Basis PCS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here.
According to several former BASIS parents, the school is like a cult. Very few parents know how much the kids are learning and if the grade they earn is truly what they deserve.

One thing is that if your child is a teacher's protégé, then you will hear praises and get into the 90's club but it might all be an illusion.

Baloney. BASIS uses many objective assessments to determine student's grades which are all accessible to parents and students to see. Even writing assignments have detailed rubrics and instructions. I don't believe any student has gotten in the 90's club without really getting A's on their report cards.

[Anonymous]

Grades are calculated by the computer from what has been entered in the gradebook and each assignment weighted the same for each kid, and assessments are graded by computers for the most part-unless everything a kid does is 100% or 0, there really is no way even a teacher knows the grade until after the computer spits it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here.
According to several former BASIS parents, the school is like a cult. Very few parents know how much the kids are learning and if the grade they earn is truly what they deserve.

One thing is that if your child is a teacher's protégé, then you will hear praises and get into the 90's club but it might all be an illusion.

Why so much hate for Basis? There must be an agenda.
I have one child at basis and I didn't see, and surely would not tolerate, anything like that. The school has its strengths and weaknesses like any other place. If you don't like the place, don't send your kids. what's up with the bashing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis parents seem so much more intense than Latin parents (at least the ones on DCUM).

Because they are pretty much all making guinea pigs of their kids - taking a chance on something new and hoping it works out. The early Latin parents were similar (as were the early YY parents).

None of these parents are going to know if it "worked out" until kids are off to college. Latin's shallow college admission track record has been more lackluster than anticipated. I predict that the same will be true of BASIS DC.

As for YY, if the Chinese partial immersion track at DCI generates IB Diploma pass point totals in the low 30s in under 20 years, I'll be surprised. Meanwhile, in the DC burbs, it's not uncommon to see public school pass totals in the high 30s, including in programs with strong low-income and minority representation.

Sadly, elite college admissions planning and counseling are not DC public's strong suit wherever you look, from Wilson to Walls to the highest-performing charters.

You seem to assume, of course, that elite colleges are the goal of all families and that it's the only benchmark that matters. Would be an interesting topic for a new thread but it's certainly not what our family is aiming for.

In terms of college admissions and BASIS DC, one reason Washington Latin is getting slammed is because they were founded in 2007. We opened 5? years later. But I would not expect miracles from our first few graduating classes who did not get to start BASIS DC in 5th grade, either.

And finally, except if you are talking about places like Princeton, many students who might get into those types of big name schools won't go because their decisions are going to be based on financial aid packages and/or merit scholarships. The less debt you graduate with, the better, even if you are yet again going to be a big fish in a small pond. Makes sense to me.

Also, keeping kids happy, off drugs and off the streets is enough to sell many parents of at risk teenagers on particular high schools. Not that the privates don't have their share of drugs, alcohol, suicide, etc. But our child is happy and has a solid group of friends who work hard and don't do drugs. And that makes us happy.

Wonderful, family bliss c/o BASIS. Fancy that.

Not buying it, although I'm hardly a stranger to the concept of the upper middle-class donut on the affording college front. If a student can get into Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech or MIT, families almost always find a way to make the assessed family contribution. The claim that "my kid could easily have gone to Princeton, but we couldn't afford it" has a pathetic ring. Go on, launch a big fish to a small pond. Borrowing to make a sound investment (like taking on a manageable mortgage) is what makes sense to me.

First-rate DC students deserve a better-rounded public school education, and far better school-furnished college advising and prospects, than BASIS seems interested in providing. Too bad because the academics are laudable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis parents seem so much more intense than Latin parents (at least the ones on DCUM).

Because they are pretty much all making guinea pigs of their kids - taking a chance on something new and hoping it works out. The early Latin parents were similar (as were the early YY parents).

None of these parents are going to know if it "worked out" until kids are off to college. Latin's shallow college admission track record has been more lackluster than anticipated. I predict that the same will be true of BASIS DC.

As for YY, if the Chinese partial immersion track at DCI generates IB Diploma pass point totals in the low 30s in under 20 years, I'll be surprised. Meanwhile, in the DC burbs, it's not uncommon to see public school pass totals in the high 30s, including in programs with strong low-income and minority representation.

Sadly, elite college admissions planning and counseling are not DC public's strong suit wherever you look, from Wilson to Walls to the highest-performing charters.

You seem to assume, of course, that elite colleges are the goal of all families and that it's the only benchmark that matters. Would be an interesting topic for a new thread but it's certainly not what our family is aiming for.

In terms of college admissions and BASIS DC, one reason Washington Latin is getting slammed is because they were founded in 2007. We opened 5? years later. But I would not expect miracles from our first few graduating classes who did not get to start BASIS DC in 5th grade, either.

