Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ignite Yourself (or something like that)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ignite Yourself (or something like that):

 Ignite Yourself (or something like that)

I normally don't publicize events or Ed Lab stories from the Times.  (We're not fans of each other and I'll leave it at that although I have enjoyed working with a number of ed reporters there.)

But, in the interest of my readers perhaps having a great public education idea AND wanting to get it out there, here's the details on an upcoming Times event.  Basically, you send in an idea for a 5-minute talk/slideshow.  

That’s why we’re holding an event we’re calling Ignite Education Lab. We’re asking you to pitch us your best, most thought-provoking idea for a five-minute talk about your experiences with education.

Not familiar with the Ignite format? Since 2006, Ignite Seattle has held nearly 30 events that bring together Seattleites for fast-paced, five-minute talks on topics ranging from “Fighting Dirty in Scrabble” to “How Science is Destroying my Childhood” to “Surviving as an Introvert in an Extroverted World.” Ignite presenters use 20 slides with each slide timed to appear for 15 seconds.

Ignite Education Lab
When: Thursday, Jan 21, 2016; Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and event begins at 7 p.m.
Where: Town Hall Seattle
Cost: There are a limited number of individual and group tickets available for free.
How: Click here to RSVP 

I had planned to go but I am speaking at another event on the SPS levies and public education funding in Washington state.  Details to come.Seattle Schools Community Forum: Ignite Yourself (or something like that):

Tennessee's State-Run District Runs Into Political Trouble - State EdWatch - Education Week

Tennessee's State-Run District Runs Into Political Trouble - State EdWatch - Education Week:

Tennessee's State-Run District Runs Into Political Trouble

Tennessee's state-run Achievement School District, which takes over low-performing schools and either runs them directly or hands them over to charter organizations, has run into partisan political trouble.

Several Democratic state lawmakers said Monday they will propose bills this upcoming legislative session to either shut down the turnaround district, which mostly is based in Memphis, or severely limit its authority to take over schools. Citing a recent Vanderbilt University study, the politicians said district-led turnaround efforts in Chattanooga, Memphis, and Nashville have academically outpaced the state's and that until the state-run district can begin to show academic progress, it shouldn't be allowed to take over more schools. 

"The ASD should go back to its original goal and refocus on intense intervention at a small number of schools," state Rep. Brenda Gilmore, chairwoman of the Black Caucus of State Legislators said during a press conference Monday.

Party caucus leaders echoed that sentiment on Twitter.  

Couldn't be there in person, but I stand w/ Chairlady Gilmore & the Black Caucus. #TNLeg #TNEdu #EducationMatters https://t.co/H2K0ESDwlX

— Rep. Craig Fitzhugh (@craigfitzhugh) December 28, 2015

Democrats don't have much political sway in the state's Republican-controlled legislature, and Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and his appointed commissioner Candice McQueen said recently that they still support the turnaround initiative, which was created under the state's waiver from provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Several bills were proposed last year to limit or shut down the ASD though only one actually passed. That bill limited the ASD to taking over schools that have failed to make any academic improvement.  

"The ASD is one of multiple strategies to reach students in our lowest-performing schools, and we have seen schools perform better the longer they're in the ASD," a statement from Haslam's office said.

In recent weeks, the state-run district's takeover process has led to loud parking lot shouting matches and rowdy protests in several impoverished communities on the north and south end of Memphis. Shelby County Schools district leaders, which operate Memphis schools, have aggressively fought to pull students from the ASD to avoid funding cuts associated with a decreased enrollment. The Shelby County Schools board last month signed a resolution this month for the legislature to place a moratorium on the district. 

Within the ASD, enrollment at several of the 27 schools has lagged, and YES Prep Public Schools, a nationally ranked charter operator based in Houston, abruptly abandoned its efforts to expand in Memphis after its leaders said they wouldn't be able to meet enrollment projections. 

Academically, the district's charter operators in Memphis have struggled to cope with the city's entrenched poverty and the abnormally high mobility rate of its student body. Leaders have alsostruggled to hire and retain quality and experienced teachers.  Its superintendent, Chris Barbic, resigned this month. 

