October waitlist data is up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

PP is pretty off base about teachers at Walls. One teacher left Walls last year, was replaced by the only former Basis teacher at Walls. As for the teacher being excellent I can’t speak to that. But Walls does not have much teacher turnover.

I'm the poster above who was wondering how there were so many open slots at Walls for BASIS teachers to move into. It didn't make any sense to me. You're saying there is only one former BASIS teacher at Walls. But this forum is rife with posts about all the teachers who left BASIS for Walls last year. Is this another situation where people with an ax to grind just make things up and/or repeat what their friends told them?

What say you DCUM folks who have been posting about all the BASIS teachers who left for Walls because they hate the HoS? Can you name more than one? Or are you all full of it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.

Convenient.

Childish and conspiratorial response.

BASIS schools in other cities do backfill where they are allowed to give placement tests. It would be a heck of a lot easier for BASIS to backfill than to refill the school population with 5th graders based on attrition in 7 other grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

PP is pretty off base about teachers at Walls. One teacher left Walls last year, was replaced by the only former Basis teacher at Walls. As for the teacher being excellent I can’t speak to that. But Walls does not have much teacher turnover.

I'm the poster above who was wondering how there were so many open slots at Walls for BASIS teachers to move into. It didn't make any sense to me. You're saying there is only one former BASIS teacher at Walls. But this forum is rife with posts about all the teachers who left BASIS for Walls last year. Is this another situation where people with an ax to grind just make things up and/or repeat what their friends told them?

What say you DCUM folks who have been posting about all the BASIS teachers who left for Walls because they hate the HoS? Can you name more than one? Or are you all full of it?

I know a lot of Basis HS teachers left last year. One came to Walls. That’s the only one at Walls. These are facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, while I can’t speak to the glorification of the former HOS, as a current 8th grade parent, my experience of her was that she’s the one who quit with no notice during the middle of a school year, leaving a school in crisis and without leadership. Maybe her reasons were sound, but since they were never shared by her, all I know is that she’s the one who walked away from the job in the middle of the year without an explanation.

+1

And I would like to know what the bilingual parents expect of BASIS if their students could take the AP Spanish test in 8th grade. Then what? BASIS would have to give them college-level Spanish instruction? So weird. Just go to DCI already.

And good luck to all of the families who think they will get into Walls, especially if you aren't the right demographic. Walls isn't really application when you get right down to it. . .

This one's a no brainer. Have them take other AP courses of their choosing. How about more history and government, more art, more lit, more whatever.

What's weird is how narrow-minded one poster and one high-octane charter can be. Just go get a great liberal arts education already. You might learn to think outside the box.

BASIS HS students could also work toward scoring high on 2 AP language exams, or even a Cambridge Intl language A-Level, pitched about a year past AP. CI exams are given to anybody who cares to register for them at the British International School of DC. Taking two AP languages and CI exams is no longer uncommon in the burbs, even for the STEM minded aiming high in college admissions. Neither is taking college-level language classes post AP while still in HS, with school systems in VA and MD generally paying for the college classes. DCPS has been paying for Walls students to take a variety of GW classes for more than a decade. Maybe DCPCS could finally bandwagon on the arrangement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.

Convenient.

Childish and conspiratorial response.

BASIS schools in other cities do backfill where they are allowed to give placement tests. It would be a heck of a lot easier for BASIS to backfill than to refill the school population with 5th graders based on attrition in 7 other grades.

Wonder why they can’t figure it out in DC. How about a GPA cut off like Walls? Not good enough for BASIS?

[Anonymous]

Good idea but no, not good enough for BASIS. They insist on HS science knowledge on the part of MS students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.

Convenient.

Childish and conspiratorial response.

BASIS schools in other cities do backfill where they are allowed to give placement tests. It would be a heck of a lot easier for BASIS to backfill than to refill the school population with 5th graders based on attrition in 7 other grades.

Wonder why they can’t figure it out in DC. How about a GPA cut off like Walls? Not good enough for BASIS?

Your reply makes no sense. Walls is an application HS. BASIS is a pure lottery. There are no admissions requirements. That's how the charter was set up. BASIS wasn't seeking to create a test in program, merely to conduct placement tests for kids who matched. DC said no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

PP is pretty off base about teachers at Walls. One teacher left Walls last year, was replaced by the only former Basis teacher at Walls. As for the teacher being excellent I can’t speak to that. But Walls does not have much teacher turnover.

I'm the poster above who was wondering how there were so many open slots at Walls for BASIS teachers to move into. It didn't make any sense to me. You're saying there is only one former BASIS teacher at Walls. But this forum is rife with posts about all the teachers who left BASIS for Walls last year. Is this another situation where people with an ax to grind just make things up and/or repeat what their friends told them?

