Parents are pulling their children out of Basis FAST!

[Anonymous]

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

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

As a parent with one kid in MS (BASIS) and more coming down the pike, Latin is one of the schools at the top of our list for the other kids. We have several friends with kids there and have complete confidence is a wonderful school and getting better every year.

ONWARD LATIN SOLDIERS !!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I wasn't talking or asking about your child that does not attend Basis. I was asking parents of 5th graders at Basis what types of assignments they are getting? Who would give a child an assignment saying "go write five pages about horses?" But if I decide to go to Basis I would like for them to be assigning literary critiques and persuasive essays which are the types of assignments my DC is currently getting who is also in a public school. Writing is a life-long process that can always use improvement a.k.a. multiple drafts. Maybe if you went to a few more open houses at the upper tier privates and actually read the essays posted on the bulletin boards (not the typed ones) you would understand what I was talking about. I am not a private school booster but this seems to be the one area that they try to excel in. I don't think they are as accelerated as good publics in math.

Do any 5th grade Basis parents have any information to share? If it is an area that I am going to need to supplement, I would like to know this going in. In the areas my son is really interested in , they seem strong. No mean responses please.

[Anonymous]

5th grade BASIS parent here. So far, they have had a lot of grammar and vocabulary, with one large personal narrative writing piece that included drafts and a persuasive oral presentation. I have been thrilled about the amount and level of grammar and vocabulary work due to the incredible dearth of it at our former DCPS. Spelling counts at BASIS, too. Don't know what the privates are like, but the 5th grade coursework seems appropriate and will build a strong foundation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You mean he has been at Basis for the last what -- 4 months and seems engaged and happy.

That is the problem with the Basis boosters, it just opened, it may work for your kid, it may not. Why not just admit that? We have a 5th grader who is average and doing fine. We know that child who was counseled out over the summer. He is an amazing student, right on par with your child. Very, very, bright. Basis definitely wouldn't have worked for him and not because they are Basis but because he is who HE is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

As a parent with one kid in MS (BASIS) and more coming down the pike, Latin is one of the schools at the top of our list for the other kids. We have several friends with kids there and have complete confidence is a wonderful school and getting better every year.

ONWARD LATIN SOLDIERS !!!

Latin has historically been a very good school, and I'm sure Latin will continue to be a very good school, it just seems they had made a few poor decisions over the last couple of years, which they've been shoring back up on. They need to try and hold firm on principles and recognize where they have true strength and value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You mean he has been at Basis for the last what -- 4 months and seems engaged and happy.

That is the problem with the Basis boosters, it just opened, it may work for your kid, it may not. Why not just admit that? We have a 5th grader who is average and doing fine. We know that child who was counseled out over the summer. He is an amazing student, right on par with your child. Very, very, bright. Basis definitely wouldn't have worked for him and not because they are Basis but because he is who HE is.

Admit what? I already said, so far it's working, and we presently don't have any concerns. Kids don't come out of cookie cutter molds, they all have their quirks - ours certainly does. But why the expectation that one could just drop a one-size-fits-all school over top of them? Basis will work well for many bright kids, it will work well for many other kinds of kids too. But it won't necessarily work for EVERY kid, and they don't promise or pretend to be a perfect solution for everyone. Presently, no school can do that. But that's the beauty of having choices. At least we are starting to get some diverse options that have a better chance of fitting our kids' needs (and quirks) than we would have had otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wasn't talking or asking about your child that does not attend Basis. I was asking parents of 5th graders at Basis what types of assignments they are getting? Who would give a child an assignment saying "go write five pages about horses?" But if I decide to go to Basis I would like for them to be assigning literary critiques and persuasive essays which are the types of assignments my DC is currently getting who is also in a public school. Writing is a life-long process that can always use improvement a.k.a. multiple drafts. Maybe if you went to a few more open houses at the upper tier privates and actually read the essays posted on the bulletin boards (not the typed ones) you would understand what I was talking about. I am not a private school booster but this seems to be the one area that they try to excel in. I don't think they are as accelerated as good publics in math.

Do any 5th grade Basis parents have any information to share? If it is an area that I am going to need to supplement, I would like to know this going in. In the areas my son is really interested in , they seem strong. No mean responses please.