Just days after Vanderbilt released its study in early December comparing the state-led and district-led turnaround efforts, the state took over four more schools. Parents involved in the Tennessee's State-Run District Runs Into Political Trouble - State EdWatch - Education Week:

Why education activists are furious at ExxonMobil’s CEO - The Washington Post

Why education activists are furious at ExxonMobil’s CEO - The Washington Post:

Why education activists are furious at ExxonMobil’s CEO

Some education activists are furious at Rex Tillerson, the chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil, for remarks he made about public schools — and one activist teachers organization is calling for a boycott of the petroleum giant.

Tillerson’s 2014 comments were part of a new Fortune magazine article about the Common Core State Standards, titled “Business Gets Schooled,” that details the involvement of big corporations in the Core initiative, saying, “In truth, Common Core might not exist without the corporate community.” In the article, Facebook founder Bill Gates is described at one point as attempting to persuade Charles Koch to stop funding right-wing groups who were fighting the Core — an expression of how surprised business leaders were when the right began to oppose the Core.

[How Bill Gates pulled off the Common Core revolution]

The article, by Peter Elkind, is subtitled “When Exxon Mobil, GE, Intel, and others pushed for the education standards, they incurred the wrath of Tea Party conservatives and got a painful lesson in modern politics.” It says in part:

It was a strange thing indeed to hear Rex Tillerson, CEO of Texas-based Exxon Mobil, bemoaning his impotence at a 2014 panel discussion in Washington, D.C.  But such is the frustration of serving on the frontline in this war. Like other CEOs engaged in education reform, Tillerson sees high national standards as a “business imperative.” Companies simply can’t find enough skilled American workers.

But Tillerson articulates his view in a fashion unlikely to resonate with the average parent. “I’m not sure public schools understand that we’re their customer—that we, the business community, are your customer,” said Tillerson during the panel discussion. “What they don’t understand is they are producing a product at the end of that high school graduation.”

The Exxon CEO didn’t hesitate to extend his analogy. “Now is that product in a form that we, the customer, can use it? Or is it 

Why education activists are furious at ExxonMobil’s CEO - The Washington Post:

Dear Mr. Tillerson of ExxonMobil: ‘Please leave our children alone’

Here is a letter to Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil’s chairman and chief executive, from veteran educator Carol Burris, in response to remarks he made about public schools, which are described in full in the previous post.

The remarks were included in a Fortune magazine story on the Common Core  entitled, “Business Gets Schooled,” in which author Peter Elkind chronicles in detail the involvement of big business in the development of the Common Core State Standards, as well as the lengths to which prominent individuals, including Bill Gates, have gone to sell the Common Core to politicians and the public.

In Elkind’s story, Tillerson emerges as a new character in the Common Core battle, one who threatens politicians who do not support the Common Core.Tillerson, who will be mandated to retire within the next few years, refused to speak with Elkind.

Using Tillerson’s public remarks, Elkind attributes the following to the CEO:

 “I’m not sure public schools understand that we’re their customer—that we, the business community, are your customer,” said Tillerson during the panel discussion. “What they don’t understand is they are producing a product at the end of that high school graduation…Now is that product in a form that we, the customer, can use it? Or is it defective, and we’re not interested?” American schools, Tillerson declared, “have got to step up the performance level—or they’re basically turning out defective products that have no future. Unfortunately, the defective products are human beings. So it’s really serious. It’s tragic. But that’s where we find ourselves today.”

Here is the letter Burris wrote in response to these comments:

 Dear Mr. Tillerson,

Please leave our children alone. We do not need you to develop them as products. They are neither kerogen nor shale.

Your Dickensian thinking has been “outed” and this holiday season, you are as welcome as the ghost of Christmas past. The common-folk for whom the Core you adore was designed, do not like it—only 24 percent of public school parents want it used in their school. And they certainly do not like to hear their children referred to as “defective products.” Mr. Tillerson, you have made the mommies and daddies mad.

I understand their reaction must confound you. In a world in  Dear Mr. Tillerson of ExxonMobil: ‘Please leave our children alone’

What Bill Gates has spent so far in our state to support charter schools | Seattle Education

What Bill Gates has spent so far in our state to support charter schools | Seattle Education:

What Bill Gates has spent so far in our state to support charter schools

In response to my post on the Broad Foundation spending millions to force the Los Angeles Unified School District into converting at least 50% of public schools in the district into charter schools, a Seattle teacher posted the following.

All of the information cited can be found online at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Awarded Grants page.

Can you imagine how our public schools could benefit from such a largesse?

