Anonymous wrote:So, the vast, vast, vast number of schools in DC teach to the bottom in order to maintain “equity” but the one school that actually seeks to meet the needs of advanced learners in DC is demonized for failing to provide preference to a demographic least likely to succeed with its curriculum. Got it.

Nobody's saying that's what BASIS has to do. But if it were a truly quality school, an at-risk percentage of 10% wouldn't ruin it, right?

Did you ever get around to explaining the low AA retention rate?

So, the vast, vast, vast number of schools in DC teach to the bottom in order to maintain “equity” but the one school that actually seeks to meet the needs of advanced learners in DC is demonized for failing to provide preference to a demographic least likely to succeed with its curriculum. Got it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

It's not because I want a school that offers the preference. It's because I want a school that performs well *relative to demographics* because I think that's the more meaningful way to assess quality of teaching, and I think it's misleading and unhelpful to claim that BASIS is superior when really it just has easier demographics, and has them on purpose based on its own policy choices. You'll cry "100% lottery!" as if that's the only factor, but it's not. Schools have lots of ways of influencing which students enroll and are retained.

I would like BASIS boosters to explain why BASIS is unwilling to do the more challenging educational work that other schools are willing to undertake.

The equitable access preference is mostly about virtue signaling. Every school doesn't need to be singularly focused on "equity." It's ok for a school to be focused on providing challenging academics for the students who are admitted through a roll of the dice lottery.

Straw man. Nobody is advocating a "singular focus on equity". I'm asking why BASIS is deliberately choosing to have a lower at-risk population than many other schools. What is the reason for that choice?

Explain why you keep repeating that BASIS is deliberately "choosing" to have a lower at-risk population. How is it choosing? Are you saying it's manipulating the lottery? Are you saying that it reviews the financial information of students on the waitlist to determine who gets to enroll?

And surely you're aware of other lottery-based schools with similarly low at-risk populations, right? Are all of them deliberately "choosing" those demographics?

It's a choice because BASIS could implement the at-risk preference and has chosen not to.

Other lottery-based schools are at least trying, by implementing the preference, or they already have a higher at-risk percentage than BASIS does.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

It's not because I want a school that offers the preference. It's because I want a school that performs well *relative to demographics* because I think that's the more meaningful way to assess quality of teaching, and I think it's misleading and unhelpful to claim that BASIS is superior when really it just has easier demographics, and has them on purpose based on its own policy choices. You'll cry "100% lottery!" as if that's the only factor, but it's not. Schools have lots of ways of influencing which students enroll and are retained.

I would like BASIS boosters to explain why BASIS is unwilling to do the more challenging educational work that other schools are willing to undertake.

As if any explanation would be sufficient in your eyes.

This same argument is used time and again to denigrate Ward 3 schools and other charters--"the school isn't THAT great, it just has easier demographics!" I'm not a booster by any means but the test scores at BASIS speak for themselves. You can believe it's because the demographics are simply easier but that doesn't explain all of it. True, there is some "self-selection" of students who lottery for BASIS--presumably those who want the type of curriculum that's being offered--but that's certainly not a knock against the school. It's no different than the self-selection that language immersion schools have. The school isn't going to appeal to everyone and that's ok.
The beauty of school choice is that families can find the school that works for them.

I don't expect every public school to serve the same student population, nor do I expect every public school to be a good fit for every student. I suppose that's where we disagree.

So why the super rock bottom low at-risk percentage? Would not, say, 10 percent be a reasonable goal?

Please do explain the poor retention of AA students.

Why does there HAVE to be a goal? Explain.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

It's not because I want a school that offers the preference. It's because I want a school that performs well *relative to demographics* because I think that's the more meaningful way to assess quality of teaching, and I think it's misleading and unhelpful to claim that BASIS is superior when really it just has easier demographics, and has them on purpose based on its own policy choices. You'll cry "100% lottery!" as if that's the only factor, but it's not. Schools have lots of ways of influencing which students enroll and are retained.

I would like BASIS boosters to explain why BASIS is unwilling to do the more challenging educational work that other schools are willing to undertake.

