Basis fills a gap that shouldn’t exist.

[Anonymous]

There's also a savior mentality at BASIS. It goes like this: shut up and do just as we say because we know best. March in step through middle school, racing through subject matter memorizing facts to do well on tests. If your kid isn't weak or slow, and you're willing to find and pay for serious ECs, we'll make sure that they get to a top college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's also a savior mentality at BASIS. It goes like this: shut up and do just as we say because we know best. March in step through middle school, racing through subject matter memorizing facts to do well on tests. If your kid isn't weak or slow, and you're willing to find and pay for serious ECs, we'll make sure that they get to a top college.

I agree with this. BASIS preys on the fears of middle and UMC parents regarding college entry and costs. They aren't really offering an education or experience that, on its own, most people would choose for themselves or their kids. But the idea is that they can maximize your kid's test scores, and thus maximize college entry options and scholarship money. I don't blame any parent who chooses BASIS for these reasons -- we live in a society where college is required for most jobs, more selective colleges open doors to higher paying jobs, and college costs are skyrocketing. I get why many families are just looking for some way to ensure their child access to a solid college education.

But the sacrifices you make for BASIS are depressing. I am not some crunchy granola parent who needs my kid to be able to take basketweaving or spend half their high school career daydreaming, but I want more for my kid than just to achieve their highest possible SAT score. Also, I was a high achieving high school student who got routed into prestigious colleges and a high paying career, and I can now see various paths that would have been just as financially secure but more rewarding for me personally, and I don't want to rob my own kids of those options. A fixation on academic achievement to the exclusion of all else might be a good way to get into a competitive college program, but it's just not a good way to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's also a savior mentality at BASIS. It goes like this: shut up and do just as we say because we know best. March in step through middle school, racing through subject matter memorizing facts to do well on tests. If your kid isn't weak or slow, and you're willing to find and pay for serious ECs, we'll make sure that they get to a top college.

I agree with this. BASIS preys on the fears of middle and UMC parents regarding college entry and costs. They aren't really offering an education or experience that, on its own, most people would choose for themselves or their kids. But the idea is that they can maximize your kid's test scores, and thus maximize college entry options and scholarship money. I don't blame any parent who chooses BASIS for these reasons -- we live in a society where college is required for most jobs, more selective colleges open doors to higher paying jobs, and college costs are skyrocketing. I get why many families are just looking for some way to ensure their child access to a solid college education.

But the sacrifices you make for BASIS are depressing. I am not some crunchy granola parent who needs my kid to be able to take basketweaving or spend half their high school career daydreaming, but I want more for my kid than just to achieve their highest possible SAT score. Also, I was a high achieving high school student who got routed into prestigious colleges and a high paying career, and I can now see various paths that would have been just as financially secure but more rewarding for me personally, and I don't want to rob my own kids of those options. A fixation on academic achievement to the exclusion of all else might be a good way to get into a competitive college program, but it's just not a good way to live.

It’s not even that. BASIS is one of a few options that aren’t total and absolute chaos. As other options appear in DC, demand has gone down. I wish DC would do more to make DCPS schools less chaotic, but there’s been progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's also a savior mentality at BASIS. It goes like this: shut up and do just as we say because we know best. March in step through middle school, racing through subject matter memorizing facts to do well on tests. If your kid isn't weak or slow, and you're willing to find and pay for serious ECs, we'll make sure that they get to a top college.

I agree with this. BASIS preys on the fears of middle and UMC parents regarding college entry and costs. They aren't really offering an education or experience that, on its own, most people would choose for themselves or their kids. But the idea is that they can maximize your kid's test scores, and thus maximize college entry options and scholarship money. I don't blame any parent who chooses BASIS for these reasons -- we live in a society where college is required for most jobs, more selective colleges open doors to higher paying jobs, and college costs are skyrocketing. I get why many families are just looking for some way to ensure their child access to a solid college education.

But the sacrifices you make for BASIS are depressing. I am not some crunchy granola parent who needs my kid to be able to take basketweaving or spend half their high school career daydreaming, but I want more for my kid than just to achieve their highest possible SAT score. Also, I was a high achieving high school student who got routed into prestigious colleges and a high paying career, and I can now see various paths that would have been just as financially secure but more rewarding for me personally, and I don't want to rob my own kids of those options. A fixation on academic achievement to the exclusion of all else might be a good way to get into a competitive college program, but it's just not a good way to live.