From my Facebook page:

Sounds suspiciously like the Gates Foundation spending at least $52,000,000trying to force charters down our state’s throat in the last three years. I recently looked at Gates grants, and these are the ones directly tied to WA (certainly there is other Gates funding directed at WA, but buried in other grants to national orgs, etc.) Just as in LA, this money goes to building charter infratructure and influencing the legislature and the public.

Summit Schools – to provide support to Summit Schools, CREATE [caps mine] Summit Washington and LAUNCH two charter 9-12s and one charter 6-12 – $8,000,000

Pacific Charter School Development, Inc – to support facility needs of WA charters – $4,000,000

Washington State Charter Assoc.- to support charters in WA – $6,350,000 (2014)

WSCSA – to build capacity for charters $4,200,000 (2013)

Puget Sound Educational Service District – consult on SpEd in charters – $250,000

PSESD – to support the development and implementation of and to provide back office support and operations support services for WA charters – $200,000

Craft3, Ilwaco WA (?!) – to support charter school facility development for low income children – $2,000,000

Washington Charter School Development, Inc, Seattle – to support the facility needs of What Bill Gates has spent so far in our state to support charter schools | Seattle Education:

4LAKids - Here we go again: BILLIONAIRE'S $50 MILLION CONTEST AIMS TO MODERNIZE HIGH SCHOOLS

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Here we go again: BILLIONAIRE'S $50 MILLION CONTEST AIMS TO MODERNIZE HIGH SCHOOLS:

Here we go again: BILLIONAIRE'S $50 MILLION CONTEST AIMS TO MODERNIZE HIGH SCHOOLS

By Jill Tucker, Educataion Writer, San Francisco Chronicle | http://sfchron.cl/1NOJHPg

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle Melissa Iglesias (l to r), 15; Abel Regalado, 16; and Vanessa Martinez, 15, all students at ARISE High School register at the XQ roadshow on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 in Oakland, Calif. 

December 28, 2015 Updated: December 28, 2015 5:09pm   ::  A national contest with a $50 million prize pool and a billionaire backer has spurred teams across the country to reinvent the American high school, overhauling an antiquated model that hasn’t changed in 100 years.

At least five winners will each get about $10 million over five years to make their schools come to life. The competition hopes to stimulate out-of-the-box thinking, with the eight-figure award luring public, private and nonprofit contestants, including San Francisco Unified School District, to vie for the money offered up by Palo Alto heiress Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

“In towns and cities far and wide, teams will be rethinking and building public schools that prepare students for the rigorous challenges of college, jobs, and life,” according to the contest literature from XQ: The Super School Project.

If the sales pitch sounds familiar, it’s because cash-prize contests to spur school reform are not new, having been bolstered by several philanthropic billionaires and a couple of U.S. presidents — often with less-than-stellar results. Yet, the contests continue, with cash-starved schools lining up to compete.

The XQ contest — like IQ, but with an X-factor — is funded by Powell Jobs through her nonprofit Emerson Collective, which advocates for social issues like education and immigration reform.

‘Wherever life takes them’

The $50 million has pushed her effort into high-profile territory, prompting hundreds of teams to work on entries that are due in February, with at least five winners expected to be announced in August. The competitors represent both traditional and charter schools, and their new or revamped programs would then launch the following fall.

“Imagine a learning environment you can’t see today that brings the best of technology, the best of teaching, that truly prepares young people to make choices, to be ready for wherever life takes them after high school,” said Russlyn Ali, chief executive of the XQ Institute.

The country’s high schools were last transformed in the early 1900s to accommodate the industrial revolution and factory work. That new system required students to spend an hour a day in each course, a standardization of education based on time spent in classroom seats. That’s a problem, Powell Jobs said at the September launch of the contest.

“Nearly every aspect of our daily lives — from how we communicate to how we work and play — has changed dramatically,” she said. “But our high schools have stayed frozen in time.”
While the contest leaves the door wide open to the kinds of changes teams can propose, several themes have popped up in the concepts submitted and reviewed by XQ officials in4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: Here we go again: BILLIONAIRE'S $50 MILLION CONTEST AIMS TO MODERNIZE HIGH SCHOOLS: 

Find Your Opt Out Group in FL | The Opt Out Florida Network

Find Your Opt Out Group in FL | The Opt Out Florida Network:

Find Your Opt Out Group in FL

Find Your Opt Out Group in FL | The Opt Out Florida Network:

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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Diagnosing Rahm Emanuel: Does he have 'affluenza'?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Diagnosing Rahm Emanuel: Does he have 'affluenza'?:

Diagnosing Rahm Emanuel: Does he have 'affluenza'?

