Basis fills a gap that shouldn’t exist.

[Anonymous]

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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.

No you aren't. My STEMy high achieving kid had a hard time socially at BASIS and disliked the school. Some of his STEMy middle school teachers were awful, right out of grad school with weak teaching and classroom management skills. He has his 20s to act like an adult, madly cramming for tests. BASIS' lackluster electives, ECs and facilities weren't for us. We pulled him out, sent him to a parochial school we could afford with somewhat less rigorous STEM and a whole lot more happiness. Don't believe the hype, parents.

So we should ignore Basis’ demonstrated results because your kid washed out of the school and is now struggling at some no-name Catholic school?

No thanks.

DP but this kind of response is so weird to me. I don't have a kid at BASIS but the PP's experience sounds very relevant to me. It also doesn't sound like their kid "washed out" but that he was miserable. As the parent of a very high scoring kid who has had a couple rough years at school due specifically to inexperienced or disengaged teachers, this is precisely why I worry about BASIS.

My kid does well in school in large part because they enjoy learning and have an innate curiosity and drive to understand. Teaching is critical for a kid like this, especially because doing well on tests does not appear to be a major problem for them. Being in a classroom with a teacher who is checked out, bad at classroom control, or doesn't know how to engage students who are eager to be engaged is going to hold a student like this back, no matter how rigorous the testing standards are the school.

This gets to the heart of the charter v. DCPS issue that always flummoxes me. Charters are better at selecting a cohort of students (the no social promotion policy at Basis), while DCPS has the Union and will always have the better pay/better teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

No you aren't. My STEMy high achieving kid had a hard time socially at BASIS and disliked the school. Some of his STEMy middle school teachers were awful, right out of grad school with weak teaching and classroom management skills. He has his 20s to act like an adult, madly cramming for tests. BASIS' lackluster electives, ECs and facilities weren't for us. We pulled him out, sent him to a parochial school we could afford with somewhat less rigorous STEM and a whole lot more happiness. Don't believe the hype, parents.

So we should ignore Basis’ demonstrated results because your kid washed out of the school and is now struggling at some no-name Catholic school?

No thanks.

DP but this kind of response is so weird to me. I don't have a kid at BASIS but the PP's experience sounds very relevant to me. It also doesn't sound like their kid "washed out" but that he was miserable. As the parent of a very high scoring kid who has had a couple rough years at school due specifically to inexperienced or disengaged teachers, this is precisely why I worry about BASIS.

My kid does well in school in large part because they enjoy learning and have an innate curiosity and drive to understand. Teaching is critical for a kid like this, especially because doing well on tests does not appear to be a major problem for them. Being in a classroom with a teacher who is checked out, bad at classroom control, or doesn't know how to engage students who are eager to be engaged is going to hold a student like this back, no matter how rigorous the testing standards are the school.

This gets to the heart of the charter v. DCPS issue that always flummoxes me. Charters are better at selecting a cohort of students (the no social promotion policy at Basis), while DCPS has the Union and will always have the better pay/better teachers.

Who says DCPS has better teachers? That's certainly not evident by test scores. And unions make it extremely difficult to get rid of bad teachers. There's way more turnover among teachers at charters. The teachers union exists to benefit teachers, not kids, as we saw during the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

No you aren't. My STEMy high achieving kid had a hard time socially at BASIS and disliked the school. Some of his STEMy middle school teachers were awful, right out of grad school with weak teaching and classroom management skills. He has his 20s to act like an adult, madly cramming for tests. BASIS' lackluster electives, ECs and facilities weren't for us. We pulled him out, sent him to a parochial school we could afford with somewhat less rigorous STEM and a whole lot more happiness. Don't believe the hype, parents.

So we should ignore Basis’ demonstrated results because your kid washed out of the school and is now struggling at some no-name Catholic school?

No thanks.

DP but this kind of response is so weird to me. I don't have a kid at BASIS but the PP's experience sounds very relevant to me. It also doesn't sound like their kid "washed out" but that he was miserable. As the parent of a very high scoring kid who has had a couple rough years at school due specifically to inexperienced or disengaged teachers, this is precisely why I worry about BASIS.

My kid does well in school in large part because they enjoy learning and have an innate curiosity and drive to understand. Teaching is critical for a kid like this, especially because doing well on tests does not appear to be a major problem for them. Being in a classroom with a teacher who is checked out, bad at classroom control, or doesn't know how to engage students who are eager to be engaged is going to hold a student like this back, no matter how rigorous the testing standards are the school.