This.

Personal grievance, we couldn't stand how there was no pleasant place for the kids to study at BASIS, no quiet, sunny corner with comfortable furniture let alone a library/media center. They'd study in the stuffy cafeteria, with its black walls, dim lighting and no windows. Yes, we chose BASIS, but over the chaos mentioned in the post above so no remotely acceptable alternative in the public system without moving. We also found the no-languages-until-8th grade (and then just for beginners) rule to be grim. But the absence of any sort of music program was the worst of it.

[Anonymous]

I find threads like this very frustrating because there ARE middle schools in DC which offer the range of experiences people claim to be looking for when criticizing BASIS. The only thing they are lacking is a large cohort of high performing students. If you hate BASIS, send your kid to SH or E-H! They have good facilities, good extracurriculars, etc, etc. I think charter schools played a critical role in getting parents to stay in DC, but I also think that now there's no question that there are a bunch of DCPS middle schools who would thrive if charter schools ceased to exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find threads like this very frustrating because there ARE middle schools in DC which offer the range of experiences people claim to be looking for when criticizing BASIS. The only thing they are lacking is a large cohort of high performing students. If you hate BASIS, send your kid to SH or E-H! They have good facilities, good extracurriculars, etc, etc. I think charter schools played a critical role in getting parents to stay in DC, but I also think that now there's no question that there are a bunch of DCPS middle schools who would thrive if charter schools ceased to exist.

The only reason charters even exist is because people feel like DCPS failed them. It seems a little rich to now say DCPS would be great if not for charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find threads like this very frustrating because there ARE middle schools in DC which offer the range of experiences people claim to be looking for when criticizing BASIS. The only thing they are lacking is a large cohort of high performing students. If you hate BASIS, send your kid to SH or E-H! They have good facilities, good extracurriculars, etc, etc. I think charter schools played a critical role in getting parents to stay in DC, but I also think that now there's no question that there are a bunch of DCPS middle schools who would thrive if charter schools ceased to exist.

DCPS doesnt care about high performing students, especially if they're white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I was sold on BASIS filling the gap until my eldest switched to a parochial high school. He wasn't nearly as used to giving presentations, or working in groups, or diving deep into topics, or doing research, or reading at least one book a week as most of his classmates. Hint: none of those methods of learning feature heavily in BASIS' AP prep focused curriculum. He also wasn't used to having to play a sport, every day. The other students who'd come out of BASIS at his school were in the same boat. He adjusted, but it took him all of freshman year.

Be careful what you believe about a BASIS education, folks. In our experience, the narrowness of the curriculum and weak facilities create as many gaps as they fill. Denying this only works so well. BASIS trains kids to do well on tests. Not much more.

Yes, there is no doubt in my mind that private/parochial school offers more than BASIS. It would be weird if it didn't.

Yes - It’s also an open secret that (1) some folks use Basis as a springboard to private high schools (and sometimes middle); (2) private schools respect the Basis rigor vs other public schools; and (3) see an opportunity to “round out” Basis-prepared students. But yes - a $40K/yr school should have various premiums over Basis.

Wait, what? Private schools are not pining for a chance to "round out" students from any one school FFS. You think they're sitting there saying "this poor disadvantaged child has been denied arts and language education, and we can make the world a better place by admitting them"?

If anything, BASIS kids get in *despite* the things BASIS has chosen not to offer.

Yeah - this is decidedly not true. I don’t want to out myself. But I know for a hard fact that a solid record at BasisDC has is a definite plus for public school applicants. Those schools know what Basis is (and isn’t) and doing well there helps to remove some of the doubt faced by kids coming from public school.

Well yes, because any credible demonstration of academic ability and capacity is a positive thing. It's just weird to think private schools see "opportunity to round out" as a good thing, rather than a deficiency. They're not sitting there like "Yay, this kid's never taken art class, this is our chance to round someone out!"

Actually, I think this slightly misses the nuance. No one is suggesting private schools celebrate a kid’s narrowness. Of course they’re not sitting around saying, “Yay, this kid’s never taken art!”

But what I am suggesting is that the so-called “narrowness” of BASIS isn’t necessarily a fatal flaw — and in fact, for private schools evaluating public and charter applicants, it’s often seen as a credible, reliable signal of cognitive ability and academic work ethic.