No citizen is a second-class citizen in the city of Chicago. If my children are treated one way, every child is treated the same way. -- Rahm's tearful apologia

Don Rose, a long-time activist/critic/observer of the Chicago political scene, thinks Rahm Emanuel is suffering from some kind of learning disability.

I’m not saying he is dumb, but rather what we used to call a “slow learner.” He just doesn’t get things as quickly and easily as most folks. It’s also possible that he suffers from the fashionable malady called adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)–though I’m not qualified to make a clinical diagnosis.

 Instead of condemning Emanuel, perhaps he deserves our compassion and pity as a slow learner and possible ADHD patient. At Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Diagnosing Rahm Emanuel: Does he have 'affluenza'?:

Holiday Retailers Staffed with NC Teachers / Public News Service

Holiday Retailers Staffed with NC Teachers / Public News Service:

Holiday Retailers Staffed with NC Teachers

RALEIGH, N. C. – During your holiday shopping, you may have bumped into your child's teacher working in a seasonal retail job. According to many teachers, in most cases it's not just to earn mad money or take advantage of an employee discount. The average teacher's salary in North Carolina is slightly more than $45,000 a year, with some making as little as $30,000. Christina Burchette, a science teacher at a North Carolina school, said she has to work at a retail job to pay her bills. "I'd love to spend more time doing things for my students – spend more time tutoring them, spend more time on lesson plans and things like that," Burchette said. "But I'm not able to, because I do have to work a second job in order to pay my bills." Beginning teachers recently received a small pay raise, but many others got a one-time $750 bonus in lieu of a 2 percent pay raise. This year, the state had a $400 million surplus. North Carolina now ranks 47th nationwide when it comes to teacher pay. Burchette says while many citizens claim to value the state's teachers, few people are willing to fight for action. "I have a Master's degree and I don't feel like I should have a second or third job with that, if it's something that North Carolina, or our country, really values," she said. According to the state Department of Public Instruction, the teacher turnover rate for last school year was almost 15 percent. That's up for 11 percent in the 2010-2011 school year - See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2015-12-24/education/holiday-retailers-staffed-with-nc-teachers/a49601-1#sthash.gYDgmDij.dpuf

The Best Way To Honor Tamir Rice is by Reforming Our Broken Justice System | gadflyonthewallblog

The Best Way To Honor Tamir Rice is by Reforming Our Broken Justice System | gadflyonthewallblog:

The Best Way To Honor Tamir Rice is by Reforming Our Broken Justice System

Michael Brown – no indictment.

Eric Garner – no indictment.

Sandra Bland – no indictment.

And now Tamir Rice.

How many times will our justice system refuse to charge police with killing unarmed black people?

What will it take for our courts to accept the responsibility for at least attempting to seek justice?

When will our judicial system deem the death of people of color at the hands of law enforcement to at least be worthy of a trial?

Brown had no weapon but was shot to death by law enforcement.

Garner had no weapon but was choked to death by police.

Bland had no weapon but was found hanged in her jail cell after being assaulted by police during a traffic stop.

Rice had a legal pellet gun that was not pointed at anyone yet he was shot to deathtwo seconds after police arrived.

This is not justice. This is a national travesty that continues to be played out daily. How many more human beings will be ground under the boot of a system that finds The Best Way To Honor Tamir Rice is by Reforming Our Broken Justice System | gadflyonthewallblog:

Ed Reform Groundhog Day | Save Maine Schools

Ed Reform Groundhog Day | Save Maine Schools:

Ed Reform Groundhog Day

During a conversation about education reform at a holiday party I attended last week, a long-time high school teacher said to me, “You’ll see as you get more years of experience.  You start to feel like: haven’t we seen this already?”

I laughed and said it’s like that cliché you always hear about insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

When it comes to ed reform, of course, it’s really not a cliché. It’s par for the course.

Check out the quote below, and see if you can guess the year it was written:

 …schools will offer a common core of learning and, at the same time, provide diversity and choice. In short, individualized education implies the personalization of the entire educational process.

If you guessed 1974, you were right.

This was written by Robert G. Scanlon, former Pennsylvania Education Secretary, in an article called: “A Curriculum for Personalized Education.”

