Basis PCS
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Anonymous
If it helps and FWIW: The student taking Chinese at Wilson who came from Deal would have taken three years of it (daily) at Deal (which is IB). Per Deal's Principal, Deal 8th graders last year outscored the high school national averages in standardized high school language exams (in all three languages). Now that is just averages, but I would expect that cohort will do very well at Wilson in high school language and on the AP Chinese exam. |
Anonymous
Your explanation--that AP Chinese is "approachable"--is not the only one. The more likely scenario is that most people who take it are native speakers. Kids who start studying Chinese in middle or high school would be at a serious disadvantage compared to most test-takers. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/native-speakers-ace-ap-language-exams/article/17510 |
Anonymous
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Interesting article, thanks for sharing. At least nobody in DC has to worry about Yu Ying serving native speakers at the expense of non-natives (the former don't seem to attend).
I'm not crazy about the way BASIS teaches modern languages either. If a MS kid excels in English, they won't need to study Latin to score high on the SAT verbal section eventually. |
Anonymous
| There are usually a couple of heritage speakers in my child's class at Yu Ying. By usually I mean each year 1-3 students has at least one Mandarin speaking parent. |
Anonymous
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Sounds like an issue for a Yu Ying or DCI thread. But if you really want to know how much the tiny number of supposed native-speaking students at YY speak Chinese at home, your only avenue of advance is to ask longtime Chinese teachers there privately (in Chinese). I've done this over the years and the answers have never been heartening. A couple of the BASIS 6th graders actually speak much better Mandarin than their DCI counterparts, because these kids lived in China for years. Their jet setting parents pay for private instruction.
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
^ Um, I wonder why people whose middle school aged kids would shamelessly destroy school bathrooms and school property would send their kids to a school that expects APs, high performance and college placement in the first place. Chances are those kids destroying property are not going to make it to college, and likely won't last a year at the school. 
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Anonymous
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Bathroom fires cause $150,000 in damage at Wilson HS
By Bill Turque October 17, 2011 Woodrow Wilson High School re-opened in August after a $100 million-plus renovation, and celebrated its 75th anniversary with a gala this past weekend in its handsome, four-story, glass-enclosed atrium. But it’s also been a bumpy first few weeks for the Northwest D.C. school, with students getting multiple opportunities to brush up on their evacuation skills. Two bathroom fires, the most recent on Oct. 11, forced emergency evacuations and left more than $150,000 in damage, according to Principal Pete Cahall. “In some way, I do not want to think or talk about the two incidents that we had in the last two weeks with fires being set in the bathrooms, but I am confident that we have turned the page on this type of destructive and senseless behavior,” he wrote in his weekly newsletter. “We have completed an intensive investigation and have been able to clearly identify four individuals who were directly responsible, involved, or present and did not do anything to stop the incident from occurring.” Cahall said he is recommending expulsion for the four students as well as “pressing for the most severe criminal charges.” He also said he will make every effort to recover clean-up and repair costs from those responsible. He added that security cameras have been “repositioned” for clear views of the entrances to all restrooms, and that security has been ordered to monitor the cameras at all times. Cahall warned students: “Even if you are not directly involved in a situation and can be put at the place and time of an incident and you do nothing to be a part of the solution, you will be held accountable for whatever occurred. In other words, you are either part of the problem or solution.” DCPS spokesman Fred Lewis said his office was aware of only one bathroom fire — the one last week. The other evacuation was reported as a pipe leak in the basement level of the building that triggered the sprinkler system when the water was shut off to make repairs, he said. The school was also forced to evacuate to Deal Middle School on Sept. 23 after a suspicious package was found outside the school. There were no injuries, and students returned for dismissal after police swept the building. There were no injuries reported from any of the episodes, Lewis said. |
Anonymous
| Wow, what the hell is wrong with these kids? |
Anonymous
Because their parents don't care, and they don't know about this rigor. They probably leave after the first year, but new people replace them. |
Anonymous