This gets to the heart of the charter v. DCPS issue that always flummoxes me. Charters are better at selecting a cohort of students (the no social promotion policy at Basis), while DCPS has the Union and will always have the better pay/better teachers.

Who says DCPS has better teachers? That's certainly not evident by test scores. And unions make it extremely difficult to get rid of bad teachers. There's way more turnover among teachers at charters. The teachers union exists to benefit teachers, not kids, as we saw during the pandemic.

It’s the DCPS boosters that say that. No evidence whatsoever. My kid’s elementary charter has amazing math teachers in the upper grades and CAPE shows it. No, there was no test prepping either.

It’s all school dependent and whenever anyone makes a blanket statement, you just can’t take them seriously.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the update. My kid will start K next year. We don't really want to send her to basis for K, but worried that if she did not get in K, it would be impossible to get in later like 3rd grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anybody knows if Basis's expansion to first grade approved?

Actually, the expansion is K-4.

PCSB approved the expansion but Basis still has to figure out if they will agree to staggered expansion as approved. They also need to get a building. So, everything seems on hold for now.

[Anonymous]

Former BASIS family here. Some might even call our kid “washed out”, or “pushed out”. Bright but not able to recover and teach themself high level math when their teacher at a critical year turned out to be a fraud and had to leave mid-year. Has an English and physics teacher also crash out midyear. The school didn’t help kids adapt. We paid for tutors out of our own pockets . We paid in money and our kid paid in time away from friends and other activities. It was killing our kid’s spirit.

We moved to MoCo. House poor now - but not tutor poor. After a year of middle school transition and rebuilding confidence our kiddo is now thriving.

In an application program at a MoCo public high school now. Rigorous classes, opportunity to write much more, and still take rigorous science. Huge choice in classes and paths. So many clubs and electives. Big homecoming dances, fun sporting events. Our kid is joyful.

They acknowledge that BASIS gave them a strong foundation in chemistry and biology, and exposure to math concepts ahead of many classmates. But in some ways BASIS harmed them. Bad memories even borderline traumatic from trying hard to keep up in the classes where teaching was baaaaaaaad and the school administration mostly gaslit students about it or just kinda said suck it up. (There were some excellent teachers too and a few strong counselors).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former BASIS family here. Some might even call our kid “washed out”, or “pushed out”. Bright but not able to recover and teach themself high level math when their teacher at a critical year turned out to be a fraud and had to leave mid-year. Has an English and physics teacher also crash out midyear. The school didn’t help kids adapt. We paid for tutors out of our own pockets . We paid in money and our kid paid in time away from friends and other activities. It was killing our kid’s spirit.

We moved to MoCo. House poor now - but not tutor poor. After a year of middle school transition and rebuilding confidence our kiddo is now thriving.

In an application program at a MoCo public high school now. Rigorous classes, opportunity to write much more, and still take rigorous science. Huge choice in classes and paths. So many clubs and electives. Big homecoming dances, fun sporting events. Our kid is joyful.

They acknowledge that BASIS gave them a strong foundation in chemistry and biology, and exposure to math concepts ahead of many classmates. But in some ways BASIS harmed them. Bad memories even borderline traumatic from trying hard to keep up in the classes where teaching was baaaaaaaad and the school administration mostly gaslit students about it or just kinda said suck it up. (There were some excellent teachers too and a few strong counselors).

Maybe you should have done your research first.

Smh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former BASIS family here. Some might even call our kid “washed out”, or “pushed out”. Bright but not able to recover and teach themself high level math when their teacher at a critical year turned out to be a fraud and had to leave mid-year. Has an English and physics teacher also crash out midyear. The school didn’t help kids adapt. We paid for tutors out of our own pockets . We paid in money and our kid paid in time away from friends and other activities. It was killing our kid’s spirit.

We moved to MoCo. House poor now - but not tutor poor. After a year of middle school transition and rebuilding confidence our kiddo is now thriving.

In an application program at a MoCo public high school now. Rigorous classes, opportunity to write much more, and still take rigorous science. Huge choice in classes and paths. So many clubs and electives. Big homecoming dances, fun sporting events. Our kid is joyful.