Recently, with endorsements and investments from Mark Zuckerberg, the U.S. Department of Education, and members of the American Legislative Exchange Council, personalized learning has been heralded as the latest, greatest “innovation” to hit our reform-battered schools.

But a close look into the internet archives of educational history reveals that there is nothing innovative about this idea at all.

In “A Curriculum for Personalized Education,” Scanlon describes a curriculum that “permits student mastery of instructional content at individual learning rates,” “encourage[s] student evaluation of progress toward mastery,” and includes “a variety of paths for mastery of any given objective.”

Flash forward forty years to a portion of a documentpublished by the Gates Foundation titled “Proficiency-Based Pathways”:

“Learning solutions—units, courses, and subjects—should have 

Ed Reform Groundhog Day | Save Maine Schools:

Schools Matter: Guest Post: Pennsylvania is failing Philly's schools – so, close the schools?

Schools Matter: Guest Post: Pennsylvania is failing Philly's schools – so, close the schools?:

Guest Post: Pennsylvania is failing Philly's schools – so, close the schools?

Students walk the halls at De Burgos Elementary School. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

by Daun Kauffman
Daun Kauffman is  North Philadelphia public school teacher. This article is posted on his blog  LucidWitness.com


December 28, 2015
 
The Pennsylvania Senate's effort to amend the PA School Code (H.B. 530), is part of the backroom wrangling over our state budget.

Senate amendments to the bill require the state to directly take over or close five individual schools every year. This Senate incursion into education is a textbook example of aggression and obstruction with no advance intelligence, no input, from "frontline ground troops." So politicians with uninformed philosophies push more and more state bureaucracy into sectors where the state is ignorant and, in fact, failing.

It is impossible to continue silently enduring simplistic views of learning and teaching practice (by non-practitioners) and simplistic "solution pills" to "fix" or increase learning, which instead continue generating more and more collateral damage: academic damage, systemic damage, financial damage, social damage, personal damage, and more.

Newsflash: There is no simplistic, quick fix, or someone would have done it long ago! In fact, Pennsylvania took over the School District of Philadelphia 15 years ago already! The state's record of academic decline, and their consistent record of Schools Matter: Guest Post: Pennsylvania is failing Philly's schools – so, close the schools?:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Common Core Revealed: the Bad and the Ugly (Jury's out on the Good)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Common Core Revealed: the Bad and the Ugly (Jury's out on the Good):

Common Core Revealed: the Bad and the Ugly (Jury's out on the Good)

Fortune Magazine

Fortune magazine has a special report that came out this week on Common Core -Business Gets Schooled. It provides a window into the thinking of big business and public education and folks, it is, by turns, sad and horrific.  This being Fortune, they kind of "tsk tsk" but more over the naviete of some (see Bill Gates) than what these titans of industry say about children and learning. 

Please - if you don't read the article, don't read my entire thread - scroll down to read what Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil has to say to you as parents about your children. (I'll highlight it in red.)

What's equally fascinating is that any dissent mentioned in the article by ordinary folks gets the "blogger moms" attitude with a complete brush-off of what noted education experts have said about CC.  It's like all the dissenters are just the anonymous, ignorant and unwashed masses.  You know, the little people.

They also chose to leave out who really wrote those standards (hint: it wasn't educators.)

The main takeaway from Fortune:

When Exxon Mobil, GE, Intel, and others pushed for the education standards, they incurred the wrath of Tea Party conservatives and got a painful lesson in modern politics. 

To CEOs, the issue has always been a no-brainer. In an increasingly global economy, what sense does it make for America to have 50 different sets of Seattle Schools Community Forum: Common Core Revealed: the Bad and the Ugly (Jury's out on the Good):



Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tuesday Open Thread http://bit.ly/1SkVZlq



A lot to catch up on so here we go.

The latest interactive map on our geographically challenged city is out fromSeattle’s Office of Emergency Management. Check your home, office and especially, your child's school.   This is not a scare tactic but to get people to think about and get prepared for a natural disaster in our area.

Uh oh, the Times is reporting that Washington is one of 12 states whose test-participation rate was lower than 95% and the state could face federal sanctions because of it.  Washington had about a 91% test rate, mostly because of high school juniors (grades 3-8 were fine.)  Among the sanctions, schools and districts have to prove a plan on how they will get those rates up. 

