Parents are pulling their children out of Basis FAST!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You realize that the most important part of K is to learn how to be a good citizen, not be disruptive, learn to deal with boredom and be able to control oneself. You need to get a handle on this. Private schools don't want kids with behavior issues no matter how smart.

I totally disagree that it is reasonable for a K student, who is already reading at much higher level, to be happy with educational material meant for those who are not reading yet.

My ds was reading at a high school level in K and was not happy with the curricula at all and hence had some behavioral problems. His behavioral problems were resolved once we placed him into a school with curricula that provided him with a challenge.

Your statement of learning to deal with boredom is quite inappropriate IMHO. Of course, life has boredom and one must learn to deal with it. However, it is unreasonable for a child to sit through classes day after day where he/she is not learning anything at all since they have already mastered the material. This is educational malpractice!!

Any kid in K who is reading at a high school level would be bored at any school, public or private. I would love to know the private school that she went to that solved this problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Any kid in K who is reading at a high school level would be bored at any school, public or private. I would love to know the private school that she went to that solved this problem.

The schools we used were out of state. However, Basis is now fully meeting our DC's needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Any kid in K who is reading at a high school level would be bored at any school, public or private. I would love to know the private school that she went to that solved this problem.

The schools we used were out of state. However, Basis is now fully meeting our DC's needs.

Try me. I also have a Ker who reads at a high school level but his taste in reading material and his comprehension isn't at the same level as his decoding ability in English. Luckily, he attends an immersion school and he is at grade level, K, for the other language. No behavior problems. But I would love to know schools that caters to kids like this in case we move which is always a possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Any kid in K who is reading at a high school level would be bored at any school, public or private. I would love to know the private school that she went to that solved this problem.

The schools we used were out of state. However, Basis is now fully meeting our DC's needs.

Try me. I also have a Ker who reads at a high school level but his taste in reading material and his comprehension isn't at the same level as his decoding ability in English. Luckily, he attends an immersion school and he is at grade level, K, for the other language. No behavior problems. But I would love to know schools that caters to kids like this in case we move which is always a possibility.

We came from manyl states away. We used schools that were able to individualize and that did not specifically cater to only gifted students. One school that did this was particularly small. We also did a lot of after schooling. In terms of options, it seems like immersion would be a great way to meet an advanced learner's needs which your child has right now. We did not have that option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Any kid in K who is reading at a high school level would be bored at any school, public or private. I would love to know the private school that she went to that solved this problem.

The schools we used were out of state. However, Basis is now fully meeting our DC's needs.

Try me. I also have a Ker who reads at a high school level but his taste in reading material and his comprehension isn't at the same level as his decoding ability in English. Luckily, he attends an immersion school and he is at grade level, K, for the other language. No behavior problems. But I would love to know schools that caters to kids like this in case we move which is always a possibility.

We came from manyl states away. We used schools that were able to individualize and that did not specifically cater to only gifted students. One school that did this was particularly small. We also did a lot of after schooling. In terms of options, it seems like immersion would be a great way to meet an advanced learner's needs which your child has right now. We did not have that option.

Thanks but not helpful at all (can't even mention which states) and even more vague than the endless boosting (criticisms, too) about BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks but not helpful at all (can't even mention which states) and even more vague than the endless boosting (criticisms, too) about BASIS.

Sorry but I value my privacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks but not helpful at all (can't even mention which states) and even more vague than the endless boosting (criticisms, too) about BASIS.

Sorry but I value my privacy.

You indicated that Basis was fully meeting his needs. I attended the open house last night and spoke to one of the English instructors. I was surprised at the level of English instruction especially in writing. The 6th grade teacher indicated that they were working on organizing paragraphs. I asked her about when they worked on 3 and 5 paragragh essays or big book projects and it was not on her radar. Currently, this was my main concern with Basis. In all fairness, only the privates in DC and MD seem to put an early emphais on teaching writing, even though MoCo does at least introduce the material and because they assign book projects you can control the level of the project. What is your experience with the writing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Visit Latin, dude, the other charter built on great rigor. Observe many white and Asian kids (many adopted by whites) in 5th grade. Observe a handful of white and Asian kids in 10th through 12th. Note that the white parents aren't talking about leaving, the opposite. Put two and two together. High SES attrition is rampant at Latin and will occur at Basis. The only questions are how high the attrition will be and if the school will care to address the problem head on. Departing parents speak euphamistically about "good fit" schools" elsewhere when, privately, most aren't convinced that academic standards will be terribly high, or social environments all that positive, when most of their kids classmates come from multi-generational low-income families.