In a city where transcripts and grading standards vary widely, BASIS offers private schools something reassuring: clear evidence that a student can handle rigorous work. That alone sets a floor. From there, schools do often ask, “What could we do for this kid? How might he thrive here?” It’s not entirely altruistic — it’s part of the broader “What can this kid bring to our community?” lens.

In other words, a strong BASIS record signals: high academic ceiling, clear structure tolerance, potential to grow beyond current limits.

From there, “rounding out” isn’t compensating for deficiency — it’s value-added. Especially when schools feel they’re getting someone with a strong foundation who hasn’t yet had all the elite private bells and whistles. That’s actually attractive.

So yes — academic sharpness is never a bad thing. And narrowness, when it reflects focus or rigor, isn’t always seen as a weakness. It’s often just unrealized breadth. And many schools like being the place where that breadth can finally bloom — at least in the case of some portion of the study body.

You guys are sugarcoating the "strong foundation" BASIS supposedly provides in a big way. From where I sit, the crux of the problem isn't about students missing out on elite private bells and whistles or "unrealized breadth" or any other high-falutin concepts. In our experience, BASIS' focus on relentlessly testing students comes at the expense of promoting joy of learning to the point that the place doesn't function as a school as much as a test prep center where mostly inexperienced teachers prep students to ace exams.

There aren't a lot of BASIS middle school parents worrying about what their student can "bring to the community" at a private high school, because there aren't a lot of BASIS UMC parents who can afford private high schools, mainly due to the high cost of housing in the District. Fact is most middle school students at BASIS who leave the program do so for other public schools, in the DMV or out.

We made it to the BASIS hs but left for another in the MD burbs. We thought our eldest was a rock star because he'd done so well at BASIS for 5 years. But he proved deeply average on the fast track at his new school across the board, for math, English, foreign language, extra curriculars, you name it. The teaching was so much better at the new school, along with the choice of APs, electives and extra curriculars, that there was no comparison to BASIS. We went from a school teaching one AP physics class to a school teaching all four, from a school offering no language classes past AP to a school offering many etc. The new school was much more fun and far more enriching.

This is probably the most helpful thread if you have a high performing kid. I have one, and we did not even consider Basis because saw that it was basically a test prep grind and not well a rounded middle school experience. It is also a very rigid and narrow curriculum.

Well, we have a high performing (99th percentile on CAPE) kid, we did choose BASIS, and we are very grateful bc he had a chance to learn a ton and has a lot of smart peers. Our other option was DCPS and there is no doubt in my mind that he learned more math, science and history at BASIS middle than he would have in a DCPS middle school. Yes, they take a lot of tests to assess their learning. But I think that's a good thing. It's an old school, structured, handwritten way of learning.

High school will be its own decision. But if you have a STEMy, high achieving kid, imo you are crazy not to consider BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find threads like this very frustrating because there ARE middle schools in DC which offer the range of experiences people claim to be looking for when criticizing BASIS. The only thing they are lacking is a large cohort of high performing students. If you hate BASIS, send your kid to SH or E-H! They have good facilities, good extracurriculars, etc, etc. I think charter schools played a critical role in getting parents to stay in DC, but I also think that now there's no question that there are a bunch of DCPS middle schools who would thrive if charter schools ceased to exist.

The only reason charters even exist is because people feel like DCPS failed them. It seems a little rich to now say DCPS would be great if not for charters.

But it's still true with respect to certain schools, which is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find threads like this very frustrating because there ARE middle schools in DC which offer the range of experiences people claim to be looking for when criticizing BASIS. The only thing they are lacking is a large cohort of high performing students. If you hate BASIS, send your kid to SH or E-H! They have good facilities, good extracurriculars, etc, etc. I think charter schools played a critical role in getting parents to stay in DC, but I also think that now there's no question that there are a bunch of DCPS middle schools who would thrive if charter schools ceased to exist.

The only reason charters even exist is because people feel like DCPS failed them. It seems a little rich to now say DCPS would be great if not for charters.

Sorry... Should have said: But it's still true with respect to certain schools, which is what I said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find threads like this very frustrating because there ARE middle schools in DC which offer the range of experiences people claim to be looking for when criticizing BASIS. The only thing they are lacking is a large cohort of high performing students. If you hate BASIS, send your kid to SH or E-H! They have good facilities, good extracurriculars, etc, etc. I think charter schools played a critical role in getting parents to stay in DC, but I also think that now there's no question that there are a bunch of DCPS middle schools who would thrive if charter schools ceased to exist.