And finally, except if you are talking about places like Princeton, many students who might get into those types of big name schools won't go because their decisions are going to be based on financial aid packages and/or merit scholarships. The less debt you graduate with, the better, even if you are yet again going to be a big fish in a small pond. Makes sense to me.

Also, keeping kids happy, off drugs and off the streets is enough to sell many parents of at risk teenagers on particular high schools. Not that the privates don't have their share of drugs, alcohol, suicide, etc. But our child is happy and has a solid group of friends who work hard and don't do drugs. And that makes us happy.

Based on how their older, more established schools in Arizona do in terms of college placement, I'm not too concerned.

[Anonymous]

Because they are pretty much all making guinea pigs of their kids - taking a chance on something new and hoping it works out. The early Latin parents were similar (as were the early YY parents).

None of these parents are going to know if it "worked out" until kids are off to college. Latin's shallow college admission track record has been more lackluster than anticipated. I predict that the same will be true of BASIS DC.

And finally, except if you are talking about places like Princeton, many students who might get into those types of big name schools won't go because their decisions are going to be based on financial aid packages and/or merit scholarships. The less debt you graduate with, the better, even if you are yet again going to be a big fish in a small pond. Makes sense to me.

Wonderful, family bliss c/o BASIS. Fancy that.

Not buying it, although I'm hardly a stranger to the concept of the upper middle-class donut on the affording college front. If a student can get into Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech or MIT, families almost always find a way to make the assessed family contribution. The claim that "my kid could easily have gone to Princeton, but we couldn't afford it" has a pathetic ring. Go on, launch a big fish to a small pond. Borrowing to make a sound investment (like taking on a manageable mortgage) is what makes sense to me.

First-rate DC students deserve a better-rounded public school education, and far better school-furnished college advising and prospects, than BASIS seems interested in providing. Too bad because the academics are laudable.

I'm sorry, but a) happy teenagers are hard to come by and b) you have no clue what our financial status is or how many kids we have (which is probably more relevant). When it means either the family or the children going into real debt, many of us who either had or watched those with loans to pay off from Princeton that determined future career choices, choices about further education, those who then went to medical school, or law school, and incurred more debt, may no longer think that Princeton is all that. Or a sound investment vs having one parent living in Va and choosing VA Tech over MIT.

Especially when we are now surrounded by successful people who did not go to Princeton. I think a free ride to UNC Chapel Hill on a prestigious scholarship might be a wiser decision, which one of my family friends made relatively recently, and is now equally successful as her peers who went to Princeton - and she did it to save her family the financial stress, not because her family absolutely could not have afforded it. Did she get into Princeton? I know she got into Harvard............ Wise beyond her years.....

[/b]There are several studies that show that going to a big name college pays off the most for kids who are coming from really poor backgrounds. And fortunately, at least at the HYPs (that absolutly do not offer merit scholarships), they do offer those kids now almost exactly what they need to make it work - much better than what they offered when I was .... at Princeton. When it was still relatively affordable, just like NCS.....

Now if you intend to go straight to Goldman Sachs, by all means go to Princeton. It will prove to be a very sound investment,[b]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis parents seem so much more intense than Latin parents (at least the ones on DCUM).

Because they are pretty much all making guinea pigs of their kids - taking a chance on something new and hoping it works out. The early Latin parents were similar (as were the early YY parents).

None of these parents are going to know if it "worked out" until kids are off to college. [b] Latin's shallow college admission track record has been more lackluster than anticipated. I predict that the same will be true of BASIS DC.

As for YY, if the Chinese partial immersion track at DCI generates IB Diploma pass point totals in the low 30s in under 20 years, I'll be surprised. Meanwhile, in the DC burbs, it's not uncommon to see public school pass totals in the high 30s, including in programs with strong low-income and minority representation.

Sadly, elite college admissions planning and counseling are not DC public's strong suit wherever you look, from Wilson to Walls to the highest-performing charters.

Based on how their older, more established schools in Arizona do in terms of college placement, I'm not too concerned.

I agree with the above. They will get serious about getting BASIS DC kids into good colleges. They have a network they can rely on and a track record in AZ with colleges that will automatically mean that the students here will generate a fair amount of interest, and they won't just rely on DC resources to make sure the kids get good college placement.

Do not think that the kids who started in 7th and 8th grade though are going to be representative of future graduating BASIS DC classes, however, because they did not really get a "BASIS" education. Maybe only our 4th graduating class who started in 5th. From thereon in, my prediction is that BASIS will do better than Latin in terms of admissions. Enrollment, again, may be based more on finances and whether middle class graduates of HYP think it is worth it to send their kids there. I don't, and I am a member of that group.

[Anonymous]

What is your rationale, PP? Are you a expert on college admissions?