but chances are that those who stay, will. Wilson has a 75% graduation rate. That means you are stuck with those students in your school, in your life, in your classes for your entire career. BASIS calls 8th grade the "year of decision." Do you want to take the 6 required mandatory APs plus AP electives and do a senior project or do you want/need to do sports to get into college or want a wider college experience. We have no problems with the ones who leave. We also have no problems with the ones who stay. PS some are planning to leave and go private in 11th? grade to get an IB diploma. I think their parents are pretty confident that BASIS will have provided them with all the education they need until that point to be fine (they are already in AP Calculus AB in 9th grade). But then they are multilingual native speakers of more than two languages, and are counting on their AP scores to matter in the IB process. Since neither of their parents graduated from an American University, and they are fairly responsible and educated people, I would be surprised if they are making dramatic mistakes by staying at BASIS (and taking 4 APs in 9th grade) rather than going to WIS or DCI now. Very surprised. Their kids are also in CTY so they supplemented for the really dismal education all our kids have gotten in the upper grades at our Ward 3 Elementary School. Never occurred to me. And since they already had the in, they were able to supplement when our English broke down. And I do wish I had done that. But the reality remains that for academically advanced kids who want to be academically and intellectually challenged, BASIS is the place. No bullying for being smart, only admiration. Both my kids did peer tutoring last year and it was really rewarding and educational for them. No pressure to do sports. And the only charter I know of where they can say "you fail any class but math, you get a retake, and if you fail that, you get a choice - repeat the grade or leave the school. In our early years, something like 80 kids repeated the year because DCPS just had not prepared them adequately. But I think that shows they were willing and ready to learn. And so did our DC CAS scores - our last DC CAS, only our second time at the rodeo, we scored second only to the almighty Deal. But because there are so few decent middle schools, many kids come to BASIS expecting to go to Wilson or Walls or whatever. And I don't think BASIS has done a really good job on selling the high school here - I think maybe until this year they did not realize they had to. In fact, the most ringing endorsements I have heard are from parents who had their kids accepted into private school in 9th. But to know you are going to Walls or Wilson, will have to do AP World History again - even if you got a 5, has got to be frustrating as hell. And from what I hear, Walls has just as much homework, as do DC privates in high school - the HUGE difference is we don't have to waste our time on sports. And it sure saves money for college - most of the top colleges will just allow you to place out of classes rather than get credits towards early graduation, but from what I hear, taking Calculus in college is no fun (but also not required). But let's hope for our STEM kids who don't want to pursue math that they get 5's on AP Calc BC, because it will make a world of difference, whether they take it in the 9th-11th grade, or never take it at all. My brother would have loved this school. |
Anonymous
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^ Good points, but again remember that the first full cohorts of students at BASIS (the ones who started in 5th and 6th grade when the school opened) are still only in 8th and 9th grade right now, which is why you don't hear much about BASIS DC in terms of high school. Prior to that the upper school has not been fully populated. More and more will stay with BASIS once the upper school is fully populated.
One other thing that comes up as unique to BASIS as a reality check is that they do not do social promotion and that advancement to the next grade is contingent on passing comprehensive exams. The kids who really don't want to be there will not want to repeat grades, and so will likely not stick around. Where problems like kids vandalizing the bathrooms has happened, I think it's mostly been kids in the younger grades, kids lacking maturity. Kids like that won't likely stick around at BASIS. BASIS also doesn't backfill kids who wash out beyond 5th and 6th grade. |
Anonymous
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You're painting with too broad a brush. Not all the BASIS students who leave before high school "wash out," not by any stretch of the imagination.
Some families vote with their feet to independent schools or suburban middle schools offering just as much math and science rigor, along with stronger humanities offerings (especially in modern languages and English), and far better facilities. Some also head to Deal for what they consider a better-rounded middle school experience. These days, 6th grade algebra isn't uncommon in MoCo and Fairfax, and neither are kids taking AP exams in 8th, 9th and 10th grades. Indeed, any middle or high school student can take any AP test any May simply by registering on line, and turning up at a school where a particular test is given. The homeschooling movement has ensured that this is the case. |
Anonymous
Whoah. Slow it down there, just a bit, will ya? Nowhere did I make any commentary about "all" kids leaving BASIS. Kids leave schools all the time for all kinds of different reasons. And great for you if you are one of those people who's constantly bragging about their $400k HHI who can afford to live in NW with access to Deal or if you can afford to move out to the burbs and don't mind a horrendous commute in the process - maybe that doesn't work for everyone else. For some of us (for example all of the Capitol Hill families that go there), BASIS also happens to be very geographically convenient. But by the same token, the typical MoCo or Fairfax school isn't necessarily all you have it cracked up to be either. TJ? Sure. Others, not so much. |
Anonymous
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Er, Fairfax public middle schools offer academic tracking in subjects other than math to 6th and 7th graders, modern language instruction to 6th graders, gyms, stages, libraries, nice computer labs and playing fields. Yes, moving to the burbs is a major drag. But so is BASIS, a school where preteens bounce off the walls by the end of the day because they haven't seen the sky since 8:30 AM, there's no PTA or student government, and rabid boosters deny every problem with the way the place runs.
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