DC accomodation, arent't needed anymore.

I am PP. I forgot to mention that my childs other accomodations are being met.

Actually, because of the structure of the school some of my DC accomodation, arent't needed anymore.

Anonymous wrote:Basis is just the kind of school my ADHD GT child needs. My DC loves his all of his classes. This has been the 1st time in a long time, that my DC is exicted to share what he learned in school. And I no longer have to supplement work at home.Way to go Basis!

Does your kid require any accommodations? Is the school honoring them?

+2