This is why we need gifted elementary and test-in middle school programs, and much stronger test-in high school programs, in this city - if affluent parents know that low-income kids had to clear a high bar to enter, the well-heeled will generally stay with enthusiasm. It's why whites beat down the door to get their kids into Stuyvesant High School and Thomas Jefferson, and largely stay the course. DC's leading education reformers don't get it and Basis' may or may not. All too easy to term a charter "succesful" despite the fact that most of the high SES/white families drop out along the way. But then I don't know my charter legislation, right?

The big difference between Latin and Basis is that Basis has made top ten lists for high schools multiple times and therefore has a reputation. Latin has not made these lists as far as I know.

The other difference is that Basis requires the passing of comprehensive exams to pass on to the next grade. Again, I have not heard that Latin requires this.

Therefore, I think Basis will have a much better track record of retaining students than Latin.

Pretty much the main thing Latin has going for it is name recognition - and not even their own. They ride on the coattails of institutions like the vaunted Boston Latin.

[Anonymous]

blah,blah,blah. Tell that to the hundreds of kids getting a fantastic education there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:blah,blah,blah. Tell that to the hundreds of kids getting a fantastic education there.

Could we just wait until the school yr is over before declaring "fantastic education". Give Basis at least 5, lets see how the kids who survived the rigor score on their SATs. Please.

[Anonymous]

Latin, too. How did they score on their SATs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised at the level of English instruction especially in writing. The 6th grade teacher indicated that they were working on organizing paragraphs. I asked her about when they worked on 3 and 5 paragragh essays or big book projects and it was not on her radar. Currently, this was my main concern with Basis. In all fairness, only the privates in DC and MD seem to put an early emphais on teaching writing, even though MoCo does at least introduce the material and because they assign book projects you can control the level of the project. What is your experience with the writing?

So you're saying my 5th grader in DCPS - who has completed a literary critique as well as a persuasive essay this semester, both several pages long and going from draft to publishing - is getting a more advanced education in reading and writing? In all fairness, one needs to recognize that learning to write well isn't a cumulative process. In my professional work, decades after attending 6th grade, I'm still regularly confronted with improving how paragraphs are organized. In fact, if you give that age children an assignment like "go write five pages about horses", you'll essentially teach them to copy from Wikipedia. No matter how neat their writing, no matter how well read they are, it's not a reasonable expectation to accomplish such a task (I know college students who still have a hard time).
PP, I think you're asking the wrong question: You should ask the teacher HOW the learning is accomplished not WHAT is learned. That's what will help you find a good school, one that matches your child's learning habits. Basis isn't for us but it would be unfair to judge it on poorly articulated criteria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:blah,blah,blah. Tell that to the hundreds of kids getting a fantastic education there.

Could we just wait until the school yr is over before declaring "fantastic education". Give Basis at least 5, lets see how the kids who survived the rigor score on their SATs. Please.

I meant Latin, and to me, fantastic education doesn't mean sat scores. You can see it before your eyes and in the eyes and actual work of a student. Sorry. We just disagree on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:blah,blah,blah. Tell that to the hundreds of kids getting a fantastic education there.

We had previously been considering Latin but heard they watered things down. And, that seems to be reflected in their results recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You realize that the most important part of K is to learn how to be a good citizen, not be disruptive, learn to deal with boredom and be able to control oneself. You need to get a handle on this. Private schools don't want kids with behavior issues no matter how smart.

I totally disagree that it is reasonable for a K student, who is already reading at much higher level, to be happy with educational material meant for those who are not reading yet.

My ds was reading at a high school level in K and was not happy with the curricula at all and hence had some behavioral problems. His behavioral problems were resolved once we placed him into a school with curricula that provided him with a challenge.

Your statement of learning to deal with boredom is quite inappropriate IMHO. Of course, life has boredom and one must learn to deal with it. However, it is unreasonable for a child to sit through classes day after day where he/she is not learning anything at all since they have already mastered the material. This is educational malpractice!!

Any kid in K who is reading at a high school level would be bored at any school, public or private. I would love to know the private school that she went to that solved this problem.

Not necessarily true. DS read very early and was at a high school level by 2nd grade. In 4th grade, he could explain the scheme of quantum chromodynamics and which quarks compose which leptons and subatomic particles, and why the Higgs Boson was such an important discovery (and neither of us are physicists, he learned it on his own via his voracious curiosity and reading habits). He used to just zone out in school and would not do anything but withdraw and daydream. But, he's at BASIS now, and is engaged and happy.