They acknowledge that BASIS gave them a strong foundation in chemistry and biology, and exposure to math concepts ahead of many classmates. But in some ways BASIS harmed them. Bad memories even borderline traumatic from trying hard to keep up in the classes where teaching was baaaaaaaad and the school administration mostly gaslit students about it or just kinda said suck it up. (There were some excellent teachers too and a few strong counselors).

Thanks so much for this honest, well-written and detailed post, PP. The gaslighting at BASIS was a real problem, borderline abusive. We had a very similar experience, with our recovery in Arlington. Nobody at BASIS noticed that my kid has mild ADHD. In VA, the problem was picked up fast, kid was given support and accommodations, enabling her to emerge as an A student in 11th grade IBD classes. Washington-Liberty not only has strong clubs, facilities, electives, sports, music etc. it has a relationship with a vocational center high school where my kid takes a fun take fun tech class each semester, EMT training, animal care etc.

We've kept our DC row house and plan to return as empty nesters but for now, VA is a much better place for us. With in-state VA tuition an option, we don't need to fret about kid earning merit aid at some college with support from BASIS. We were relieved to divorce dramatically uneven teaching at BASIS, endless pleas for parents to top up teachers' salaries, the dearth of natural light in the building and weak administrators. If I could do it over again, I'd have moved to VA earlier and found my kids summer opportunities to learn advanced biology and chem. In the grand scheme of things, BASIS wasn't worth it for us.

[Anonymous]

To the PP above who slams everybody with an issue with BASIS by accusing them of not having done their research, please listen. It's impossible to know how your kid is going to react to what BASIS offers, or what exactly kind of teaching you're going to encounter, no matter how much research you might have done before enrolling. I wasn't prepared for awful teachers leaving mid-year either. I didn't hear about that problem from admins or longtime BASIS parents. I believed admins and parents who told me that teaching was great overall, and that support for learning was strong, and ECs were good.

The reality I encountered at BASIS was v. different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former BASIS family here. Some might even call our kid “washed out”, or “pushed out”. Bright but not able to recover and teach themself high level math when their teacher at a critical year turned out to be a fraud and had to leave mid-year. Has an English and physics teacher also crash out midyear. The school didn’t help kids adapt. We paid for tutors out of our own pockets . We paid in money and our kid paid in time away from friends and other activities. It was killing our kid’s spirit.

We moved to MoCo. House poor now - but not tutor poor. After a year of middle school transition and rebuilding confidence our kiddo is now thriving.

In an application program at a MoCo public high school now. Rigorous classes, opportunity to write much more, and still take rigorous science. Huge choice in classes and paths. So many clubs and electives. Big homecoming dances, fun sporting events. Our kid is joyful.

They acknowledge that BASIS gave them a strong foundation in chemistry and biology, and exposure to math concepts ahead of many classmates. But in some ways BASIS harmed them. Bad memories even borderline traumatic from trying hard to keep up in the classes where teaching was baaaaaaaad and the school administration mostly gaslit students about it or just kinda said suck it up. (There were some excellent teachers too and a few strong counselors).

Maybe you should have done your research first.

Smh

You may have a different experience but I'm curious how PP could have researched multiple teachers leaving midyear unless they're clairvoyant

[Anonymous]

+1. Even without midyear departures, research won't tell you how many good counselors and teachers will leave at the end of a given year. There's considerable churn at BASIS because working conditions, the facility and pay aren't competitive as compared to the better teaching jobs in DCPS and suburban public-school systems. Young teachers get experience at BASIS that enables them to move on. Many families roll with this feature of BASIS. We got fed up with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former BASIS family here. Some might even call our kid “washed out”, or “pushed out”. Bright but not able to recover and teach themself high level math when their teacher at a critical year turned out to be a fraud and had to leave mid-year. Has an English and physics teacher also crash out midyear. The school didn’t help kids adapt. We paid for tutors out of our own pockets . We paid in money and our kid paid in time away from friends and other activities. It was killing our kid’s spirit.

We moved to MoCo. House poor now - but not tutor poor. After a year of middle school transition and rebuilding confidence our kiddo is now thriving.

In an application program at a MoCo public high school now. Rigorous classes, opportunity to write much more, and still take rigorous science. Huge choice in classes and paths. So many clubs and electives. Big homecoming dances, fun sporting events. Our kid is joyful.

They acknowledge that BASIS gave them a strong foundation in chemistry and biology, and exposure to math concepts ahead of many classmates. But in some ways BASIS harmed them. Bad memories even borderline traumatic from trying hard to keep up in the classes where teaching was baaaaaaaad and the school administration mostly gaslit students about it or just kinda said suck it up. (There were some excellent teachers too and a few strong counselors).