What say you DCUM folks who have been posting about all the BASIS teachers who left for Walls because they hate the HoS? Can you name more than one? Or are you all full of it?

I know a lot of Basis HS teachers left last year. One came to Walls. That’s the only one at Walls. These are facts.

I have no doubt you are correct that it is one teacher. I would love a psychologist to conduct a study on BASIS Derangement Syndrome. Someone makes up some garbage about teachers leaving BASIS en mass for Walls and it becomes a fact through repetition. Here's a sampling from the last page of this thread alone:

11:14
I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.
11:51
As has been pointed out, too many good teachers run off for for better pay etc., particularly to Walls.

Do you think they realize they are basically election deniers in different shoes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.

Convenient.

Childish and conspiratorial response.

BASIS schools in other cities do backfill where they are allowed to give placement tests. It would be a heck of a lot easier for BASIS to backfill than to refill the school population with 5th graders based on attrition in 7 other grades.

Wonder why they can’t figure it out in DC. How about a GPA cut off like Walls? Not good enough for BASIS?

Your reply makes no sense. Walls is an application HS. BASIS is a pure lottery. There are no admissions requirements. That's how the charter was set up. BASIS wasn't seeking to create a test in program, merely to conduct placement tests for kids who matched. DC said no.

Actually no. Walls is a lottery now. Have anyone who puts BASIS on their list also provide their GPA just like Walls. Then pick names out of a hat like Walls. Would that be too difficult?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.

Convenient.

Childish and conspiratorial response.

BASIS schools in other cities do backfill where they are allowed to give placement tests. It would be a heck of a lot easier for BASIS to backfill than to refill the school population with 5th graders based on attrition in 7 other grades.

Wonder why they can’t figure it out in DC. How about a GPA cut off like Walls? Not good enough for BASIS?

Your reply makes no sense. Walls is an application HS. BASIS is a pure lottery. There are no admissions requirements. That's how the charter was set up. BASIS wasn't seeking to create a test in program, merely to conduct placement tests for kids who matched. DC said no.

Actually no. Walls is a lottery now. Have anyone who puts BASIS on their list also provide their GPA just like Walls. Then pick names out of a hat like Walls. Would that be too difficult?

Tell me you don't have a functional understanding of the DC charter system and approval process without telling me...

I will say it again because you didn't understand the words the first time. BASIS is a lottery school. It is NOT an application school. There are no entrance requirements. That is the approved charter. Full stop. Jus because you write dismissive things like "would that be too difficult" does not change facts and reality. Walls is NOT a pure lottery school. It is an application HS. There are minimum entrance requirements. The lottery only applies to those that make it past that threshold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

PP is pretty off base about teachers at Walls. One teacher left Walls last year, was replaced by the only former Basis teacher at Walls. As for the teacher being excellent I can’t speak to that. But Walls does not have much teacher turnover.

I'm the poster above who was wondering how there were so many open slots at Walls for BASIS teachers to move into. It didn't make any sense to me. You're saying there is only one former BASIS teacher at Walls. But this forum is rife with posts about all the teachers who left BASIS for Walls last year. Is this another situation where people with an ax to grind just make things up and/or repeat what their friends told them?

What say you DCUM folks who have been posting about all the BASIS teachers who left for Walls because they hate the HoS? Can you name more than one? Or are you all full of it?

I know a lot of Basis HS teachers left last year. One came to Walls. That’s the only one at Walls. These are facts.

I have no doubt you are correct that it is one teacher. I would love a psychologist to conduct a study on BASIS Derangement Syndrome. Someone makes up some garbage about teachers leaving BASIS en mass for Walls and it becomes a fact through repetition. Here's a sampling from the last page of this thread alone:

11:14
I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.
11:51
As has been pointed out, too many good teachers run off for for better pay etc., particularly to Walls.

Do you think they realize they are basically election deniers in different shoes?

Yup. The Basis haters just make stuff up.

How pathetic is your life that you feel compelled do that on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.

Convenient.

Childish and conspiratorial response.

BASIS schools in other cities do backfill where they are allowed to give placement tests. It would be a heck of a lot easier for BASIS to backfill than to refill the school population with 5th graders based on attrition in 7 other grades.

Wonder why they can’t figure it out in DC. How about a GPA cut off like Walls? Not good enough for BASIS?

Your reply makes no sense. Walls is an application HS. BASIS is a pure lottery. There are no admissions requirements. That's how the charter was set up. BASIS wasn't seeking to create a test in program, merely to conduct placement tests for kids who matched. DC said no.

Things are different in Arizona, Texas and Louisiana (the states with BASIS public school campuses). My sibling's children arrived at a BASIS AZ campus in 7th and 9th grades. Technically, there are no admissions requirements in the BASIS universe. Actually, there are a number if a student enters after 6th grade to avoid repeating a school year, possibly two years, once they matriculate.

