Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, where do you plan to send your super-bright fourth grader?

We're planning to keep him in DCPS for 5th, then St. Anselm's (boys Benedictine Abbey school) in Brookland, if he gets in. We're not Catholic but the school is 10K cheaper than many NW privates, and closer to us, and sends many boys to Georgetown, Ivies etc. He will continue to do Johns Hopkins CTY camps in the summers, which he loves. St. Anselm's is no jock school, but at least they have grass, a stage, an orchestra etc. I also like the fact that they don't weed boys out. DC is shy so we don't want hard-earned friends leaving.

They don't weed out? First of all, they weed girls out, they don't even accept them in the first place. Secondly, they weed out anyone who can't come up with the $23,000 tuition. Funny that someone would jump on and criticize schools like BASIS that are open to all and which give everyone a chance about things like retention or "weeding out" (and even that's not an accurate characterization, as the students leaving BASIS self-selected out) and then turn around and trot out a school that's already excluded most DC students whether lower class, middle class and even many upper middle class kids, before they even had a chance.

Anonymous wrote: Are you saying that St. Anselm's practice social promotion? The prep school I went to does not practice social promotion and required failing students to repeat a grade.

There probably is a little social promotion, if that's what you want to call it, since privates value social cohesion in a way that public schools rarely do. I asked how many kids repeat a middle school grade, and they said around one per year, generally more for social reasons than academic. But since they're only taking around one-quarter of applicants, they almost always get kids who can handle the curriculum. Their 6th grade class AND graduating class have no more than 60 boys, kids can test in along the way to replace drop-outs.

Anonymous wrote:So I have a few questions about how Basis will go forward. If you don't pass and are retained then what happens if you just keep being retained? This is after all a public school open to all students (subject to lottery of course) regardless of ability. It isn't test in so what is the rule/regulation which allows them to retain/dismiss students due to poor academics? If any public school could dismiss because of poor academics......

Charter schools are granted broad powers by the DC School Reform Act:

(3) Control. --A public charter school:

(A) Shall exercise exclusive control over its expenditures, administration,
personnel, and instructional methods, within the limitations imposed in this subchapter; and

(B) Shall be exempt from District of Columbia statutes, policies, rules, and regulations established for the District of Columbia public schools by the Superintendent, Board of Education, Mayor, District of Columbia Council, or Authority, except as otherwise provided in the school’s charter or this subchapter.

If the school's charter says that they can retain kids who fail to demonstrate mastery of grade-level material, and the PCSB approves the charter, then the school can retain those kids. It doesn't matter if the charter conflicts with DCPS policies, since those policies don't apply to charters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, where do you plan to send your super-bright fourth grader?

We're planning to keep him in DCPS for 5th, then St. Anselm's (boys Benedictine Abbey school) in Brookland, if he gets in. We're not Catholic but the school is 10K cheaper than many NW privates, and closer to us, and sends many boys to Georgetown, Ivies etc. He will continue to do Johns Hopkins CTY camps in the summers, which he loves. St. Anselm's is no jock school, but at least they have grass, a stage, an orchestra etc. I also like the fact that they don't weed boys out. DC is shy so we don't want hard-earned friends leaving.

Are you saying that St. Anselm's practice social promotion? The prep school I went to does not practice social promotion and required failing students to repeat a grade.

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, where do you plan to send your super-bright fourth grader?

We're planning to keep him in DCPS for 5th, then St. Anselm's (boys Benedictine Abbey school) in Brookland, if he gets in. We're not Catholic but the school is 10K cheaper than many NW privates, and closer to us, and sends many boys to Georgetown, Ivies etc. He will continue to do Johns Hopkins CTY camps in the summers, which he loves. St. Anselm's is no jock school, but at least they have grass, a stage, an orchestra etc. I also like the fact that they don't weed boys out. DC is shy so we don't want hard-earned friends leaving.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So even a D at Basis will pass?

A "D" is passing in most secondary schools in the country. Unfortunately, an "F" is passing in most DCPS schools since they have social promotion!!

Yet, retention hasn't proven to be an effective remedy for kids who are below grade level. If they didn't get the material the first time, having them sit though it again often doesn't help. The student's individual learning problems need to be addressed, and they need to see a different presentation of the material.

BASIS already is offering specialized help for struggling students. What makes you think they will not do the same if a student repeats a grade. Also, social promotion does not[u] seem to be working for DCPS's 41% attrition rate via students dropping out altogether Then, what about the all too many students who "graduate" from DCPS with a lack of proficiency in reading and basic math?? Where was all of that individualized help for those students that DCPS failed to help?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So even a D at Basis will pass?

A "D" is passing in most secondary schools in the country. Unfortunately, an "F" is passing in most DCPS schools since they have social promotion!!

Yet, retention hasn't proven to be an effective remedy for kids who are below grade level. If they didn't get the material the first time, having them sit though it again often doesn't help. The student's individual learning problems need to be addressed, and they need to see a different presentation of the material.

Anonymous wrote:The twisted side of me would love to send my bright kid there and tell him to bomb every one of these comp exams just to see what they would do.

Ummm... They would offer summer school and a retake of the comp and then would give the child a chance to repeat the course. What do you think would happen and what would be gained?

Anonymous wrote:The twisted side of me would love to send my bright kid there and tell him to bomb every one of these comp exams just to see what they would do.

That sounds like child abuse to me.

Anonymous wrote:So even a D at Basis will pass?

A "D" is passing in most secondary schools in the country. Unfortunately, an "F" is passing in most DCPS schools since they have social promotion!!

The twisted side of me would love to send my bright kid there and tell him to bomb every one of these comp exams just to see what they would do.

So even a D at Basis will pass?

Anonymous wrote:So I have a few questions about how Basis will go forward. If you don't pass and are retained then what happens if you just keep being retained? This is after all a public school open to all students (subject to lottery of course) regardless of ability. It isn't test in so what is the rule/regulation which allows them to retain/dismiss students due to poor academics? If any public school could dismiss because of poor academics......

They do not dismiss any student for poor academics and students only need a "D" to pass a course. If a student fails despite all of the tutoring and supports, they are offered an opportunity for summer school and a retake of the final exams. If they still fail, they are offered to repeat a grade. Honestly, I think most families will unfortunately choose to go elsewhere rather than be retained. Retention is honestly the only hope of helping students who have not even attained a "D" level of knowledge of the school material. DCPS does many students a disservice by passing them along to the point that many cannot even read proficiently or do basic math by the time they graduate or until they just drop out.

So I have a few questions about how Basis will go forward. If you don't pass and are retained then what happens if you just keep being retained? This is after all a public school open to all students (subject to lottery of course) regardless of ability. It isn't test in so what is the rule/regulation which allows them to retain/dismiss students due to poor academics? If any public school could dismiss because of poor academics......

So BASIS doesn't have a football stadium. I don't really have a problem with that. Big whoop. Schools aren't about athletics anyways, those are extras. There's no athletics requirement in Title IX other than that IF schools provide athletics, it must be equal provisions for both genders. From my experiences, I've seen that schools with those athletic fields, amenities and facilities typically revolve more around patronage jobs and crony contracts than they do around meeting students needs, there is example after example of that everywhere, including the big affluent suburban areas. But either way, to each his own, try and balance those high school footbawl concussions, brain trauma and diminished cognitive ability against the prospect of a well honed mind going to MIT and becoming the next great engineer or scientist.