Thanks so much for this honest, well-written and detailed post, PP. The gaslighting at BASIS was a real problem, borderline abusive. We had a very similar experience, with our recovery in Arlington. Nobody at BASIS noticed that my kid has mild ADHD. In VA, the problem was picked up fast, kid was given support and accommodations, enabling her to emerge as an A student in 11th grade IBD classes. Washington-Liberty not only has strong clubs, facilities, electives, sports, music etc. it has a relationship with a vocational center high school where my kid takes a fun take fun tech class each semester, EMT training, animal care etc.

We've kept our DC row house and plan to return as empty nesters but for now, VA is a much better place for us. With in-state VA tuition an option, we don't need to fret about kid earning merit aid at some college with support from BASIS. We were relieved to divorce dramatically uneven teaching at BASIS, endless pleas for parents to top up teachers' salaries, the dearth of natural light in the building and weak administrators. If I could do it over again, I'd have moved to VA earlier and found my kids summer opportunities to learn advanced biology and chem. In the grand scheme of things, BASIS wasn't worth it for us.

Thank you to both prior posters for sharing your perspectives. I want to acknowledge the very real upsides of a large, well-resourced suburban high school with all the traditional features — the kind of place many of us would have dreamed of attending back in the 90s. For many families, these schools offer the best of all worlds: strong academics, arts, sports, and a vibrant social life. It makes complete sense why some of you have decamped into what feel like greener pastures, and I’m glad you’ve found settings that work well for your children.

At the same time, I’m not inclined to push back on any individual’s experience of BASIS, especially if their child faced real academic or social challenges there. That’s valid. But I also think it’s worth remembering that BASIS is not unique in being imperfect. Many schools — including those traditional suburban high schools — can be equally flawed, sometimes in different ways.

For families like ours, BASIS’s cultural rigidity has actually been something of a relief. The relentless focus on academics and the clear, objective grading standards — the 90s club, the constant stream of quizzes — remove a lot of the soft ambiguity where unconscious bias can thrive. Our child comes from a racial background where expectations are often, tragically, low — where deficits may be unconsciously amplified, and early struggles quickly chalked up to race. That’s the backdrop we’re navigating, and it’s a reality that shapes our choices.

In more flexible or “softer” academic environments, that ambiguity can work against kids like ours. If there’s room to give the benefit of the doubt — or withhold it — we worry about where that benefit lands. It’s not paranoia; it’s pattern recognition born of long observation. At BASIS, because the culture is so tightly wound around performance, our child has had frequent, consistent opportunities to demonstrate ability — in ways that are hard to ignore, misread, or explain away. That kind of data trail matters for us.

It’s also important to say: the only reason we were even positioned to take advantage of what BASIS offers is because we spent years laying a foundation outside of school — often without institutional help, often in isolation. We didn’t have the luxury to let things play out. And if we had a child who truly struggled academically, BASIS might not be the right fit. But neither would many of the schools being praised, because we know — again, based on experience — that the same child might not be given the space to find their footing there either, especially not with the social positioning we bring.

And candidly, we believe that many of the big suburban high schools that some see as ideal would — given our social positioning — be ill-fitting, and potentially even toxic. That might be different if our child’s background, or our family’s profile, looked more like the default. But it doesn’t. And so for us, BASIS feels not just sufficient, but uniquely well-suited.

Of course, in an ideal world, those large, sprawling public high schools — with all their promise and resources — would be free of the more insidious dynamics we worry about. They would truly offer high expectations, equitable treatment, and full belonging to every student, regardless of background. But in our lived experience, that’s not reliably in the offing — not yet. So we’ve made the choice that feels safest, smartest, and most empowering for our child, for now.

(And, FWIW, I think it’s ridiculous to slam folks for failing to do their “research” on Basis given the issues specific issues raised.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former BASIS family here. Some might even call our kid “washed out”, or “pushed out”. Bright but not able to recover and teach themself high level math when their teacher at a critical year turned out to be a fraud and had to leave mid-year. Has an English and physics teacher also crash out midyear. The school didn’t help kids adapt. We paid for tutors out of our own pockets . We paid in money and our kid paid in time away from friends and other activities. It was killing our kid’s spirit.

We moved to MoCo. House poor now - but not tutor poor. After a year of middle school transition and rebuilding confidence our kiddo is now thriving.

