Middle school options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They want their kids to have phones in classrooms so that they can text or call their kids during the school day for safety reasons (also because it's more convenient).

Accurate, my DCPS MS has a small number of students who have notes that allow them to have their phones all day. They wear large headphones, listen to music and videos, walk around singing, facetime, and make dance recordings all day.

You will also find families who are concerned that if their kids don't get 1:1 devices or dedicated time with technology at school, their kids will fall behind wealthier kids who have more at-home technology access.

Had a family transfer from MD to DCPS, the first thing they asked was when their child got their Chromebook to take home.

Public schools just have to “accept” everything and everyone. We need to go back to the old ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Sadly, in DC a tolerable middle school is quite the gem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

We left basis in middle for private. It served our child very well for what it was but we wanted different overall experience. No complaints and fantastic to have such an FREE option in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

BS. Parents claim they love BASIS for pride's sake because they can't do any better without leaving DC. If you can't afford a private and don't want to move to the burbs for a kick ass HS you wind up tooting BASIS' horn to mask its glaring shortcomings. My main beef with the BASIS MS is that it employs too many poorly trained and inexperienced young teachers who clearly use the place as a teacher training program before they hit the road for better pay and working conditions in Fairfax, Arlington or MoCo. I also didn't like how narrow the curriculum was and how pushy admins were about seeing no need to widen it (come on, only beginning language study from 8th grade for dozens of kids per cohort who came up through DCPS and charter elementary school immersion). BASIS is a blunt instrument. You can stay mired in relativism or you can admit that you make the best of BASIS until you can do better, maybe just for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

BS. Parents claim they love BASIS for pride's sake because they can't do any better without leaving DC. If you can't afford a private and don't want to move to the burbs for a kick ass HS you wind up tooting BASIS' horn to mask its glaring shortcomings. My main beef with the BASIS MS is that it employs too many poorly trained and inexperienced young teachers who clearly use the place as a teacher training program before they hit the road for better pay and working conditions in Fairfax, Arlington or MoCo. I also didn't like how narrow the curriculum was and how pushy admins were about seeing no need to widen it (come on, only beginning language study from 8th grade for dozens of kids per cohort who came up through DCPS and charter elementary school immersion). BASIS is a blunt instrument. You can stay mired in relativism or you can admit that you make the best of BASIS until you can do better, maybe just for college.

Yeah - “love” BASIS is probably a bit of an overstatement. It’s more like, BASIS is at least navigable for certain kids and families that want to stay in DC. I don’t know anyone who finds the place ideal. But it “works” for a critical mass of families as part of an overall puzzle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

BS. Parents claim they love BASIS for pride's sake because they can't do any better without leaving DC. If you can't afford a private and don't want to move to the burbs for a kick ass HS you wind up tooting BASIS' horn to mask its glaring shortcomings. My main beef with the BASIS MS is that it employs too many poorly trained and inexperienced young teachers who clearly use the place as a teacher training program before they hit the road for better pay and working conditions in Fairfax, Arlington or MoCo. I also didn't like how narrow the curriculum was and how pushy admins were about seeing no need to widen it (come on, only beginning language study from 8th grade for dozens of kids per cohort who came up through DCPS and charter elementary school immersion). BASIS is a blunt instrument. You can stay mired in relativism or you can admit that you make the best of BASIS until you can do better, maybe just for college.

I wonder if even this has changed. My sons 6th grade teachers (with the exception of one class that had three teachers in one year) were excellent. Not particularly young. One with a phD, one with a masters Ed.

I think something changed, coinciding in time with the change in HOS. The vibes are better, people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

BS. Parents claim they love BASIS for pride's sake because they can't do any better without leaving DC. If you can't afford a private and don't want to move to the burbs for a kick ass HS you wind up tooting BASIS' horn to mask its glaring shortcomings. My main beef with the BASIS MS is that it employs too many poorly trained and inexperienced young teachers who clearly use the place as a teacher training program before they hit the road for better pay and working conditions in Fairfax, Arlington or MoCo. I also didn't like how narrow the curriculum was and how pushy admins were about seeing no need to widen it (come on, only beginning language study from 8th grade for dozens of kids per cohort who came up through DCPS and charter elementary school immersion). BASIS is a blunt instrument. You can stay mired in relativism or you can admit that you make the best of BASIS until you can do better, maybe just for college.

They also decided to widen the curriculum. They removed linguistics and added a writing course in 6th and 7th for example, and it's excellent -- narrative, persuasive, vocabulary building etc. they had pen pals in Arizona They learned so many forms of writing and it's a chance to be a little more creative. And they just changed middle school science to allow for more lab time (2 instead of 3 classes) and they changed "physical geography" to "earth and life science." They have expanded art offerings with a "national art honor society"

Im truly sorry that people had bad experiences before and I don't doubt the stories. But I was just discussing this at an end of year event with some other parents whose kids have been happy (mine is genuinely happy). The rumors don't seem true anymore (except that you need to be good at math to enjoy the curriculum).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

BS. Parents claim they love BASIS for pride's sake because they can't do any better without leaving DC. If you can't afford a private and don't want to move to the burbs for a kick ass HS you wind up tooting BASIS' horn to mask its glaring shortcomings. My main beef with the BASIS MS is that it employs too many poorly trained and inexperienced young teachers who clearly use the place as a teacher training program before they hit the road for better pay and working conditions in Fairfax, Arlington or MoCo. I also didn't like how narrow the curriculum was and how pushy admins were about seeing no need to widen it (come on, only beginning language study from 8th grade for dozens of kids per cohort who came up through DCPS and charter elementary school immersion). BASIS is a blunt instrument. You can stay mired in relativism or you can admit that you make the best of BASIS until you can do better, maybe just for college.