My sibling tells me that the Arizona campuses don't merely "conduct placement tests" when they admit new students after 6th grades. They publish their curricula by grade and strongly encourage the families of late entrants to try to get their students up to speed in core classes before starting at BASIS. My nephews attended intensive summer school to try to learn enough science and math to enter without needing to repeat at least one grade. The younger boy succeeded while the older boy failed and wound up doing 8th grade twice. They were part of a self-selecting group of new students mostly with high GPAs who'd put their names in the hat for the lottery at their local BASIS campus. I'm told that there was no waiting list any grade past 6th at their campus (so no lottery, they simply enrolled).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

PP is pretty off base about teachers at Walls. One teacher left Walls last year, was replaced by the only former Basis teacher at Walls. As for the teacher being excellent I can’t speak to that. But Walls does not have much teacher turnover.

I'm the poster above who was wondering how there were so many open slots at Walls for BASIS teachers to move into. It didn't make any sense to me. You're saying there is only one former BASIS teacher at Walls. But this forum is rife with posts about all the teachers who left BASIS for Walls last year. Is this another situation where people with an ax to grind just make things up and/or repeat what their friends told them?

What say you DCUM folks who have been posting about all the BASIS teachers who left for Walls because they hate the HoS? Can you name more than one? Or are you all full of it?

I know a lot of Basis HS teachers left last year. One came to Walls. That’s the only one at Walls. These are facts.

Those are facts huh? And you have personal knowledge that Basis high school parents don’t have?

Give us the actual number and name the subjects and schools then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like droves of parents EotP, we felt a little desperate for an acceptable public MS. The reality is that we (collective we) have somewhat better HS options in the public system. We can swing parochial HS for 4 years if necessary (but couldn't have paid tuition from 5th or 6th on up). Our kid might crack Walls and will probably be admitted to Banneker. We might even rent IB for JR in a pinch.

For the e-record, grateful as I am to have had BASIS for MS, given a choice, I'll take a better-rounded, healthier and happier option. I want less rushing around as a family to seek out serious sports and music. I want nothing more to do with the intransigent HoS.

I'm hoping that my kid can take classes at Walls with excellent former BASIS teachers who bailed to DCPS.

What does that mean? If you had unlimited money and/or didn't live in DC you'd choose something else? That's the part about the BASIS animosity I cannot comprehend. The question for parents in DC is not whether Sidwell is a better than public options (it is!) or whether there are better schools outside of DC (there are!), the question is what is the best available option at any grade. For many families that is BASIS. Does not mean that BASIS is perfect or that there are not things people would change given additional resources. (e.g. obviously the building)

Something else just occurred to me. If there are SOOOOO many BASIS teachers who bailed for Walls (unconfirmed as those reports may be), why were those jobs open in the first place? Wouldn't that mean that teachers left Walls in order to open up those slots? What's wrong at Walls that caused all those teachers to leave!!!! (Kidding, it's a bogus argument in both cases.)

PP is pretty off base about teachers at Walls. One teacher left Walls last year, was replaced by the only former Basis teacher at Walls. As for the teacher being excellent I can’t speak to that. But Walls does not have much teacher turnover.

I'm the poster above who was wondering how there were so many open slots at Walls for BASIS teachers to move into. It didn't make any sense to me. You're saying there is only one former BASIS teacher at Walls. But this forum is rife with posts about all the teachers who left BASIS for Walls last year. Is this another situation where people with an ax to grind just make things up and/or repeat what their friends told them?

What say you DCUM folks who have been posting about all the BASIS teachers who left for Walls because they hate the HoS? Can you name more than one? Or are you all full of it?

I know a lot of Basis HS teachers left last year. One came to Walls. That’s the only one at Walls. These are facts.

Those are facts huh? And you have personal knowledge that Basis high school parents don’t have?

Give us the actual number and name the subjects and schools then.

LOL. Don’t worry. They won’t respond because they are just making things up. They probably don’t even have a kid at BASIS.

-a BASIS high school parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can see how this thread about ultimate waitlist results for this year shifted to BASIS. It is one of the few (maybe the only?) school which became much harder to get into. This is really significant and is perhaps the reason nobody else is actually chiming in on this thread with other notable waitlist observations. Indeed, many “HRCS” which used to have long waitlists and few people taken off the waitlist now have much shorter waitlists or no waitlists at all. So many reasons for this, including, of course, the way the schools handled the pandemic. What’s interesting though is that post-pandemic people are not as thrilled about these schools because of the lack of rigor and/or classroom management that has perhaps been that way all along but is now more pronounced. BASIS offers the organization and rigor often missing elsewhere around the city and thus the school should have no trouble continuing to attract more students and keeping an ever-growing waitlist.