In an application program at a MoCo public high school now. Rigorous classes, opportunity to write much more, and still take rigorous science. Huge choice in classes and paths. So many clubs and electives. Big homecoming dances, fun sporting events. Our kid is joyful.

They acknowledge that BASIS gave them a strong foundation in chemistry and biology, and exposure to math concepts ahead of many classmates. But in some ways BASIS harmed them. Bad memories even borderline traumatic from trying hard to keep up in the classes where teaching was baaaaaaaad and the school administration mostly gaslit students about it or just kinda said suck it up. (There were some excellent teachers too and a few strong counselors).

Thanks so much for this honest, well-written and detailed post, PP. The gaslighting at BASIS was a real problem, borderline abusive. We had a very similar experience, with our recovery in Arlington. Nobody at BASIS noticed that my kid has mild ADHD. In VA, the problem was picked up fast, kid was given support and accommodations, enabling her to emerge as an A student in 11th grade IBD classes. Washington-Liberty not only has strong clubs, facilities, electives, sports, music etc. it has a relationship with a vocational center high school where my kid takes a fun take fun tech class each semester, EMT training, animal care etc.

We've kept our DC row house and plan to return as empty nesters but for now, VA is a much better place for us. With in-state VA tuition an option, we don't need to fret about kid earning merit aid at some college with support from BASIS. We were relieved to divorce dramatically uneven teaching at BASIS, endless pleas for parents to top up teachers' salaries, the dearth of natural light in the building and weak administrators. If I could do it over again, I'd have moved to VA earlier and found my kids summer opportunities to learn advanced biology and chem. In the grand scheme of things, BASIS wasn't worth it for us.

Thank you to both prior posters for sharing your perspectives. I want to acknowledge the very real upsides of a large, well-resourced suburban high school with all the traditional features — the kind of place many of us would have dreamed of attending back in the 90s. For many families, these schools offer the best of all worlds: strong academics, arts, sports, and a vibrant social life. It makes complete sense why some of you have decamped into what feel like greener pastures, and I’m glad you’ve found settings that work well for your children.

At the same time, I’m not inclined to push back on any individual’s experience of BASIS, especially if their child faced real academic or social challenges there. That’s valid. But I also think it’s worth remembering that BASIS is not unique in being imperfect. Many schools — including those traditional suburban high schools — can be equally flawed, sometimes in different ways.

For families like ours, BASIS’s cultural rigidity has actually been something of a relief. The relentless focus on academics and the clear, objective grading standards — the 90s club, the constant stream of quizzes — remove a lot of the soft ambiguity where unconscious bias can thrive. Our child comes from a racial background where expectations are often, tragically, low — where deficits may be unconsciously amplified, and early struggles quickly chalked up to race. That’s the backdrop we’re navigating, and it’s a reality that shapes our choices.

In more flexible or “softer” academic environments, that ambiguity can work against kids like ours. If there’s room to give the benefit of the doubt — or withhold it — we worry about where that benefit lands. It’s not paranoia; it’s pattern recognition born of long observation. At BASIS, because the culture is so tightly wound around performance, our child has had frequent, consistent opportunities to demonstrate ability — in ways that are hard to ignore, misread, or explain away. That kind of data trail matters for us.

It’s also important to say: the only reason we were even positioned to take advantage of what BASIS offers is because we spent years laying a foundation outside of school — often without institutional help, often in isolation. We didn’t have the luxury to let things play out. And if we had a child who truly struggled academically, BASIS might not be the right fit. But neither would many of the schools being praised, because we know — again, based on experience — that the same child might not be given the space to find their footing there either, especially not with the social positioning we bring.

And candidly, we believe that many of the big suburban high schools that some see as ideal would — given our social positioning — be ill-fitting, and potentially even toxic. That might be different if our child’s background, or our family’s profile, looked more like the default. But it doesn’t. And so for us, BASIS feels not just sufficient, but uniquely well-suited.

Of course, in an ideal world, those large, sprawling public high schools — with all their promise and resources — would be free of the more insidious dynamics we worry about. They would truly offer high expectations, equitable treatment, and full belonging to every student, regardless of background. But in our lived experience, that’s not reliably in the offing — not yet. So we’ve made the choice that feels safest, smartest, and most empowering for our child, for now.

(And, FWIW, I think it’s ridiculous to slam folks for failing to do their “research” on Basis given the issues specific issues raised.)