Anonymous wrote:

Because they are pretty much all making guinea pigs of their kids - taking a chance on something new and hoping it works out. The early Latin parents were similar (as were the early YY parents).

None of these parents are going to know if it "worked out" until kids are off to college. Latin's shallow college admission track record has been more lackluster than anticipated. I predict that the same will be true of BASIS DC.

And finally, except if you are talking about places like Princeton, many students who might get into those types of big name schools won't go because their decisions are going to be based on financial aid packages and/or merit scholarships. The less debt you graduate with, the better, even if you are yet again going to be a big fish in a small pond. Makes sense to me.

Wonderful, family bliss c/o BASIS. Fancy that.

Not buying it, although I'm hardly a stranger to the concept of the upper middle-class donut on the affording college front. If a student can get into Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech or MIT, families almost always find a way to make the assessed family contribution. The claim that "my kid could easily have gone to Princeton, but we couldn't afford it" has a pathetic ring. Go on, launch a big fish to a small pond. Borrowing to make a sound investment (like taking on a manageable mortgage) is what makes sense to me.

First-rate DC students deserve a better-rounded public school education, and far better school-furnished college advising and prospects, than BASIS seems interested in providing. Too bad because the academics are laudable.

I'm sorry, but a) happy teenagers are hard to come by and b) you have no clue what our financial status is or how many kids we have (which is probably more relevant). When it means either the family or the children going into real debt, many of us who either had or watched those with loans to pay off from Princeton that determined future career choices, choices about further education, those who then went to medical school, or law school, and incurred more debt, may no longer think that Princeton is all that. Or a sound investment vs having one parent living in Va and choosing VA Tech over MIT.

Especially when we are now surrounded by successful people who did not go to Princeton. I think a free ride to UNC Chapel Hill on a prestigious scholarship might be a wiser decision, which one of my family friends made relatively recently, and is now equally successful as her peers who went to Princeton - and she did it to save her family the financial stress, not because her family absolutely could not have afforded it. Did she get into Princeton? I know she got into Harvard............ Wise beyond her years.....

[/b]There are several studies that show that going to a big name college pays off the most for kids who are coming from really poor backgrounds. And fortunately, at least at the HYPs (that absolutly do not offer merit scholarships), they do offer those kids now almost exactly what they need to make it work - much better than what they offered when I was .... at Princeton. When it was still relatively affordable, just like NCS.....

Now if you intend to go straight to Goldman Sachs, by all means go to Princeton. It will prove to be a very sound investment,[b]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your rationale, PP? Are you a expert on college admissions?

Anonymous wrote:

Nope. Don't have to be. They have promised to invest an enormous amount of time (from the higher ups) and perhaps extra money on DC to make sure it succeeds. That is what Michael Block set himself up for - by founding a school in Washington DC because "it is Washington DC." But that means that any failure will be public and humiliating. They won't let DC fail, and that includes college admissions....

Not worried at all - kids are getting the same instruction as in AZ and for the most part, catching up to the way those kids score in AZ, and in some areas exceeding them. We have done incredibly well here on the few AP exams our kids have taken, and I am extremely confident in the quality of education my kids are getting (learning more than I did here at my DC private), so I am not worried.

Also, not only do we have the edge on private schools in DC, but we probably have the edge on established public schools (the only ones that come to mind are Walls and Wilson) because we are new, different, and still BASIS - in one of the worst public school systems in the country.

Finally, not having to do sports (and there being no expectation that any BASIS student do them seriously) leaves a lot more time for accelerated academics, and in and out of school extra curriculars. Fully expect my son to become an Eagle Scout without having any JV, Varsity, or club sports wasting his time.............

We have an excellent HOS who wants to stay and will pick up the slack, on college advising or anywhere....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your rationale, PP? Are you a expert on college admissions?

Anonymous wrote:

Nope. Don't have to be. They have promised to invest an enormous amount of time (from the higher ups) and perhaps extra money on DC to make sure it succeeds. That is what Michael Block set himself up for - by founding a school in Washington DC because "it is Washington DC." But that means that any failure will be public and humiliating. They won't let DC fail, and that includes college admissions....

Not worried at all - kids are getting the same instruction as in AZ and for the most part, catching up to the way those kids score in AZ, and in some areas exceeding them. We have done incredibly well here on the few AP exams our kids have taken, and I am extremely confident in the quality of education my kids are getting (learning more than I did here at my DC private), so I am not worried.

Also, not only do we have the edge on private schools in DC, but we probably have the edge on established public schools (the only ones that come to mind are Walls and Wilson) because we are new, different, and still BASIS - in one of the worst public school systems in the country.

Finally, not having to do sports (and there being no expectation that any BASIS student do them seriously) leaves a lot more time for accelerated academics, and in and out of school extra curriculars. Fully expect my son to become an Eagle Scout without having any JV, Varsity, or club sports wasting his time.............