DCPS doesnt care about high performing students, especially if they're white.

This unfortunately feels more and more true as years go by, especially for middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find threads like this very frustrating because there ARE middle schools in DC which offer the range of experiences people claim to be looking for when criticizing BASIS. The only thing they are lacking is a large cohort of high performing students. If you hate BASIS, send your kid to SH or E-H! They have good facilities, good extracurriculars, etc, etc. I think charter schools played a critical role in getting parents to stay in DC, but I also think that now there's no question that there are a bunch of DCPS middle schools who would thrive if charter schools ceased to exist.

I think a lot of BASIS parents would be fine with one or both of those schools, but they either aren't zoned for them or are worried about their high school options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was sold on BASIS filling the gap until my eldest switched to a parochial high school. He wasn't nearly as used to giving presentations, or working in groups, or diving deep into topics, or doing research, or reading at least one book a week as most of his classmates. Hint: none of those methods of learning feature heavily in BASIS' AP prep focused curriculum. He also wasn't used to having to play a sport, every day. The other students who'd come out of BASIS at his school were in the same boat. He adjusted, but it took him all of freshman year.

Be careful what you believe about a BASIS education, folks. In our experience, the narrowness of the curriculum and weak facilities create as many gaps as they fill. Denying this only works so well. BASIS trains kids to do well on tests. Not much more.

Yes, there is no doubt in my mind that private/parochial school offers more than BASIS. It would be weird if it didn't.

Yes - It’s also an open secret that (1) some folks use Basis as a springboard to private high schools (and sometimes middle); (2) private schools respect the Basis rigor vs other public schools; and (3) see an opportunity to “round out” Basis-prepared students. But yes - a $40K/yr school should have various premiums over Basis.

Wait, what? Private schools are not pining for a chance to "round out" students from any one school FFS. You think they're sitting there saying "this poor disadvantaged child has been denied arts and language education, and we can make the world a better place by admitting them"?

If anything, BASIS kids get in *despite* the things BASIS has chosen not to offer.

Yeah - this is decidedly not true. I don’t want to out myself. But I know for a hard fact that a solid record at BasisDC has is a definite plus for public school applicants. Those schools know what Basis is (and isn’t) and doing well there helps to remove some of the doubt faced by kids coming from public school.

Well yes, because any credible demonstration of academic ability and capacity is a positive thing. It's just weird to think private schools see "opportunity to round out" as a good thing, rather than a deficiency. They're not sitting there like "Yay, this kid's never taken art class, this is our chance to round someone out!"

Actually, I think this slightly misses the nuance. No one is suggesting private schools celebrate a kid’s narrowness. Of course they’re not sitting around saying, “Yay, this kid’s never taken art!”

But what I am suggesting is that the so-called “narrowness” of BASIS isn’t necessarily a fatal flaw — and in fact, for private schools evaluating public and charter applicants, it’s often seen as a credible, reliable signal of cognitive ability and academic work ethic.

In a city where transcripts and grading standards vary widely, BASIS offers private schools something reassuring: clear evidence that a student can handle rigorous work. That alone sets a floor. From there, schools do often ask, “What could we do for this kid? How might he thrive here?” It’s not entirely altruistic — it’s part of the broader “What can this kid bring to our community?” lens.

In other words, a strong BASIS record signals: high academic ceiling, clear structure tolerance, potential to grow beyond current limits.

From there, “rounding out” isn’t compensating for deficiency — it’s value-added. Especially when schools feel they’re getting someone with a strong foundation who hasn’t yet had all the elite private bells and whistles. That’s actually attractive.

So yes — academic sharpness is never a bad thing. And narrowness, when it reflects focus or rigor, isn’t always seen as a weakness. It’s often just unrealized breadth. And many schools like being the place where that breadth can finally bloom — at least in the case of some portion of the study body.

You guys are sugarcoating the "strong foundation" BASIS supposedly provides in a big way. From where I sit, the crux of the problem isn't about students missing out on elite private bells and whistles or "unrealized breadth" or any other high-falutin concepts. In our experience, BASIS' focus on relentlessly testing students comes at the expense of promoting joy of learning to the point that the place doesn't function as a school as much as a test prep center where mostly inexperienced teachers prep students to ace exams.

There aren't a lot of BASIS middle school parents worrying about what their student can "bring to the community" at a private high school, because there aren't a lot of BASIS UMC parents who can afford private high schools, mainly due to the high cost of housing in the District. Fact is most middle school students at BASIS who leave the program do so for other public schools, in the DMV or out.

