BASIS to Deal?
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Anonymous
| Any takes on Basis vs. Hardy for homework/teacher quality…not to hijack this thread. |
Anonymous
| BASIS lost an excellent 6th grade English teacher to Deal. |
Anonymous
Schools with less homework - nowadays anyway - drill fluency, but they find ways to roll it into a 8-4 school day, using blended learning for example, which I appreciate. |
Anonymous
You'll find the same holding true for Hardy, Deal, and other high performing middle schools in DCPS when it comes to teachers and homework. The Main difference will be who attends the schools. And there are two other key aspects you should take into account in looking at Hardy: It's schedule is organized around double periods (alternative A and B days), which has implications for homework, good and bad. And Hardy is a SEM while Deal is an IB school, which probably has no implications for homework but may have implications for teacher training. In contrast to Basis approach to teaching foundations (drill, memorize etc.), both likely impose/inflict more longer-term, comprehensive projects on their students, such as science projects, writing stories, drafting a major research paper. My kids enjoy that - though I'm not sure I can say the same as a parent - but some may not. |
Anonymous
I think I'm the person you're asking (I'm the private school parent). No, I haven't helped with homework once, ever, nor do I help with organizational skills. That's not an expectation at our school at any level. |
Anonymous
| For the PP, I'm glad to see that was your reply. I was thinking the same thing when the other poster said he/she didn't like the idea of helping a child with 2 hours of HW per night. I don't do any help with my 6th grader in his regular homework, and he has about 2 hours of HW per day. We help with test/quiz prep and review but that's generally it. I spoke to a Wilson HS parent a few weeks ago who told me of his 10th grade daughter normally having just 30 minutes of HW a night. That's ... just odd. Clearly a different philosophy there (or perhaps his child is taking easy-track classes). |
Anonymous
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I am the original poster of this question and threat. Thank you all for your posts and comments here. I welcome any more that may come. I still have a lot to think about and appreicate all the information I can get.
In particular, I appreciate the info on Deal. I have been a bit worried about whether it has too little homework, whether it will be too easy (because someone told me it would be). But I also think it might be a better fit and a child who is curious but learns better in discussion, projects, and experiences may do better there than at Basis where you have little of those things. Deal children do well going forward. It is hard to let go of the challenging curriculum, especially when your child is math/science oriented and he really does get the material, just has trouble with the volume of memorization and assignments. But hopefully we end up with a happier more confident child it we switch. Basis has killed his intellecutal self esteem - particularly dangerous for a boy at this age, moreso for a black boy at this age, given the country we live in. I will say that the parent considering Basis should not consider 2 hours of homework to be set. It varies. In our case it was almost always 2 hours but to get 2 functional hours after 6 or 7 pm when we all got home, my son is usually up until 10 or 10:30. There were many times when the 30 math problems took 1.5 to 2 hours alone, due to fatigue (remember that is after being up since 6 am, and 7 hours of nonstop concentration time in school). In the morning he could often do 15 problems in less than 30 minutes so age, development, sleep and stamina are big factors here in my view. He has a friend who works much faster and he is in bed by 9 or 9:30 but that child also has a stay at home parent and a 5 minute commute so he is home by 4:30 every day. Aftercare at Basis has not proven to be conducive to homework. A little gets done there but not much in our experience. One of the biggest challenges is that the assigned homework is not enough to do well on the quizzes and tests. It does not account for the need to make and review flash cards, rewrite your notes (re-reading is definitely insufficient at Basis in our experience), discuss your notes or materials with a parent, practice labeling all of the maps and anatomy diagrams etc. On teachers, I do not think Basis teachers are necessarily better than others. Some are very good. Some do not seem good at adjusting their teaching style or the material to the age group they are teaching. Many lecture with power points and screens and the kids take notes (of course there are labs and in class work). I feel that my child is being taught some courses as you would teach at the high school or community college level, and the testing is at that level too. Most grading seems to be is one point off for every wrong answer on a scale of 100 - never half a point or anything and as most is multipule choice there is rarely partial credit. The result is that if your kid misses 4 questions on a quiz of 10, he gets a 60 for that assignment. Private schools in town would never grade that way. Our family has been through 4 of the top private schools in town and we've never seen this kind of testing or grading prior to high school. While the teachers have majored in their subjects, you can find that at many other schools in DC, at least the private ones and probably Deal though I don't know. I think most Basis parents have to help their kids with homework regularly. At least at 5th and 6th grades. It may not be every night but we definitely need to provide much more support than we did in any of the private independent schools (including for this same child). Thanks again and please do share more if any of this has spurred additional ideas for you. |