Here's a piece from the Atlantic about writing at BASIS:

www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/what-the-best-writing-teachers-know/263573/

An excerpt:

"I have been lucky enough to experience an awakening to the second dimension of writing firsthand. At my high school, a BASIS charter school in Scottsdale, Arizona, every student must take both honors language and honors literature as a freshman. In other words, we take two English classes a day, five days a week. As an incoming ninth grader, I was skeptical of this system. To me, English was English. Wouldn't doubling our intake just be redundant?

I couldn't have been more mistaken. In both language and literature, we read and learn to compose essays. However, the key difference is that literature calls for discussion where language calls for rhetorical analysis. After being encouraged to engage with (and not just pick apart) what I was reading, I learned to recognize writing's second dimension. Instead of churning out formulaic essays, I found myself formulating novel opinions and writing in my own voice (with the purpose of lucid communication always in mind). In this way, between the two classes, I picked up the nitty-gritty nuances of syntax and diction along with a more audience-conscious perspective."

[Anonymous]

Thanks to the Basis parent who replied regarding the English and the PP who poster the excerpt on writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

As a parent with one kid in MS (BASIS) and more coming down the pike, Latin is one of the schools at the top of our list for the other kids. We have several friends with kids there and have complete confidence is a wonderful school and getting better every year.

ONWARD LATIN SOLDIERS !!!

We love the Latin HS PP. Nothing watered down, but it's not a 'sweatshop' either. Reading 'MAUS' in English while writing research reports on modern incidents of genocide - Cambodia, Rwanda- in history class. It's not all serious (My kid came home the other day wanting to share some Shakespearean 'insults' with me-- talk about capturing a kid's fancy). The teachers are so competent and so enthused and some of them are extremely funny and fun--makes me smile and remember how fun it was to be really challenged in HS and feel like the whole world was opening up. That being said, I think comparing Basis and Latin is apples and oranges. The starting premise is so different. By the time Basis has a HS they may be in excellent shape. Latin had some iffy moments early on, but it found it's 'heart' and that has held fast during transitions. I hope Basis does!

[Anonymous]

"That being said, I think comparing Basis and Latin is apples and oranges. The starting premise is so different. "

What do you think the difference is?

[Anonymous]

My understanding of Basis, coming out strong from the starting gates, is that it places a premium on AP coursework and passing as a very 'high-standards' metric of success. Latin has AP offerings in the upper school, but emphasizes a classical education (original texts, discussion) and being participatory community member (see reference to service in its motto) as its metric. It may be that Basis does all of this plus AP. They just seem to come out of the starting gates running different races.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding of Basis, coming out strong from the starting gates, is that it places a premium on AP coursework and passing as a very 'high-standards' metric of success. Latin has AP offerings in the upper school, but emphasizes a classical education (original texts, discussion) and being participatory community member (see reference to service in its motto) as its metric. It may be that Basis does all of this plus AP. They just seem to come out of the starting gates running different races.

Latin is more like a high-end private school - not surprising given the Head. It's the public version of the Cathedral schools or Sidwell. Basis is more like a set of high-end modules, the integration will be intrinsic for some, absent for others. I wouldn't expect any community or citizenship component.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding of Basis, coming out strong from the starting gates, is that it places a premium on AP coursework and passing as a very 'high-standards' metric of success. Latin has AP offerings in the upper school, but emphasizes a classical education (original texts, discussion) and being participatory community member (see reference to service in its motto) as its metric. It may be that Basis does all of this plus AP. They just seem to come out of the starting gates running different races.

Latin is more like a high-end private school - not surprising given the Head. It's the public version of the Cathedral schools or Sidwell. Basis is more like a set of high-end modules, the integration will be intrinsic for some, absent for others. I wouldn't expect any community or citizenship component.

I would add that either way you're better off than anything DCPS has to offer, so there's no reason to be at each other's throats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


I would add that either way you're better off than anything DCPS has to offer, so there's no reason to be at each other's throats.

Quite so. Furthermore, isn't unlikely that so done will actually be admitted to BOTH? It seems unlikely that we will get into eithEr one next year for 5th and are therefore making alternative plans. Was anyone actuAlly in the position of choosing between Latin and basis?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


I would add that either way you're better off than anything DCPS has to offer, so there's no reason to be at each other's throats.

Quite so. Furthermore, isn't unlikely that so done will actually be admitted to BOTH? It seems unlikely that we will get into eithEr one next year for 5th and are therefore making alternative plans. Was anyone actuAlly in the position of choosing between Latin and basis?

Sorry for the errors-- isn't it unlikely that someone will be admitted to BOTH?