The equitable access preference is mostly about virtue signaling. Every school doesn't need to be singularly focused on "equity." It's ok for a school to be focused on providing challenging academics for the students who are admitted through a roll of the dice lottery.

Straw man. Nobody is advocating a "singular focus on equity". I'm asking why BASIS is deliberately choosing to have a lower at-risk population than many other schools. What is the reason for that choice?

Explain why you keep repeating that BASIS is deliberately "choosing" to have a lower at-risk population. How is it choosing? Are you saying it's manipulating the lottery? Are you saying that it reviews the financial information of students on the waitlist to determine who gets to enroll?

And surely you're aware of other lottery-based schools with similarly low at-risk populations, right? Are all of them deliberately "choosing" those demographics?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

It's not because I want a school that offers the preference. It's because I want a school that performs well *relative to demographics* because I think that's the more meaningful way to assess quality of teaching, and I think it's misleading and unhelpful to claim that BASIS is superior when really it just has easier demographics, and has them on purpose based on its own policy choices. You'll cry "100% lottery!" as if that's the only factor, but it's not. Schools have lots of ways of influencing which students enroll and are retained.

I would like BASIS boosters to explain why BASIS is unwilling to do the more challenging educational work that other schools are willing to undertake.

As if any explanation would be sufficient in your eyes.

This same argument is used time and again to denigrate Ward 3 schools and other charters--"the school isn't THAT great, it just has easier demographics!" I'm not a booster by any means but the test scores at BASIS speak for themselves. You can believe it's because the demographics are simply easier but that doesn't explain all of it. True, there is some "self-selection" of students who lottery for BASIS--presumably those who want the type of curriculum that's being offered--but that's certainly not a knock against the school. It's no different than the self-selection that language immersion schools have. The school isn't going to appeal to everyone and that's ok.
The beauty of school choice is that families can find the school that works for them.

I don't expect every public school to serve the same student population, nor do I expect every public school to be a good fit for every student. I suppose that's where we disagree.

So why the super rock bottom low at-risk percentage? Would not, say, 10 percent be a reasonable goal?

Please do explain the poor retention of AA students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

It's not because I want a school that offers the preference. It's because I want a school that performs well *relative to demographics* because I think that's the more meaningful way to assess quality of teaching, and I think it's misleading and unhelpful to claim that BASIS is superior when really it just has easier demographics, and has them on purpose based on its own policy choices. You'll cry "100% lottery!" as if that's the only factor, but it's not. Schools have lots of ways of influencing which students enroll and are retained.

I would like BASIS boosters to explain why BASIS is unwilling to do the more challenging educational work that other schools are willing to undertake.

As if any explanation would be sufficient in your eyes.

This same argument is used time and again to denigrate Ward 3 schools and other charters--"the school isn't THAT great, it just has easier demographics!" I'm not a booster by any means but the test scores at BASIS speak for themselves. You can believe it's because the demographics are simply easier but that doesn't explain all of it. True, there is some "self-selection" of students who lottery for BASIS--presumably those who want the type of curriculum that's being offered--but that's certainly not a knock against the school. It's no different than the self-selection that language immersion schools have. The school isn't going to appeal to everyone and that's ok.
The beauty of school choice is that families can find the school that works for them.

I don't expect every public school to serve the same student population, nor do I expect every public school to be a good fit for every student. I suppose that's where we disagree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

It's not because I want a school that offers the preference. It's because I want a school that performs well *relative to demographics* because I think that's the more meaningful way to assess quality of teaching, and I think it's misleading and unhelpful to claim that BASIS is superior when really it just has easier demographics, and has them on purpose based on its own policy choices. You'll cry "100% lottery!" as if that's the only factor, but it's not. Schools have lots of ways of influencing which students enroll and are retained.

I would like BASIS boosters to explain why BASIS is unwilling to do the more challenging educational work that other schools are willing to undertake.

The equitable access preference is mostly about virtue signaling. Every school doesn't need to be singularly focused on "equity." It's ok for a school to be focused on providing challenging academics for the students who are admitted through a roll of the dice lottery.