Anonymous
| One additional observation I'll make as a parent with experience at both Deal and BASIS is that I think it's easier to monitor how your child is doing using the Edline system versus trying to follow the paper flow coming home at BASIS. My child at BASIS prefers to do the organizing/homework on his/her own, so I don't see most of the tests and homework assignments and projects. Given that, the only indication I have of how the child is performing is the mid-point and final grades from each grading period. At Deal, Edline provides an almost real-time monitoring system. It just makes it easier to keep track of how things are going. In addition, I think the culture is just more inviting to having a parent contact a teacher with questions or to try to resolve a problem. Just my perception. |
Anonymous
| Very helpful. Thank you. I wonder, did your Basis child start at 5th or is it an older child or started at a higher grade? I think the organizing is tough and harder for younger kids, many or some of whom don't have the organizing skills and attention to detail that it requires. But maybe I am wrong. |
Anonymous
The BASIS teachers do work extensively with 5th grade students in teaching them how to be organized and how to study. They use a specific routine to assist with this. |
Anonymous
I know one kid who left for Deal who was, like most of the kids at Walls, placed in a lower math class and is now getting A's in that class. He is getting A's in everything, but thinks it is "easy" and is sometimes bored but very prepared for Deal. His self esteem, which was also being crushed at Basis, has risen considerably. Happiness in MS and HS is really important, as is self esteem, so if you think Basis is crushing your kid's self esteem, I would switch. OTOH as a fellow minority parent we want to avoid Wilson, we have seriously math and science oriented kids who do not require our help except for the kid in the lower grade sometimes, mostly with organization, and are doing well academically. So we are in a different place, with a kid who just shadowed at Walls and did not hear any ringing endorsements from the former Basis students there and was stunned that kids were talking, eating and texting in class..... Everyone seems very confident that Deal is a very good school. I would be worried about a MS with that little homework as well. But since you seem familiar with private schools, it is heartening for me to know that in high school my kids will not have to play sports to be "well rounded" and thus even if they have the same amount of homework (up to 4 hours by 11th grade) they will not come home tired at 7pm from being at practice to start it. And we will not have to help them with it. I think one of the reasons Basis teachers seem less easy to communicate with is Basis puts the responsibility on the kid from the get go. Washington Latin also has a way to helicopter and monitor with "wikis." But you do get a sense from the CJ if your child is in trouble academically, and the teachers are willing to try to help.... |
Anonymous
| We have never helped our Basis child with homework. Child is happy and doing well in 3rd year there. Teachers, especially English, have been mixed. But if your kid is already feeling crushed and stressed and needs your help I would leave. It does not get easier. I do not buy the explanations offered for so little homework here at Deal and Wilson. Latin has quite a lot of homework, as do private schools. There is something strange there, but the best kids get into good colleges from Wilson. I just wonder if they are academically prepared and prepared for the workload when they get there.... |
Anonymous
click on the link - teen years are risky for everyone. This was from a thread about how disappointed some future Latin parents were with this year's college acceptances (which is not an issue at Wilson, and I don't think will be an issue at Basis)........... |
Anonymous
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There is a "packet" that is given out to kids who failed a comp, and in addition to that the kid can go in and look at the comp in question, although there were some timing problems with that this year. But there is no help from teachers over the summer, although I think they are considering changing that.
In terms of whether failing comps would matter to Deal, since they are half of the year end grade, you may end up with a failing grade. I would call the special ed coordinator at Deal and ask the question about whether your child would have to repeat the grade. If that is even a remote possibility, I would pull your kid out now. If you plan on going to Wilson, Deal has teams that make it smaller so he can get a good solid crowd of friends before going to Wilson. I definitely would not hang around to complete physics and chemistry (our kid was bored, thought it was repetitive, and still a lot of work), and bio can be good anywhere....... especially since you say his self esteem is getting "crushed" - whatever else, it is clear that Basis is not the right school for him. I am sorry about that, because for most math and science kids it is the right school. It is for ours. But if we thought either of our kids were hurting psychologically, we would move them somewhere else before the comps did additional damage as long as Deal can make the transition easier. The kid we know who moved did it after winter break, and made a fine transition. He will be ahead in most subjects, so that will help....I would not take the comps |
Anonymous
| Another Basis parent here who has never had to help either child with homework - in fact gets shut out and wishes for more involvement! |