NP. I'm not white. My children attend large suburban schools in the DMV in the county where their dad lives after we left BASIS 3 years in.

Your arguments for preferring BASIS to the best of the burbs for reasons related to "social positioning" sound overwrought. My guess is that you make the best of BASIS because moving for better schools seems like a worse option, not because your concerns about how your AA children would be treated in every single large suburban middle or high school.

I'm not seeing a "softer" academic environment in my older child's high school classes in VA. I am seeing Black classmates whose parents hail from here and there, the Caribbean, the UK, the DMV, Southern states (at least according to my child). I'm told that most of these teenagers of color are among the strongest students. When I talk to these parents, I don't hear complaining about social positioning issues/racism. I hear parents grumbling about what a hard time their children have in cracking leading roles in school plays, varsity sports spots and first chairs for musical instruments. They also object to how hard it is to clear the National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist bar and get As in IB Diploma language classes (taught 1 or 2 years past AP level) because the competition is so tough in the VA burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former BASIS family here. Some might even call our kid “washed out”, or “pushed out”. Bright but not able to recover and teach themself high level math when their teacher at a critical year turned out to be a fraud and had to leave mid-year. Has an English and physics teacher also crash out midyear. The school didn’t help kids adapt. We paid for tutors out of our own pockets . We paid in money and our kid paid in time away from friends and other activities. It was killing our kid’s spirit.

We moved to MoCo. House poor now - but not tutor poor. After a year of middle school transition and rebuilding confidence our kiddo is now thriving.

In an application program at a MoCo public high school now. Rigorous classes, opportunity to write much more, and still take rigorous science. Huge choice in classes and paths. So many clubs and electives. Big homecoming dances, fun sporting events. Our kid is joyful.

They acknowledge that BASIS gave them a strong foundation in chemistry and biology, and exposure to math concepts ahead of many classmates. But in some ways BASIS harmed them. Bad memories even borderline traumatic from trying hard to keep up in the classes where teaching was baaaaaaaad and the school administration mostly gaslit students about it or just kinda said suck it up. (There were some excellent teachers too and a few strong counselors).

Thanks so much for this honest, well-written and detailed post, PP. The gaslighting at BASIS was a real problem, borderline abusive. We had a very similar experience, with our recovery in Arlington. Nobody at BASIS noticed that my kid has mild ADHD. In VA, the problem was picked up fast, kid was given support and accommodations, enabling her to emerge as an A student in 11th grade IBD classes. Washington-Liberty not only has strong clubs, facilities, electives, sports, music etc. it has a relationship with a vocational center high school where my kid takes a fun take fun tech class each semester, EMT training, animal care etc.

We've kept our DC row house and plan to return as empty nesters but for now, VA is a much better place for us. With in-state VA tuition an option, we don't need to fret about kid earning merit aid at some college with support from BASIS. We were relieved to divorce dramatically uneven teaching at BASIS, endless pleas for parents to top up teachers' salaries, the dearth of natural light in the building and weak administrators. If I could do it over again, I'd have moved to VA earlier and found my kids summer opportunities to learn advanced biology and chem. In the grand scheme of things, BASIS wasn't worth it for us.

Thank you to both prior posters for sharing your perspectives. I want to acknowledge the very real upsides of a large, well-resourced suburban high school with all the traditional features — the kind of place many of us would have dreamed of attending back in the 90s. For many families, these schools offer the best of all worlds: strong academics, arts, sports, and a vibrant social life. It makes complete sense why some of you have decamped into what feel like greener pastures, and I’m glad you’ve found settings that work well for your children.

At the same time, I’m not inclined to push back on any individual’s experience of BASIS, especially if their child faced real academic or social challenges there. That’s valid. But I also think it’s worth remembering that BASIS is not unique in being imperfect. Many schools — including those traditional suburban high schools — can be equally flawed, sometimes in different ways.

For families like ours, BASIS’s cultural rigidity has actually been something of a relief. The relentless focus on academics and the clear, objective grading standards — the 90s club, the constant stream of quizzes — remove a lot of the soft ambiguity where unconscious bias can thrive. Our child comes from a racial background where expectations are often, tragically, low — where deficits may be unconsciously amplified, and early struggles quickly chalked up to race. That’s the backdrop we’re navigating, and it’s a reality that shapes our choices.