We made it to the BASIS hs but left for another in the MD burbs. We thought our eldest was a rock star because he'd done so well at BASIS for 5 years. But he proved deeply average on the fast track at his new school across the board, for math, English, foreign language, extra curriculars, you name it. The teaching was so much better at the new school, along with the choice of APs, electives and extra curriculars, that there was no comparison to BASIS. We went from a school teaching one AP physics class to a school teaching all four, from a school offering no language classes past AP to a school offering many etc. The new school was much more fun and far more enriching.

This is probably the most helpful thread if you have a high performing kid. I have one, and we did not even consider Basis because saw that it was basically a test prep grind and not well a rounded middle school experience. It is also a very rigid and narrow curriculum.

Well, we have a high performing (99th percentile on CAPE) kid, we did choose BASIS, and we are very grateful bc he had a chance to learn a ton and has a lot of smart peers. Our other option was DCPS and there is no doubt in my mind that he learned more math, science and history at BASIS middle than he would have in a DCPS middle school. Yes, they take a lot of tests to assess their learning. But I think that's a good thing. It's an old school, structured, handwritten way of learning.

High school will be its own decision. But if you have a STEMy, high achieving kid, imo you are crazy not to consider BASIS.

Good to hear this.

We have a mathy + history loving 5th grader there now and are intentional about Basis as a sort of ideal middle school option because of the spartan atmospherics and low tech old school approach. We are thinking of private for HS or by 8th grade (with a sibling already on that path).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find threads like this very frustrating because there ARE middle schools in DC which offer the range of experiences people claim to be looking for when criticizing BASIS. The only thing they are lacking is a large cohort of high performing students. If you hate BASIS, send your kid to SH or E-H! They have good facilities, good extracurriculars, etc, etc. I think charter schools played a critical role in getting parents to stay in DC, but I also think that now there's no question that there are a bunch of DCPS middle schools who would thrive if charter schools ceased to exist.

Our IB is McKinley. Growing up, I went to a middle school where you fought basically every couple of days for the first month or so to position yourself in the pecking order. And if you didn’t fight, you simply got beat. McKinley really had the same vibe in the year of our lord two thousand twenty three (I have to assume it’s better, because my kids really due process their emotions so much better than my cohort did so it must rub off). So no. It isn’t worth the risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find threads like this very frustrating because there ARE middle schools in DC which offer the range of experiences people claim to be looking for when criticizing BASIS. The only thing they are lacking is a large cohort of high performing students. If you hate BASIS, send your kid to SH or E-H! They have good facilities, good extracurriculars, etc, etc. I think charter schools played a critical role in getting parents to stay in DC, but I also think that now there's no question that there are a bunch of DCPS middle schools who would thrive if charter schools ceased to exist.

Our IB is McKinley. Growing up, I went to a middle school where you fought basically every couple of days for the first month or so to position yourself in the pecking order. And if you didn’t fight, you simply got beat. McKinley really had the same vibe in the year of our lord two thousand twenty three (I have to assume it’s better, because my kids really due process their emotions so much better than my cohort did so it must rub off). So no. It isn’t worth the risk.

Agree, and further…

One thing that rarely gets acknowledged in these discussions is how differently school environments can land depending on a family’s racial and socioeconomic positioning—especially for Black families.

For upper-middle-class white families, a school like Stuart-Hobson, Jefferson, or Eliot-Hine can feel safe and viable simply because there’s a strong enough peer group that looks and lives like their own kids. That alone can insulate their children from a lot of the harder edges of a school environment. But Black families, even with similar incomes and educational backgrounds, often don’t get the same buffer. If most of the Black students at a school come from very different socioeconomic backgrounds, it can create a tricky dynamic—where your child looks like the majority but doesn’t share the same lived experience. That mismatch can result in real social friction or feelings of isolation.

That’s where BASIS stands apart. The Black students there, for the most part, are coming from similarly resourced households. And the academic culture is front and center, not performative. For many families, that’s not just a “nice to have”—it’s the ballgame. It means their child won’t be navigating daily identity landmines just to fit in.

This isn’t a knock on other schools or the families that thrive in them. It’s just a reminder that what makes a school “work” isn’t only about curriculum or extracurriculars. Sometimes it’s about whether your kid can show up as themselves—fully—without carrying the burden of other people’s expectations.