We have an excellent HOS who wants to stay and will pick up the slack, on college advising or anywhere....

Not having to do sports? Which public school forces kids to do sports? You mean you're glad that PE classes aren't required after 6th grade? That's good? Some private schools expect kids to commit to some form of exercise, with yoga and dancing often substituting for sports.

That excellent HOS might want to get cracking on college advising, and beefing up applied science options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your rationale, PP? Are you a expert on college admissions?

Anonymous wrote:

Nope. Don't have to be. They have promised to invest an enormous amount of time (from the higher ups) and perhaps extra money on DC to make sure it succeeds. That is what Michael Block set himself up for - by founding a school in Washington DC because "it is Washington DC." But that means that any failure will be public and humiliating. They won't let DC fail, and that includes college admissions....

Not worried at all - kids are getting the same instruction as in AZ and for the most part, catching up to the way those kids score in AZ, and in some areas exceeding them. We have done incredibly well here on the few AP exams our kids have taken, and I am extremely confident in the quality of education my kids are getting (learning more than I did here at my DC private), so I am not worried.

Also, not only do we have the edge on private schools in DC, but we probably have the edge on established public schools (the only ones that come to mind are Walls and Wilson) because we are new, different, and still BASIS - in one of the worst public school systems in the country.

Finally, not having to do sports (and there being no expectation that any BASIS student do them seriously) leaves a lot more time for accelerated academics, and in and out of school extra curriculars. Fully expect my son to become an Eagle Scout without having any JV, Varsity, or club sports wasting his time.............

We have an excellent HOS who wants to stay and will pick up the slack, on college advising or anywhere....

Not having to do sports? Which public school forces kids to do sports? You mean you're glad that PE classes aren't required after 6th grade? That's good? Some private schools expect kids to commit to some form of exercise, with yoga and dancing often substituting for sports.

That excellent HOS might want to get cracking on college advising, and beefing up applied science options.

The sports was in reference to competition from private schools, or kids who really want to seem "well rounded"

Delight in hearing the parents complain about how late their HS kids have to start what may be 4 hours of homework because of sports, knowing that our grading is less arbitrary and can ultimately be adjusted for a teacher's dislike by getting a 3 or above on an AP exam (which, of course, since so many BASIS kids take so many APs does not necessarily have to be reported to colleges). I would not encourage my child to report a 3.

Don't know what you mean by applied science, but the safety lesson the 6th grade Chemistry teacher gave our children using sulfiric acid is etched into my dc's brain.

College advising........... yes get cracking, but Swarthmore is coming to visit on Wednesday.........

I think our first graduating class will have less than 20 kids in it - hardly a way to do an accurate measurement of what the 4th graduating class will look lije

[Anonymous]

Baloney. BASIS uses many objective assessments to determine student's grades which are all accessible to parents and students to see. Even writing assignments have detailed rubrics and instructions. I don't believe any student has gotten in the 90's club without really getting A's on their report cards.

Someone has to feed the grades into the system, right?
Teachers can submit the grades, but they do not know what happens afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Baloney. BASIS uses many objective assessments to determine student's grades which are all accessible to parents and students to see. Even writing assignments have detailed rubrics and instructions. I don't believe any student has gotten in the 90's club without really getting A's on their report cards.

Someone has to feed the grades into the system, right?
Teachers can submit the grades, but they do not know what happens afterwards.

Again, students are normally given all graded tests, quizzes, assignments or at the very least the grade answer sheet in which case you can see the teacher to see the actual test. The syllabi spell out how the grades are calculated and the overwhelming majority of the grades are based on objective assessments unlike many schools were participation or other fuzzy parameters are graded heavily.

There are no surprises at BASIS when it comes to grades unless you choose to put your head in the sand and never check your kids CJs, returned quizzes, tests, and assignments or tough base with the teachers.

[Anonymous]

New Parent Here: I don't quite understand all the negativity here about BASIS - we did research first and knew what the school would be like - the program has a definite focus and purpose and we found a lot of information about BASIS and their approach first to be sure it would be a good fit. If it's not a good fit (and I can definitely see how that would be the case) then isn't the solution to find another school with an approach that has a better fit with your child? We love BASIS so far - working really well for our highly motivated son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Parent Here: I don't quite understand all the negativity here about BASIS - we did research first and knew what the school would be like - the program has a definite focus and purpose and we found a lot of information about BASIS and their approach first to be sure it would be a good fit. If it's not a good fit (and I can definitely see how that would be the case) then isn't the solution to find another school with an approach that has a better fit with your child? We love BASIS so far - working really well for our highly motivated son.

You sound so rational, What are you doing on DCUM?