In more flexible or “softer” academic environments, that ambiguity can work against kids like ours. If there’s room to give the benefit of the doubt — or withhold it — we worry about where that benefit lands. It’s not paranoia; it’s pattern recognition born of long observation. At BASIS, because the culture is so tightly wound around performance, our child has had frequent, consistent opportunities to demonstrate ability — in ways that are hard to ignore, misread, or explain away. That kind of data trail matters for us.

It’s also important to say: the only reason we were even positioned to take advantage of what BASIS offers is because we spent years laying a foundation outside of school — often without institutional help, often in isolation. We didn’t have the luxury to let things play out. And if we had a child who truly struggled academically, BASIS might not be the right fit. But neither would many of the schools being praised, because we know — again, based on experience — that the same child might not be given the space to find their footing there either, especially not with the social positioning we bring.

And candidly, we believe that many of the big suburban high schools that some see as ideal would — given our social positioning — be ill-fitting, and potentially even toxic. That might be different if our child’s background, or our family’s profile, looked more like the default. But it doesn’t. And so for us, BASIS feels not just sufficient, but uniquely well-suited.

Of course, in an ideal world, those large, sprawling public high schools — with all their promise and resources — would be free of the more insidious dynamics we worry about. They would truly offer high expectations, equitable treatment, and full belonging to every student, regardless of background. But in our lived experience, that’s not reliably in the offing — not yet. So we’ve made the choice that feels safest, smartest, and most empowering for our child, for now.

(And, FWIW, I think it’s ridiculous to slam folks for failing to do their “research” on Basis given the issues specific issues raised.)

NP. I'm not white. My children attend large suburban schools in the DMV in the county where their dad lives after we left BASIS 3 years in.

Your arguments for preferring BASIS to the best of the burbs for reasons related to "social positioning" sound overwrought. My guess is that you make the best of BASIS because moving for better schools seems like a worse option, not because your concerns about how your AA children would be treated in every single large suburban middle or high school.

I'm not seeing a "softer" academic environment in my older child's high school classes in VA. I am seeing Black classmates whose parents hail from here and there, the Caribbean, the UK, the DMV, Southern states (at least according to my child). I'm told that most of these teenagers of color are among the strongest students. When I talk to these parents, I don't hear complaining about social positioning issues/racism. I hear parents grumbling about what a hard time their children have in cracking leading roles in school plays, varsity sports spots and first chairs for musical instruments. They also object to how hard it is to clear the National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist bar and get As in IB Diploma language classes (taught 1 or 2 years past AP level) because the competition is so tough in the VA burbs.

Then they are extremely misinformed, since it is harder to be a National Merit Seminfinalist in DC by rule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no 5th or 6th grader needs to be taking Algebra. Just no need. Let your 10 year old be 10.

None should be compelled to. Unnecessary. But those that are ready should have the option, preferably at school.

Very few are "ready" and most do end up feeling compelled to "stay ahead" or be in the classes with the other "smart kids." We need a study on actual outcomes of the hyper-accelerated math kids. The ones I know are all humanities majors who ended up up barely tolerating having to take another math class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no 5th or 6th grader needs to be taking Algebra. Just no need. Let your 10 year old be 10.

None should be compelled to. Unnecessary. But those that are ready should have the option, preferably at school.

Very few are "ready" and most do end up feeling compelled to "stay ahead" or be in the classes with the other "smart kids." We need a study on actual outcomes of the hyper-accelerated math kids. The ones I know are all humanities majors who ended up up barely tolerating having to take another math class.

I think this is correct. When I was a kid (at a test-in magnet school with ~220 kids where no one was behind grade level to start with), there were two tracks for math, which prepared kids for either AB or BC calc in 12th. There was a way to take two math classes at once along the way (in lieu of another AP class), so that a handful of kids who wanted to do math or directly math adjacent subjects in college could do BC in 11th and multi-variable in 12th (5-10 students), but there was an equally challenging path they'd be passing up in another subject. Then there were a very few students (0-2 per year) that were more accelerated than that. Two kids I know on that trajectory are math and physics, professors, respectively at top tier universities. This still seems like a reasonable approach to me. Acknowledging the need for exceptional cases of real acceleration, some choice-based acceleration in mid-late HS that kids weren't pressured to take just to take the "hardest" classes and then two normal tracks for kids whose thing is math and for kids whose thing isn't. I do not remotely understand the benefit of having the most advanced of all of those tracks be the "norm" for normal smart kids who don't intend to be math or math-adjacent majors. It doesn't make any sense to me.