Anonymous wrote:But if you choose Stuart Hobson for MS inboundary what are you going to do for HS if you can't afford private school and your kid fails to test into SWW in 8th grade (a common enough outcome).

If your kid is white (generally no whites at Banneker) and not interested in the performing arts (for Duke Ellington), then what? There really aren't any UMC families at Eastern HS, a failing school by every measure.

BASIS sounds like torture in HS for all but a very small and super nerdy subset that doesn't mind the weak facilities (no library, real gym, stage/auditorium, outdoor space etc) and lack of emphasis on applied/hands-on learning.

The fact that they get a new head almost every school year does nothing to inspire confidence in this parent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But if you choose Stuart Hobson for MS inboundary what are you going to do for HS if you can't afford private school and your kid fails to test into SWW in 8th grade (a common enough outcome).

If your kid is white (generally no whites at Banneker) and not interested in the performing arts (for Duke Ellington), then what? There really aren't any UMC families at Eastern HS, a failing school by every measure.

BASIS sounds like torture in HS for all but a very small and super nerdy subset that doesn't mind the weak facilities (no library, real gym, stage/auditorium, outdoor space etc) and lack of emphasis on applied/hands-on learning.

The fact that they get a new head almost every school year does nothing to inspire confidence in this parent.

Send your kid to school with--gasp--kids of color? About 40% of kids at Eastern got a 3 or above on the ELA PARCC so there will be several hundred kids there who would be on the same academic level as a kid who fails the Walls test. Even in math, there are over 100 kids on this level so your kid will have a cohort of kids working at grade level. You could lottery/apply to lots of other schools, including Bard, Coolidge Early College, Haynes, Cap City, DCI (3 lottery slots right there), McKinley Tech, WLA. Eventually, Sojourner Truth will open too.

Or if that's too bold of an idea for you, I guess you'd have to move IB for Wilson or out of DC altogether. The DC government doesn't owe you a school with the right number of white kids for your own personal preference. And they don't owe you a special school that's for kids too mediocre for Walls but not quite as bad as you're afraid of having in your kid's class.

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was about BASIS and its head of school situation. . .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But if you choose Stuart Hobson for MS inboundary what are you going to do for HS if you can't afford private school and your kid fails to test into SWW in 8th grade (a common enough outcome).

If your kid is white (generally no whites at Banneker) and not interested in the performing arts (for Duke Ellington), then what? There really aren't any UMC families at Eastern HS, a failing school by every measure.

BASIS sounds like torture in HS for all but a very small and super nerdy subset that doesn't mind the weak facilities (no library, real gym, stage/auditorium, outdoor space etc) and lack of emphasis on applied/hands-on learning.

The fact that they get a new head almost every school year does nothing to inspire confidence in this parent.

Send your kid to school with--gasp--kids of color? About 40% of kids at Eastern got a 3 or above on the ELA PARCC so there will be several hundred kids there who would be on the same academic level as a kid who fails the Walls test. Even in math, there are over 100 kids on this level so your kid will have a cohort of kids working at grade level. You could lottery/apply to lots of other schools, including Bard, Coolidge Early College, Haynes, Cap City, DCI (3 lottery slots right there), McKinley Tech, WLA. Eventually, Sojourner Truth will open too.

Or if that's too bold of an idea for you, I guess you'd have to move IB for Wilson or out of DC altogether. The DC government doesn't owe you a school with the right number of white kids for your own personal preference. And they don't owe you a special school that's for kids too mediocre for Walls but not quite as bad as you're afraid of having in your kid's class.

Are you kidding me about Eastern? You realize that a 4 for PARCC scores is grade level right? Last year only 18% students in ELA got a 4 and only 4% in Math. PARCC 3 is terrible and below grade level and even with that it’s only 38% in ELA and 15% in math. So the remaining difference from 100% is way below grade level, i.e the overwhelmingly majority of the school. It’s abysmal.

The only reason DCPS lists 3 and 4 as measures for PARCC is because many schools have no 5’s at all. Their criteria is very low because the students are so poor performing. The parameter really should be 4 (grade level) and 5 (exceeding grade level).

Stuart Hobson does better at PARCC 4 last year with 45% ELA and 22% math. But Basis blows both Eastern and SH away with 73% ELA and 65% math. I would also bet they have a good percentage at PARCC 5’’s but that data is not public.

I wouldn't put much stock in high school PARCC scores. There's nothing in it for high school kids to score well, and they know it. Many don't try hard on the PARCC, or even turn up to take it. SAT and AP scores and school demographics are far more telling than PARCC scores at the HS level.

To those of you who cheer with UMC white DC parents aren't provided with the sort of middle and high school programs they're excited about, and leave the traditional public system as a result, you might want to consider that the exodus you celebrate only hurts poor kids, deprived of high-performing peers and school diversity. If you don't incentivize highly-educated parents to stay in your traditional public schools, charters, private schools and suburban programs (and realtors) win, not low SES minority students in traditional public schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But if you choose Stuart Hobson for MS inboundary what are you going to do for HS if you can't afford private school and your kid fails to test into SWW in 8th grade (a common enough outcome).

If your kid is white (generally no whites at Banneker) and not interested in the performing arts (for Duke Ellington), then what? There really aren't any UMC families at Eastern HS, a failing school by every measure.

BASIS sounds like torture in HS for all but a very small and super nerdy subset that doesn't mind the weak facilities (no library, real gym, stage/auditorium, outdoor space etc) and lack of emphasis on applied/hands-on learning.

The fact that they get a new head almost every school year does nothing to inspire confidence in this parent.

Send your kid to school with--gasp--kids of color? About 40% of kids at Eastern got a 3 or above on the ELA PARCC so there will be several hundred kids there who would be on the same academic level as a kid who fails the Walls test. Even in math, there are over 100 kids on this level so your kid will have a cohort of kids working at grade level. You could lottery/apply to lots of other schools, including Bard, Coolidge Early College, Haynes, Cap City, DCI (3 lottery slots right there), McKinley Tech, WLA. Eventually, Sojourner Truth will open too.

Or if that's too bold of an idea for you, I guess you'd have to move IB for Wilson or out of DC altogether. The DC government doesn't owe you a school with the right number of white kids for your own personal preference. And they don't owe you a special school that's for kids too mediocre for Walls but not quite as bad as you're afraid of having in your kid's class.

Are you kidding me about Eastern? You realize that a 4 for PARCC scores is grade level right? Last year only 18% students in ELA got a 4 and only 4% in Math. PARCC 3 is terrible and below grade level and even with that it’s only 38% in ELA and 15% in math. So the remaining difference from 100% is way below grade level, i.e the overwhelmingly majority of the school. It’s abysmal.

The only reason DCPS lists 3 and 4 as measures for PARCC is because many schools have no 5’s at all. Their criteria is very low because the students are so poor performing. The parameter really should be 4 (grade level) and 5 (exceeding grade level).

Stuart Hobson does better at PARCC 4 last year with 45% ELA and 22% math. But Basis blows both Eastern and SH away with 73% ELA and 65% math. I would also bet they have a good percentage at PARCC 5’’s but that data is not public.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're a DCPS 4th grade family EotP. I don't know all that much about BASIS DC, other than that a big cohort from our school's 4th grade dashes there for 5th every year. I'm told that a lot more of our school's 4th graders land at BASIS than return to our school for 5th.

Before stumbling across this thread, I didn't know that BASIS DC has cycled through half a dozen principals in 7 or 8 years!! Big red flag whatever the story is with this head.

Call me crazy but it's an even bigger red flag that families will take on that level of instability for a BASIS education rather than stay in their EOTP school. What is it that families are getting at BASIS that makes them ok with such instaility? Or is what's happening in the classroom and in social interactions with peers so much more important than the impact of a constantly changing Head of School?

I've posted above. Kid graduated last year. Our IB is Coolidge, my DC had some disabilities that required accommodations that SWW wouldn't grant even on the entrance exam (red flag), and didn't want to go to Banneker which had a predominantly female student body.

The HOS mattered to me as a parent. BUT my kid didn't really notice the HOS that much. Their day to day job was to manage and hire and fire teachers, implement the budget, deal with OSSE/PCSB and Arizona. The classes of 2018 and 19 generally LOVED the most recent one because they knew her as their Chemistry teacher, then college counselor (obviously not senior year but there is college advising each year at Basis.

The college counseling program at Basis is, IMO, on par with a private school, and a big reason we stuck around. Two full-time counselors for a HS of about 200-225 students, and a caseload of just 20-30 seniors. Very personalized advice, help with finding a school that is affordable and meets your needs. Finishing all, or virtually all, APs by the end of junior year was a blessing because it left time for college apps and the senior year courses were really interesting and gave a flavor of what college would be like. My kid did the optional capstone senior project, had a good internship experience and did some really interesting individual research. All those things don't change with the HOS - they are baked into the model.

The last head's changes are great, but TBH mostly affected the MS because the HS teachers were already pretty strong, and MS is where they really needed more SEL and heart, for lack of a better word. That stuff came a bit late for my DC but was promising for those who are still there.

Thank you. This is important. People throw stones at BASIS but parents and kids are getting something that they value. Seems like more time should be spent examining how the schools they are leaving should improve rather than tearing down the schools where they are going.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But if you choose Stuart Hobson for MS inboundary what are you going to do for HS if you can't afford private school and your kid fails to test into SWW in 8th grade (a common enough outcome).

If your kid is white (generally no whites at Banneker) and not interested in the performing arts (for Duke Ellington), then what? There really aren't any UMC families at Eastern HS, a failing school by every measure.

BASIS sounds like torture in HS for all but a very small and super nerdy subset that doesn't mind the weak facilities (no library, real gym, stage/auditorium, outdoor space etc) and lack of emphasis on applied/hands-on learning.

The fact that they get a new head almost every school year does nothing to inspire confidence in this parent.

Send your kid to school with--gasp--kids of color? About 40% of kids at Eastern got a 3 or above on the ELA PARCC so there will be several hundred kids there who would be on the same academic level as a kid who fails the Walls test. Even in math, there are over 100 kids on this level so your kid will have a cohort of kids working at grade level. You could lottery/apply to lots of other schools, including Bard, Coolidge Early College, Haynes, Cap City, DCI (3 lottery slots right there), McKinley Tech, WLA. Eventually, Sojourner Truth will open too.

Or if that's too bold of an idea for you, I guess you'd have to move IB for Wilson or out of DC altogether. The DC government doesn't owe you a school with the right number of white kids for your own personal preference. And they don't owe you a special school that's for kids too mediocre for Walls but not quite as bad as you're afraid of having in your kid's class.

Are you kidding me about Eastern? You realize that a 4 for PARCC scores is grade level right? Last year only 18% students in ELA got a 4 and only 4% in Math. PARCC 3 is terrible and below grade level and even with that it’s only 38% in ELA and 15% in math. So the remaining difference from 100% is way below grade level, i.e the overwhelmingly majority of the school. It’s abysmal.

The only reason DCPS lists 3 and 4 as measures for PARCC is because many schools have no 5’s at all. Their criteria is very low because the students are so poor performing. The parameter really should be 4 (grade level) and 5 (exceeding grade level).

Stuart Hobson does better at PARCC 4 last year with 45% ELA and 22% math. But Basis blows both Eastern and SH away with 73% ELA and 65% math. I would also bet they have a good percentage at PARCC 5’’s but that data is not public.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But if you choose Stuart Hobson for MS inboundary what are you going to do for HS if you can't afford private school and your kid fails to test into SWW in 8th grade (a common enough outcome).

If your kid is white (generally no whites at Banneker) and not interested in the performing arts (for Duke Ellington), then what? There really aren't any UMC families at Eastern HS, a failing school by every measure.

BASIS sounds like torture in HS for all but a very small and super nerdy subset that doesn't mind the weak facilities (no library, real gym, stage/auditorium, outdoor space etc) and lack of emphasis on applied/hands-on learning.

The fact that they get a new head almost every school year does nothing to inspire confidence in this parent.

Send your kid to school with--gasp--kids of color? About 40% of kids at Eastern got a 3 or above on the ELA PARCC so there will be several hundred kids there who would be on the same academic level as a kid who fails the Walls test. Even in math, there are over 100 kids on this level so your kid will have a cohort of kids working at grade level. You could lottery/apply to lots of other schools, including Bard, Coolidge Early College, Haynes, Cap City, DCI (3 lottery slots right there), McKinley Tech, WLA. Eventually, Sojourner Truth will open too.

Or if that's too bold of an idea for you, I guess you'd have to move IB for Wilson or out of DC altogether. The DC government doesn't owe you a school with the right number of white kids for your own personal preference. And they don't owe you a special school that's for kids too mediocre for Walls but not quite as bad as you're afraid of having in your kid's class.

Are you kidding me about Eastern? You realize that a 4 for PARCC scores is grade level right? Last year only 18% students in ELA got a 4 and only 4% in Math. PARCC 3 is terrible and below grade level and even with that it’s only 38% in ELA and 15% in math. So the remaining difference from 100% is way below grade level, i.e the overwhelmingly majority of the school. It’s abysmal.

The only reason DCPS lists 3 and 4 as measures for PARCC is because many schools have no 5’s at all. Their criteria is very low because the students are so poor performing. The parameter really should be 4 (grade level) and 5 (exceeding grade level).