I think this thread has illuminated some of the important reasons why BASIS attracts students/families initially and why it has trouble keeping them, which has seemingly always been an issue at BASIS. The school, including the HOS (which I personally find extremely responsive and informative, especially compared to our prior school experiences) wants to work with parents to fix retention and improve school morale in whatever ways are feasible. This will take time and effort from both the admins and the parents. To me, it seems that people who might otherwise move or go private might not do so at the same rates in the near future due to the rising costs of both of those options and that may have the consequence of families feeling more invested in the BASIS high school program and hopefully creating the change that they feel would improve the school.

This line could easily have been posted a year ago, or five, or ten. Fact is, 9th grade enrollment continues to fluctuate widely. One year, four dozen 8th graders will re-enroll, the next year 80 will. The state of admissions to Walls seems more relevant than "families feeling more invested in the BASIS HS" in determining how many 8th graders return for 9th grade than what goes on at BASIS.

From what I gather, almost all of my kid's friends will leave for Walls if they get a spot. Pre Covid, these kids would've had a better chance of cracking Walls, with testing dropped from the application during the pandemic, a permanent seeming change.

There's only so much that can be done to convince somewhere between a third and half of the BASIS 8th graders to return to a program with weak facilities, a cramped building jammed with MS students, a v. limited choice of serious extra-curriculars, and an increasingly unstable faculty. BASIS isn't just competing with Walls, it's competing with GW Univ, where Walls students can take college classes. At BASIS, other than for math, no subjects are taught past the AP level. We will leave BASIS for another reason: we don't like how the program crams almost all HS classes into just three years, with senior year devoted to independent research and applying to colleges.

We don't think that this HoS is capable of improving morale. He might retain more 8th graders, given the tough Walls admissions situation, but we doubt that he'll retain more of his best HS teachers going forward.

He won't succeed, as measured by 9th grade enrollments. But if enrollments do increase it won't have anything to do with him. Hmmm.

I find it strange that people like PP who were at BASIS for 4 years in MS, whose kids excelled and are able to test into and gain admission to HS so easily complain about BASIS without any acknowledgement of what came before.

I agree with this sentiment. As the parent of an 8th grader, I feel that my kid has gotten an excellent middle school education at BASIS. I find it hard to believe that the quality somehow becomes subpar in high school. If my kid gets in to Walls, we will have the discussion then about where kid wants to go (and I think a lot of it will depend on whether there will be a "reunion" with elementary school friends at Walls since they all scattered to different middle schools). WRT chances of Walls admission . . . I think there are currently approx 85 8th graders at BASIS. I would guess roughly 30% have the requisite 3.7-3.8 GPA required to get an interview at Walls (last year's GPA cutoff). Applying last year's 64% admit rate to those who got an interview, somewhere around 17 or 18 kids will have the option to go to Walls . . . .others will head to private, leaving (my guess) a 9th grade cohort of 65 or so.

Does BASIS fill the seats of those who leave for ninth grade?

They do not because DC won't let them do a placement test to place kids in the year appropriate to their grade level. DC insists on social promotion. BASIS doesn't socially promote at any of their schools. Hence, no backfilling.

Convenient.

Childish and conspiratorial response.

BASIS schools in other cities do backfill where they are allowed to give placement tests. It would be a heck of a lot easier for BASIS to backfill than to refill the school population with 5th graders based on attrition in 7 other grades.

Wonder why they can’t figure it out in DC. How about a GPA cut off like Walls? Not good enough for BASIS?

Your reply makes no sense. Walls is an application HS. BASIS is a pure lottery. There are no admissions requirements. That's how the charter was set up. BASIS wasn't seeking to create a test in program, merely to conduct placement tests for kids who matched. DC said no.

Things are different in Arizona, Texas and Louisiana (the states with BASIS public school campuses). My sibling's children arrived at a BASIS AZ campus in 7th and 9th grades. Technically, there are no admissions requirements in the BASIS universe. Actually, there are a number if a student enters after 6th grade to avoid repeating a school year, possibly two years, once they matriculate.

My sibling tells me that the Arizona campuses don't merely "conduct placement tests" when they admit new students after 6th grades. They publish their curricula by grade and strongly encourage the families of late entrants to try to get their students up to speed in core classes before starting at BASIS. My nephews attended intensive summer school to try to learn enough science and math to enter without needing to repeat at least one grade. The younger boy succeeded while the older boy failed and wound up doing 8th grade twice. They were part of a self-selecting group of new students mostly with high GPAs who'd put their names in the hat for the lottery at their local BASIS campus. I'm told that there was no waiting list any grade past 6th at their campus (so no lottery, they simply enrolled).

So was there a placement test at the AZ campus? Or did they just show up and enroll?