Deal or Basis for DCs? Advice Needed.

[Anonymous]

Algebra in 7th grade and Deal leads to the possibility of AP BC Calculus in 11th grade at Wilson. When my DC was at Deal several years ago, about 20-25% of the 7th graders were in algebra (based on a placement test).

I see they still do a math placement test for incoming 6th graders -- http://alicedeal.org/transitioning-to-6th-grade/#f2

Other subjects at Deal are not tracked, but were appropriately challenging (but not over the top); many Deal students go on to take at least one AP in 10th grade and 3, 4 or 5 APs each year in 11th and 12th grades at Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Basis has a math team, science bowl team, debate team, and robotics team. They have a chess club, running clubs, soccer, art history club, yoga, art club, drama club, string club, flag football, and student leadership club for starters. More clubs are being planned for as well as sports.

As for academics, there web site has the brochure spelling it all out. Students take Latin for 5th and 6th. For 7th grade onward they have the option to take Mandarin, French, or Spanish. They offer Mandarin, French, or Spanish for 5th and 6th graders as an extracurricular enrichment classes and I believe they will offer these for older students as a second language.

As for PE, it is Tae Kwon Do which is mostly done in the exercise room. My child has enjoyed these classes!!

Our experience has been great and so far I think Basis is living up to their promise of a rigorous education. They do offer tours. The building is meant to be used for middle and high school but who knows maybe they will be expand someday. As for music and art, 5th graders take art classes and music classes which have been great.

[Anonymous]

I forgot to add that we have seen that the 5th grade Basis curricula is well thought out and well rounded as well. For example, science covers, in addition to scienece roots words for science. English covers not only grammar, writing, literature, but also vocabulary with emphasis on roots. English also covers as part of its literature mythology such as Greek myths. Classics covers prehistory/ancient history which includes Greek and Roman history as well as other aspects of world history. Art covers not only art techniques but also art history which includes ancient art. Latin of course covers Latin grammar, vocabulary but also roots. Music covers music theory and choir for 5th grade. So I think it is nicely rounded out. Basis may not have a mega facility but it is nice and the location is fantastic. Lastly, they offer a world class curricula IMO ans the founders of Basis want to see it succeed. So far, I am impressed.

Again, I would carefully check out Basis, tour the school, and ask questions before I ruled it out.

[Anonymous]

I'm a Basis parent. This is the first year and they do have great classes in place but still working out some kinks and finding their footing. My child is in the 8th grade and currently takes English, Music, Physics, Economics, Biology, Chemistry, Algebra 1 and Chinese Manderin. My friends 5th grader takes Physical Geography, Latin, Classics (history), Science, Language Arts, Art, Music, Taekwondo.
Any extracurricular activities that are offered you have to pay for: Robotics $300/Football $100/ Running $50/ Leadership free/Debate Club $50 and afew more i can't remember but you can get all that information from calling the school.
It's hard to have an opinion on Basis because it has just started and the children are really just getting adjusted. They hold them accountable for themselves and they all change classes and have lockers starting in the 5th grade which has proven to be somewhat overwhelming for the younger students because its alot of freedom that they aren't yet used to. If the children take advantage of the classes offered this would prove to be one of the best schools in dc but it needs a little time in my opinion but so far we are choosing to stay.
As it goes for music, arts and theatrical classes, DC has wonderful free programs not associated with the school but offered by the city and free for any DC resident and I'm not talking mediocre. These are very good art programs or they also offer paid classes as well. DC also has great sport programs like football, basketball, soccer, tennis, swimming, and any other sport you can imagine especially in NW. Howard has a soccer team.

[Anonymous]

Basis does take FARM status into account for extracurricular fees so cost should not be an issue. I find the fees very reasonable.

[Anonymous]

What is FARM. I'm not saying its expensive but if you are refering to low income assistance, they will only cover one activity per child and it doesn't include Robotics which is the highest. If you want your child in just one then its fine but if you have two or three children attending and they are all involved in more than one like my sister who has her children in Basis and they all take an average of two extracurricular classes then it can get pricey.

[Anonymous]

17:17, Right on! 1000+

[Anonymous]

Public school education and there's reference of they take FARMS into account. This is freaking crazy! Free public education is what Basis offers, am I correct? Finding fees acceptable should be everyones least worries. It is crazy to think that if a child's family qualifies for FARM that they are too poor to play public intramural sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Other subjects at Deal are not tracked,but were appropriately challenging (but not over the top); many Deal students go on to take at least one AP in 10th grade and 3, 4 or 5 APs each year in 11th and 12th grades at Wilson.

OP again, grateful that my house doesn't look like one on Stanton Is. or the NJ Shore. Thank you, pp, for confirming that Deal is not in fact tracking outside math classes. Math instruction sounds very strong at both schools and, hence, appropriate for my kids.

I just checked the 2012 DC-CAS scores for reading by school and it seems that nearly 20% of Deal students did not test proficient or advanced. With no humanities tracking, that means that around 1 kid in 5 in every class other than math must lack basic skills, correct? How could classes indeed be appropriately challenging then when a sizeable minority of students in each is working below grade level? Teachers surely need to focus on ensuring that low-performing kids will test proficient in the future, rather than pushing high-performing kids to work harder and achieve more. Are most high-SES parents OK with the near universal tracking deficit? Do parents expect tracking outside math to enter the picture in the forseeable future? I ask in all seriousness, being new to the DC public schools middle school scene. My kids have scored advanced in both reading and math on every DC-CAS they've taken thus far.

