2023 Niche results: Basis McLean #1 in VA in 3 categories: best private HS in VA, best college prep…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

If your 11 or 12 year struggles with this level of reading they don’t belong at a school like BIM and would probably be more comfortable at a lower ranked school with less of a focus on academic rigor.

The same BIM that I heard advertised on the radio in between Christmas carols? 😬

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

If your 11 or 12 year struggles with this level of reading they don’t belong at a school like BIM and would probably be more comfortable at a lower ranked school with less of a focus on academic rigor.

The same BIM that I heard advertised on the radio in between Christmas carols? 😬

I think the fact that you were listening to radio commercials says more about you than it does about BIM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

If your 11 or 12 year struggles with this level of reading they don’t belong at a school like BIM and would probably be more comfortable at a lower ranked school with less of a focus on academic rigor.

The same BIM that I heard advertised on the radio in between Christmas carols? 😬

I think the fact that you were listening to radio commercials says more about you than it does about BIM.

So if only losers listen to radio ads, why is BIM desperate enough to advertise there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

If your 11 or 12 year struggles with this level of reading they don’t belong at a school like BIM and would probably be more comfortable at a lower ranked school with less of a focus on academic rigor.

The same BIM that I heard advertised on the radio in between Christmas carols? 😬

I think the fact that you were listening to radio commercials says more about you than it does about BIM.

So if only losers listen to radio ads, why is BIM desperate enough to advertise there?

Why are parents at other Virginia schools desperate enough to knock BIM every chance they get just because their precious school just got leapfrogged by BIM in the rankings? Triggered much?

[Anonymous]

Still fetch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

If your 11 or 12 year struggles with this level of reading they don’t belong at a school like BIM and would probably be more comfortable at a lower ranked school with less of a focus on academic rigor.

The same BIM that I heard advertised on the radio in between Christmas carols? 😬

I think the fact that you were listening to radio commercials says more about you than it does about BIM.

So if only losers listen to radio ads, why is BIM desperate enough to advertise there?

Why are parents at other Virginia schools desperate enough to knock BIM every chance they get just because their precious school just got leapfrogged by BIM in the rankings? Triggered much?

The rah rah machine never stops. Niche is the new religion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

If your 11 or 12 year struggles with this level of reading they don’t belong at a school like BIM and would probably be more comfortable at a lower ranked school with less of a focus on academic rigor.

The same BIM that I heard advertised on the radio in between Christmas carols? 😬

NP. I was also surprised at those ads. Really? A radio ad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

If your 11 or 12 year struggles with this level of reading they don’t belong at a school like BIM and would probably be more comfortable at a lower ranked school with less of a focus on academic rigor.

Yeah, that’s what we prefer.

[Anonymous]

Another one bites the dust. Must not have read the Niche reviews while working there.

1.0
★★★★★
Former Employee, more than 1 year
Terrible school
Dec 15, 2022 - English Teacher in McLean, VA

Pros

some of the co-workers are nice. Kids are nice

Cons

low pay test focused terrible admin low morale high turnover

Advice to Management

don't really see how you can genuinely care about education and still work at Basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Agree.

True.

Weird reading the aggressively negative comments here. A lot of the most caustic posts seem to be by former BIM teachers that were fired for incompetence. I guess this is how they spend their time now since they can’t get another job.

They are working all over the area in many of the other schools mentioned on DCUM boards. If you were connected to them on LinkedIn, you would see that. But you live in your rah-rah bubble instead and just make stuff up.

Everyone I saw who left was announcing a new job elsewhere at lightning speed. There is a teacher shortage, haven't you heard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Agree.

True.

Weird reading the aggressively negative comments here. A lot of the most caustic posts seem to be by former BIM teachers that were fired for incompetence. I guess this is how they spend their time now since they can’t get another job.

They are working all over the area in many of the other schools mentioned on DCUM boards. If you were connected to them on LinkedIn, you would see that. But you live in your rah-rah bubble instead and just make stuff up.

Everyone I saw who left was announcing a new job elsewhere at lightning speed. There is a teacher shortage, haven't you heard?

Right, you are a disgruntled teacher. When were you let go and what are you doing now and where?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another one bites the dust. Must not have read the Niche reviews while working there.

1.0
★★★★★
Former Employee, more than 1 year
Terrible school
Dec 15, 2022 - English Teacher in McLean, VA

Pros

some of the co-workers are nice. Kids are nice

Cons

low pay test focused terrible admin low morale high turnover

Advice to Management

don't really see how you can genuinely care about education and still work at Basis.

BIM received an A+ Niche grade after this teacher left, and shot to the #1 slot in the rankings for private schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. So, maybe the departure (probably involuntary) of this teacher was a good thing.

PP, when did you post this on Niche?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one bites the dust. Must not have read the Niche reviews while working there.

1.0
★★★★★
Former Employee, more than 1 year
Terrible school
Dec 15, 2022 - English Teacher in McLean, VA

Pros

some of the co-workers are nice. Kids are nice

Cons

low pay test focused terrible admin low morale high turnover

Advice to Management

don't really see how you can genuinely care about education and still work at Basis.

BIM received an A+ Niche grade after this teacher left, and shot to the #1 slot in the rankings for private schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. So, maybe the departure (probably involuntary) of this teacher was a good thing.

PP, when did you post this on Niche?

Looks like he posted this "review" on Niche 11 days ago. Apparently, he is trying to poison the anonymous Niche reviews at the same time he cites them as definitive. Well, that certainly takes a certain...uh...determination. Fortunately, I don't think Niche relies much on these anonymous reviews.

At least he has plenty of time now to troll these boards and seek revenge against his former employer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one bites the dust. Must not have read the Niche reviews while working there.

1.0
★★★★★
Former Employee, more than 1 year
Terrible school
Dec 15, 2022 - English Teacher in McLean, VA

Pros

some of the co-workers are nice. Kids are nice

Cons

low pay test focused terrible admin low morale high turnover

Advice to Management

don't really see how you can genuinely care about education and still work at Basis.

BIM received an A+ Niche grade after this teacher left, and shot to the #1 slot in the rankings for private schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. So, maybe the departure (probably involuntary) of this teacher was a good thing.

PP, when did you post this on Niche?

Looks like he posted this "review" on Niche 11 days ago. Apparently, he is trying to poison the anonymous Niche reviews at the same time he cites them as definitive. Well, that certainly takes a certain...uh...determination. Fortunately, I don't think Niche relies much on these anonymous reviews.

At least he has plenty of time now to troll these boards and seek revenge against his former employer.

That review isn't even from Niche. What do BASIS parents smoke anyway? Maybe you should be more concerned about what would motivate a teacher to both quit then post that anywhere in public.

It's called accountability in the open marketplace of ideas and information. Scream about it all you like; that doesn't make the facts go away.

[Anonymous]

NP here. DC is currently in the Early Learning Program so at least from that perspective and talking to countless families in the primary school, I don’t understand the extreme negative reviews here at all. The teachers have been amazing, the curriculum and activities keep DC engaged and interested in learning, and the staff I’ve talked to in the ELP have all been wonderful. There is no pressure cooker environment, although I’ve heard the homework and tests get alot more serious around 4th grade. The turnover before the school year started hasn’t affected the learning at all, except for ONE music teacher vacancy, and that vacancy has since been filled. Maybe there is a lot more chaos going on in the administration, but I haven’t found that to affect DC’s experience at all.