They also decided to widen the curriculum. They removed linguistics and added a writing course in 6th and 7th for example, and it's excellent -- narrative, persuasive, vocabulary building etc. they had pen pals in Arizona They learned so many forms of writing and it's a chance to be a little more creative. And they just changed middle school science to allow for more lab time (2 instead of 3 classes) and they changed "physical geography" to "earth and life science." They have expanded art offerings with a "national art honor society"

Im truly sorry that people had bad experiences before and I don't doubt the stories. But I was just discussing this at an end of year event with some other parents whose kids have been happy (mine is genuinely happy). The rumors don't seem true anymore (except that you need to be good at math to enjoy the curriculum).

Wow, a pen pal in Arizona! Who could pass that up?

[Anonymous]

I can vouch for the 5th grade writing mastery class. I’ve seen a dramatic improvement is DS’ writing skills, which was very much unexpected. I can’t compare to what might have existed before or to other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

BS. Parents claim they love BASIS for pride's sake because they can't do any better without leaving DC. If you can't afford a private and don't want to move to the burbs for a kick ass HS you wind up tooting BASIS' horn to mask its glaring shortcomings. My main beef with the BASIS MS is that it employs too many poorly trained and inexperienced young teachers who clearly use the place as a teacher training program before they hit the road for better pay and working conditions in Fairfax, Arlington or MoCo. I also didn't like how narrow the curriculum was and how pushy admins were about seeing no need to widen it (come on, only beginning language study from 8th grade for dozens of kids per cohort who came up through DCPS and charter elementary school immersion). BASIS is a blunt instrument. You can stay mired in relativism or you can admit that you make the best of BASIS until you can do better, maybe just for college.

Yeah - “love” BASIS is probably a bit of an overstatement. It’s more like, BASIS is at least navigable for certain kids and families that want to stay in DC. I don’t know anyone who finds the place ideal. But it “works” for a critical mass of families as part of an overall puzzle.

Agree. It gets ridiculous when parents claim to love a program without basics like a gym or auditorium or any outdoor space on campus. We were annoyed by how limited the curriculum was. Our physics minded eldest could have prepped for just one AP physics exam at BASIS. The school we switched to offers prep in all 4 Physics APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

BS. Parents claim they love BASIS for pride's sake because they can't do any better without leaving DC. If you can't afford a private and don't want to move to the burbs for a kick ass HS you wind up tooting BASIS' horn to mask its glaring shortcomings. My main beef with the BASIS MS is that it employs too many poorly trained and inexperienced young teachers who clearly use the place as a teacher training program before they hit the road for better pay and working conditions in Fairfax, Arlington or MoCo. I also didn't like how narrow the curriculum was and how pushy admins were about seeing no need to widen it (come on, only beginning language study from 8th grade for dozens of kids per cohort who came up through DCPS and charter elementary school immersion). BASIS is a blunt instrument. You can stay mired in relativism or you can admit that you make the best of BASIS until you can do better, maybe just for college.

Yeah - “love” BASIS is probably a bit of an overstatement. It’s more like, BASIS is at least navigable for certain kids and families that want to stay in DC. I don’t know anyone who finds the place ideal. But it “works” for a critical mass of families as part of an overall puzzle.

Agree. It gets ridiculous when parents claim to love a program without basics like a gym or auditorium or any outdoor space on campus. We were annoyed by how limited the curriculum was. Our physics minded eldest could have prepped for just one AP physics exam at BASIS. The school we switched to offers prep in all 4 Physics APs.

What school?

[Anonymous]

It was only a matter of time before this thread devolved into an argument about BASIS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.

BASIS is a school that parents love. ITDS is a school that kids love.

More like BASIS is a school that, overall, both parents and kids merely tolerate. - BASIS parent of several years, and not long ago.

Speak for yourself. Lots of parents love it.

BS. Parents claim they love BASIS for pride's sake because they can't do any better without leaving DC. If you can't afford a private and don't want to move to the burbs for a kick ass HS you wind up tooting BASIS' horn to mask its glaring shortcomings. My main beef with the BASIS MS is that it employs too many poorly trained and inexperienced young teachers who clearly use the place as a teacher training program before they hit the road for better pay and working conditions in Fairfax, Arlington or MoCo. I also didn't like how narrow the curriculum was and how pushy admins were about seeing no need to widen it (come on, only beginning language study from 8th grade for dozens of kids per cohort who came up through DCPS and charter elementary school immersion). BASIS is a blunt instrument. You can stay mired in relativism or you can admit that you make the best of BASIS until you can do better, maybe just for college.

Yeah - “love” BASIS is probably a bit of an overstatement. It’s more like, BASIS is at least navigable for certain kids and families that want to stay in DC. I don’t know anyone who finds the place ideal. But it “works” for a critical mass of families as part of an overall puzzle.

Agree. It gets ridiculous when parents claim to love a program without basics like a gym or auditorium or any outdoor space on campus. We were annoyed by how limited the curriculum was. Our physics minded eldest could have prepped for just one AP physics exam at BASIS. The school we switched to offers prep in all 4 Physics APs.

What school?

Dunbar.