Last week, there was an interesting 40-post thread entitled "TAG testing and differentiation in DCPS" on which pps made the case for middle school tracking. The lack of tracking at Deal, combined with social promotion, concerns me greatly, as do relatively thin sounding extra-curriculars and cramped facilities at a cash-strapped charter. Gosh, $300 for robotics? So poor kids can't participate? Can't a franchise with roots on the opposite side of the country raise money to include all interested kids in every elective/club?

Thanks for advancing this somewhat sobering research project at any rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public school education and there's reference of they take FARMS into account. This is freaking crazy! Free public education is what Basis offers, am I correct? Finding fees acceptable should be everyones least worries. It is crazy to think that if a child's family qualifies for FARM that they are too poor to play public intramural sports.

Every public I ever heard of has fees for extra-curricular activities so it is certainly not outside the norm.

[Anonymous]

One key differentiator between Deal and BASIS is that Deal has social promotion, whereas for BASIS you have to pass comprehensive exams. You won't see much non-proficiency at all when students have to pass comps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Other subjects at Deal are not tracked,but were appropriately challenging (but not over the top); many Deal students go on to take at least one AP in 10th grade and 3, 4 or 5 APs each year in 11th and 12th grades at Wilson.

OP again, grateful that my house doesn't look like one on Stanton Is. or the NJ Shore. Thank you, pp, for confirming that Deal is not in fact tracking outside math classes. Math instruction sounds very strong at both schools and, hence, appropriate for my kids.

I just checked the 2012 DC-CAS scores for reading by school and it seems that nearly 20% of Deal students did not test proficient or advanced. With no humanities tracking, that means that around 1 kid in 5 in every class other than math must lack basic skills, correct? How could classes indeed be appropriately challenging then when a sizeable minority of students in each is working below grade level? Teachers surely need to focus on ensuring that low-performing kids will test proficient in the future, rather than pushing high-performing kids to work harder and achieve more. Are most high-SES parents OK with the near universal tracking deficit? Do parents expect tracking outside math to enter the picture in the forseeable future? I ask in all seriousness, being new to the DC public schools middle school scene. My kids have scored advanced in both reading and math on every DC-CAS they've taken thus far.

Last week, there was an interesting 40-post thread entitled "TAG testing and differentiation in DCPS" on which pps made the case for middle school tracking. The lack of tracking at Deal, combined with social promotion, concerns me greatly, as do relatively thin sounding extra-curriculars and cramped facilities at a cash-strapped charter. Gosh, $300 for robotics? So poor kids can't participate? Can't a franchise with roots on the opposite side of the country raise money to include all interested kids in every elective/club?

Thanks for advancing this somewhat sobering research project at any rate.

I am not so sure the info about Robotics is correct. I would definitely be asking Basis itself before relying on a message board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public school education and there's reference of they take FARMS into account. This is freaking crazy! Free public education is what Basis offers, am I correct? Finding fees acceptable should be everyones least worries. It is crazy to think that if a child's family qualifies for FARM that they are too poor to play public intramural sports.

This is 21:32 and my child does get free and reduced lunch I just didn't know it was called FARMS. My sister also gets free and reduced lunch and I was just trying to be clear in letting the Asian reader know what was offered. I don't know their status or what they qualify for. I also was letting them know of all the free activities that DC offers. I am also a native Washingtonian and I wasent even aware if all the free activities and programs that DC offers for kids reguardless of status. Because they are new to DC I was giving them options that's all. I wish somebody had told me before I had spent money on activities for my children in the past especially the great Art programs and Art scholarships offered as well in NW!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Other subjects at Deal are not tracked,but were appropriately challenging (but not over the top); many Deal students go on to take at least one AP in 10th grade and 3, 4 or 5 APs each year in 11th and 12th grades at Wilson.

OP again, grateful that my house doesn't look like one on Stanton Is. or the NJ Shore. Thank you, pp, for confirming that Deal is not in fact tracking outside math classes. Math instruction sounds very strong at both schools and, hence, appropriate for my kids.

I just checked the 2012 DC-CAS scores for reading by school and it seems that nearly 20% of Deal students did not test proficient or advanced. With no humanities tracking, that means that around 1 kid in 5 in every class other than math must lack basic skills, correct? How could classes indeed be appropriately challenging then when a sizeable minority of students in each is working below grade level? Teachers surely need to focus on ensuring that low-performing kids will test proficient in the future, rather than pushing high-performing kids to work harder and achieve more. Are most high-SES parents OK with the near universal tracking deficit? Do parents expect tracking outside math to enter the picture in the forseeable future? I ask in all seriousness, being new to the DC public schools middle school scene. My kids have scored advanced in both reading and math on every DC-CAS they've taken thus far.

Well, my child is in the 5th grade and takes Robotics as an extracurricular class at Basis and it is on Mondays and it IS $300! There is also another Robotics class offers as a academic class but that too has a fee but I'm just not sure what that is. I would presume it was $300 to since Basis said the $300 pays for the Robotics kit itself.

Last week, there was an interesting 40-post thread entitled "TAG testing and differentiation in DCPS" on which pps made the case for middle school tracking. The lack of tracking at Deal, combined with social promotion, concerns me greatly, as do relatively thin sounding extra-curriculars and cramped facilities at a cash-strapped charter. Gosh, $300 for robotics? So poor kids can't participate? Can't a franchise with roots on the opposite side of the country raise money to include all interested kids in every elective/club?

Thanks for advancing this somewhat sobering research project at any rate.

I am not so sure the info about Robotics is correct. I would definitely be asking Basis itself before relying on a message board.

[Anonymous]

I posted about asking the school directly about any extra-curricular fees and FARMS instead of relying on a message board. I also know that the fee is $300 for robotics but I do not know if the info about FARMS and robotics is correct. If you want correct info then ask the school!