Straw man. Nobody is advocating a "singular focus on equity". I'm asking why BASIS is deliberately choosing to have a lower at-risk population than many other schools. What is the reason for that choice?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

It's not because I want a school that offers the preference. It's because I want a school that performs well *relative to demographics* because I think that's the more meaningful way to assess quality of teaching, and I think it's misleading and unhelpful to claim that BASIS is superior when really it just has easier demographics, and has them on purpose based on its own policy choices. You'll cry "100% lottery!" as if that's the only factor, but it's not. Schools have lots of ways of influencing which students enroll and are retained.

I would like BASIS boosters to explain why BASIS is unwilling to do the more challenging educational work that other schools are willing to undertake.

The equitable access preference is mostly about virtue signaling. Every school doesn't need to be singularly focused on "equity." It's ok for a school to be focused on providing challenging academics for the students who are admitted through a roll of the dice lottery.

So should BASIS' performance be assessed in light of its rock bottom low at-risk percentage?

Please explain the poor retention of AA students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

It's not because I want a school that offers the preference. It's because I want a school that performs well *relative to demographics* because I think that's the more meaningful way to assess quality of teaching, and I think it's misleading and unhelpful to claim that BASIS is superior when really it just has easier demographics, and has them on purpose based on its own policy choices. You'll cry "100% lottery!" as if that's the only factor, but it's not. Schools have lots of ways of influencing which students enroll and are retained.

I would like BASIS boosters to explain why BASIS is unwilling to do the more challenging educational work that other schools are willing to undertake.

The equitable access preference is mostly about virtue signaling. Every school doesn't need to be singularly focused on "equity." It's ok for a school to be focused on providing challenging academics for the students who are admitted through a roll of the dice lottery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

It's not because I want a school that offers the preference. It's because I want a school that performs well *relative to demographics* because I think that's the more meaningful way to assess quality of teaching, and I think it's misleading and unhelpful to claim that BASIS is superior when really it just has easier demographics, and has them on purpose based on its own policy choices. You'll cry "100% lottery!" as if that's the only factor, but it's not. Schools have lots of ways of influencing which students enroll and are retained.

I would like BASIS boosters to explain why BASIS is unwilling to do the more challenging educational work that other schools are willing to undertake.

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

It's not literally unique, but it's becoming more and more rare. Can you think of even one middle or high school that has as low an at-risk percentage as BASIS does (7.76%) and yet doesn't have the at-risk preference? Find one, I dare you.

Here is a list of participating schools. https://www.myschooldc.org/node/49311
**For SY23-24 Barnard Elementary School,
Capitol Hill Montessori,
DC Wildflower PCS – The Riverseed School,
Dorothy I. Height Elementary School,
E.L. Haynes PCS – Elementary School, E.L. Haynes PCS – High School, E.L. Haynes PCS – Middle School,
Excel Academy,
Garrison Elementary School,
H.D. Cooke Elementary School,
Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS,
John Lewis Elementary School,
Latin American Montessori Bilingual (LAMB),
Lee Montessori - Brookland, Lee Montessori - East End,
MacArthur High School,
Military Road Early Learning Center,
Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS - Calle Ocho Campus,
Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS - J.F. Cook Campus,
School-Within-School,
Stevens Early Learning Center,
Two Rivers PCS at 4th Street, Two Rivers PCS at Young Elementary School, Two Rivers PCS at Young Middle School,
Van Ness Elementary School,
Washington Latin PCS – Cooper Campus, Washington Latin PCS – Middle School, Washington Latin PCS – Upper School
Washington Yu Ying PCS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

DP. Does it even matter though? You've chosen to focus on this, presumably because you seem to believe that it supports your theory that BASIS isn't a "good" school. If you prefer a school that offers Equitable Preference, there are more than a few that you can choose from. But not every school is required to offer this so using it as a way to attack BASIS is silly. Even if it did offer EP, you'd likely still find a problem with it.

Anonymous wrote:Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.

Ok, but what has BASIS made this choice?

Many schools don’t participate in the equitable preference program. That’s not unique to BASIS.