One of the districts with a high refusal rate was Seattle Public Schools, where 43 percent of juniors opted out of the English-language arts test, and 44 percent opted out of the math test. Other nearby districts had even higher rates — preliminary data showed more than three-quarters of juniors in the Bainbridge Island, Issaquah, Enumclaw and Snoqualmie Valley school districts refused to take the tests.

First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a college resource website called BetterMakeRoom.org.  From ABC News:

BetterMakeRoom.org will be a place for students ages 14-19 to get information on such matters as signing up for the SAT and ACT exams, filling out federal financial aid forms and applying to college, aides said. Students will also be able to share stories about their goals, their progress and what’s inspiring them to go to college.

From Diverse - Issues in Higher Education - comes word of a "scorecard" for U.S. cities for working to improve education and life outcomes for black men and boys.   Oakland, Detroit and Washington, D.C. come out on top.  Seattle is in the bottom third.

Seattle's Red Tricycle blog has several ideas for New Year's Eve activities with kids.  Speaking of, here are "28 Pictures that prove 2015 wasn't a completely terrible year."  Very heart-warming - show the kids.

One other idea for a peaceful, clearing-of-the-mind activity for the new year - walk the Labyrinth at St. Mark's.  I've done this and it's quite the beautiful experience.  (I do not recommend this for kids unless they are able to be extra quiet and mindful of their surroundings and what other participants are trying to achieve.)

What's on your mind?http://bit.ly/1SkVZlq

Will Charter face Class Action Lawsuit? | Cloaking Inequity

Will Charter face Class Action Lawsuit? | Cloaking Inequity:

Will Charter face Class Action Lawsuit?

Will a prominent corporate charter school chain face a class action lawsuit for their alleged refusal to serve special education students?

I first blogged about BASIS in the post What BASIS?: Nepotism and aggrandizement in charters? At the time, I included Charter School Scandals uncovered special report about BASIS.

The first BASIS charter school was founded in Tucson in 1998 by Michael Block and Olga Block. BASIS is a rapidly grown charter school. Since my first BASIS blog post, they have doubled in size. In 2015, BASIS opened its 18th Arizona school in Goodyear, AZ.

Their Arizona campuses are located in:

BASIS Ahwatukee | Grades 4-12	2013
BASIS Goodyear | Grades K-8	2015
BASIS Chandler | Grades 5-12	2011
BASIS Chandler Primary North Campus | Grades K-4	2016
BASIS Chandler Primary South Campus | Grades K-4	2015
BASIS Flagstaff | Grades 4-12	2011
BASIS Mesa | Grades 4-12	2013
BASIS Oro Valley | Grades K-12	2010
BASIS Peoria | Grades 5-12	2011
BASIS Phoenix | Grades 5-12	2012
BASIS Phoenix Central | Grades K-8	2014
BASIS Prescott | Grades K-12	2014
BASIS Scottsdale | Grades 4-12	2003
BASIS Scottsdale Primary | Grades K-3	2015
BASIS Tucson Primary | Grades K-4	1998
BASIS Tucson North | Grades 5-12	2012

Their Texas campuses are located:

BTX SCHOOLS	Year Started
BASIS San Antonio Medical Center | Grades 5-11	2013
BASIS San Antonio North Central | Grades 5-10	2014

Their DC campus:

Washington, DC Schools Year Started BASIS Washington DC | Grades 5-11 2012

I wouldn’t doubt that they would like to locate near you. Currently they are scheduled to open in Louisiana, Illinois and Colorado.

I probably receive 5-7 comment about BASIS in my email box each week (Check out the 51 comments at the bottom of this post). Many are from parents and students who basically say “stupid” students don’t belong at BASIS. The purposeful attrition of students is one of the major issues with this particular corporate charter chain, but there are many other critiques. From Wikipedia:

Both BASIS schools and their parent organization have been the subject of criticism and controversy. Critics contend that BASIS is failing to provide adequate financial transparency and accountability as it uses for-profit management company.^[12] Another investigative article in 2010 questioned the founders’ salary compared to the teachers and other public school administrators.^[13]

Other critics take issue with BASIS’s accelerated curriculum and general educational philosophy. Some argue that BASIS focuses too much on standardized testing.^[14]Critics also point out that BASIS’s performance in national ranking systems like the U.S. News & World Report Will Charter face Class Action Lawsuit? | Cloaking Inequity: