Gene Glass, a Regents’ Professor Emeritus from Arizona State University, is a staff member at the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) and writes a terrific, informative blog, Education in Two Worlds. He’s recently written two posts which contain first person accounts of two brushes with BASIS, one from a parent who tried to enroll her child in BASIS Scottsdale in the 7th grade and another from a woman who attended an informational meeting about a new K-4 BASIS opening in Phoenix. I’ve pulled out a few excerpts.
First the parent who tried to enroll her child in BASIS Scottsdale as a 7th grader. This is a very good student who had taken advanced classes in Scottsdale Unified schools, but she was discouraged from enrolling him because he would be too far behind.
[I was told] it would be very, very difficult for my child to enter BASIS. At the tender age of 12, my child would be “too far behind.” The “double advanced” math class in which my child skipped 6th and 7th grade math and entered 8th grade pre-algebra was the absolute lowest, remedial class BASIS offered. Missing two years of Latin was another problem. Basically, the message was, if you didn’t start in 5th grade or at the very least 6th grade, BASIS doesn’t want you. If there are parents stating that BASIS seemed to not want their child with special needs or who struggles in a particular subject, well, I would believe it, because they didn’t want my Principal’s List, National Junior Honor Society, gifted child.
She noted that the amount of classroom space allotted for students at each grade level shrinks as students move up the grades. The diminishing number of students at higher grade levels is built into the school’s plans. She compared the pared-down classes, which begin with a self-selected high ability group of children and become even more selective with the passing years, with a similar cadre of capable, motivated students at a Scottsdale public school.
I can promise you that if you took the group of kids in my child’s double advanced math class and compared their scores with that of BASIS, we would be on US News and World Report’s top ten list. If our public schools were allowed to only submit the scores of its brightest, most motivated students, we wouldn’t have a nation obsessed with the notion that charter schools are doing a better job of educating our young. If our high school was allowed to systematically weed out students year after year until only the most hard-working, brightest remained, I am quite sure you would find a group of students with a 100% passing rate on their AP exams and some spanked SAT scores. In fact, to that end, I would be happy to work with my contacts at the district to provide for you the aggregate test scores, AP rates, etc. of Chaparral’s top 35 students. I think that we will find commensurate test scores along with a group of well rounded students who were also exposed to sports, clubs, and students from all walks of life and teachers who were dedicated career teachers that produced those results year after year.
Next, a woman who attended a BASIS sales pitch for its BASIS Phoenix charter which will open as a K-4 school.
The presentation started with a series of video clips projected onto a large screen. The clips showed school teachers as portrayed in popular media like movies, and each one made the teachers look ridiculous. Of course, the famous Ben Stein scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was featured: “Anybody, Anybody?” The message was clear: traditional, ed school trained teachers are fools.
[snip]
[The attendees were told] Basis does not select its students; admission is by lottery. (Of course, if Basis doesn’t “select” then it can claim to be just like a traditional public school that takes all comers — a fatuous claim, of course, since a lottery from among a pool of “self-selected” applicants is hardly comparable to taking on all comers.) Yes, there is a lot of thinning going on across the grades. (Parents have reported that the curriculum resembles a gauntlet of paper-and-pencil tests.) And yes, lots of students choose to continue their education back in the dreaded traditional public schools. But — and [the presenter] was emphatic on this point — students “self-select” out of the school; Basis does not do any selecting.
No comment from me about these observations, except to say they echo what I have seen and heard about the BASIS experience. Readers can come to their own conclusions.
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 4, 2014.
Scottsdale Unified recently presented the data from each of their high schools in comparison just like that parent noted. Ceck it out David.
http://susd.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/394763/File/Board%20Meeting%20Documents/05-13-14/College-Board_SAT-Results_5-13-14.pdf?sessionid=cc3d98a1cf73a681dcd13daf8bae3a45
or go here and look at May 13 http://susd.schoolfusion.us/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=300709&sessionid=cc3d98a1cf73a681dcd13daf8bae3a45&sessionid=cc3d98a1cf73a681dcd13daf8bae3a45
You know that awkward moment when you laugh out loud at a movie theater and then realize you’re the only one laughing? Either you got the joke and nobody else did (they’re idiots, after all) or maybe, you’re the idiot and that wasn’t a joke at all?
I had one of those moments at a “Sales Pitch” meeting for prospective parents of children who might be “offered” a place in a Monte**ori elementary school. During the Q and A portion of the presentation, the only other Dad there, a guy with just the vaguest hint of being Asian-American, I mean you wouldn’t have ever thought of him other than White except in the context of that room, asked:
“You claim to teach Diversity. How do you do that, when obviously (motioning around) we’re not the most diverse group around?”
I involuntarily burst out laughing because he was making a joke, but the looks I immediately got from everybody else in that room were downright scary. The whole room looked at me like, “How Dare You Laugh At That Poor China-man!! And How He’s Trying To Better The Life Of His Ethnically-Cursed Children!!!”
They went on and on about some hokum about how you can “teach” diversity and acceptance, but I knew right then and there, my children would NOT be attending, and without saying, no invitation would be proffered.
A couple of months later I see the other Dad at our local public school with his kids and I ask him about what happened, if he was offended, and why his kids were now at our public school.
He looked me square in the eye, and said, “Those people are nuts!”
Eric, thanks for the links. The comparisons are revealing. It’s another way of looking at the same question — which school provides the better education? — and getting a different answer. By my lights, it doesn’t “answer” the question, since the nature of the student bodies are more important here than the quality of the education/instruction, but it shows what you can do with stats and numbers.
But David, you are overlooking the important function that a school like BASIS serves in our community – stroking the ego of parents who no longer see their children as individuals, but as evidence of their own superior DNA.
The fact that BASIS is spreading their disease to the elementary level sickens me.
I love the story by rexjenney above. Regardless of the school,can you really teach diversity when you don’t have any? For some of us, that is an unassailable GOOD about public schools….and yet it gets so little traction as a “plus” that it isn’t even listed in the usual questions about “why do you send your child to a public school” (the last time I got that question was from a survey group hired by the district itself!). My answer to the question, of course, is that I want him to grow up with a good education, knowing how to live in the world he lives in, and that is a world that includes all sorts of people who speak all sorts of languages and come from all sorts of cultures. What a concept!
What seems to be the problem? Are you anti Asian or Indian. I dont blame them for not wanting to go to school and have to deal with Mexican Studies and all of the other crime issues that our public schools are dealing with. Bet they dont have Indian History classes available!
Charter Schools allow parents an extremely valuable option to be able to choose the best fit for their families and students individual needs. The availability of having this choice is the only positive thing I can remember happening during the George Jr. Administration. Before this Debate was ever even an issue, the only options and choices available seemed to be Public vs Private. Unfortunately, for the majority of population, Private was not even an available option due to financial inequality in our society.
I recall a time when Race and Ethnicity were not an available option. The only choice we had was either White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Other. At that time the Public School Districts seemed to restrict Gate, Magnet, and any other special programs to monitor, and, ( or ) control the racial segregation or outdated affirmative action guidelines that suited whatever particular laws, needs, and requirements at any given particular time.
In my opinion this process discriminated against every ethnicity and race and limited a students availability options. My Daughter was 50% Hispanic- 50% White and the question always seemed to offend me when I had to fill something out. I would answer the question different all the time based on however I may have felt or perceived the choice I selected may benefit her more positively at the time.
My Daughter just turned 26 and I will use her 9 years at TUSD, and 3 years at Basis as my example of observations to share my thoughts and opinions based on personal experience.
My Daughter spent K-5 at Blenman in TUSD. I am not sure how I got her enrolled because it was not the school that was listed in the neighborhood. It was the closest TUSD school that I would allow her to attend based on location, school administration, staff, and programs offered. I would not describe her abilities as advanced or special but always expected her to comply with homework, and do her best. I always made sure she had whatever she needed to succeed and taught her to always treat all kids with respect and kindness no matter what they may have had or did not have or how other kids may have treated or perceived them.
Towards the end of her 5th grade year I started researching options available for middle school. Charter schools were now an option, Basis was the closest to me, and they were starting 6-8 with a lottery and would be adding an additional grade each year to accommodate there students and continued growth.
I was excited about the Basis program in that it allowed all kids to succeed based on the same principles of kids needing to learn and know the basics of the subject they were learning in order to be able learn and progress effectively to the next level. It seemed to make perfect sense. They did mention that homework was a requirement of the program and the student did need to make sure they were doing whatever was required. In no way did I observe any sort of concern to the students current level of understanding because they were there to help all of their students succeed with the program that was set in place.
My Daughter did get in with the lottery and took the initial assessments. I remember her mainly being average and needing extra help in a couple subjects to be able to get the basics in order to learn at the current grade level. She was required to do homework and at times the load was a bit overwhelming for her and she complained. I did not give her any other options but to do what was required. While researching her HS options she was opposed to staying at Basis and was starting to voice her concerns regarding the homework, extra curricular activities, and social environment she needed for HS. At that time we moved East and Saguaro HS was our neighborhood Public School. She attended 9-12 and I was always amazed at the skills she learned from Basis which allowed her to do sports, student counsel, volunteer work, social life and was always able to keep an A-B average without a lot of effort. Her senior year in TUSD she was still doing what she referred to as “Review” from Basis.
She attended 2 years at Pima and was still doing “Review” from Basis. She transferred to the U of A and received a Bachelors Degree in Nutritional Sciences. She then did an accelerated Masters program and is now an academic Advisor at the U of A. I found out 2 weeks ago she started researching her educational options that were available for next year and decided to apply for a PHD program in Public Sciences that starts this fall and was accepted. Because she is married, works full time, and has 2 babies at home she said it will probably take her 4 years to complete but because of her discount from working at the U of a the degree will only cost her $3000 out of pocket.
As you can probably imagine I am the PROUDEST Mom ever!!! I do credit Basis for her academic achievements and ability to gain the basic skills she needed to do whatever she wanted to in life.
I have 3 other children who are currently attending 3 different schools. They all have some of the same and different charter and public school experiences. Most are positive and some I could describe as negative or “strange”.
I recently learned by experience that a great school for one of mine did not work out for another of mine. A school I would have never even considered exceeded my expectations.
I have always known there are good and bad schools and it has nothing to do with whether they were public or charter. It starts with the administration, staff, and wether they operate in an efficient and effective manner. If there is a good management in charge, they will treat their staff and student population with respect, and will typically offer a fair and transparent program.
The most important piece is that the child has to be happy and willing to participate in the curriculum offered. If the child is unhappy or unwilling to participate, we have choices available now that were not always an option. 🙂
I agree with much of what was posted by “Fraser.” I probably have a fair idea of what makes a school work for different students. I taught in a variety of public and private, as well as Australian schools, in my 37 years in the classroom. As was pointed out by “Fraser,” her daughter got a good education from a BASIS middle school. Not so much her other children. The daughter “packed the gear,” as I heard Marine Drill Instructors say when I went through OCS at Quantico, Virgnia, about 60 years ago. The daughter had the intelligence and the motivation to do the advanced work required at the BASIS school. Apparently, he other children did not. Which brings me to another point: in the early 1960s when I got out of the Marine Corps, I was fortunate enough to find a job teaching high school English at the Shoreline School District, north of Seattle. The administrators at Shoreline at that time “tracked” kids, mostly depending upon their test scores and grades, but also on written assessments by their former teachers. Kids who scored high on standardized tests, had good grades previously, and received favorable assessments from former teachers were placed in either the “Intensive” or the “Honors” classes. For both these classifications, it was possible for teachers to assign more complex and difficult reading material, especially for the so-called “Honors” students who made up less then 5% of the school population. They “packed the gear.” Later I taught in schools where students were not segregated according to their test scores, etc. I found it was next to impossible to challenge the brightest while providing assistance to those who found any kind of abstruse learning material impossible to master. While teaching in Australia, I saw what happens when schools “weed-out” students in the first few years of high school so that in grade 12 a teacher would have a class of no more then a half a dozen students. Finally, as “Fraser” pointed out, a BASIS school may be a perfect fit for one child and not so much for another. The question seems to be: what is the cost, both financially and sociologically, for Charter Schools to drain off public funds for a small minority of students who “pack the gear.” One might ask, Wouldn’t that student who “packs the gear” prosper just as well in a public school when the school offered the kind of “tracking” I mentioned earlier?