Deal or Basis for DCs? Advice Needed.

[Anonymous]

I have two children, both math and music-oriented, and interested in playing basketball, in upper grades at a Hill ES. We mainly speak Chinese at home (but don't care for Yu Ying or the DCI plans at Walter Reed). We're IB for Stuart Hobson, but don't think our kids will be challenged/happy there. We're seriously considering moving to Upper NW for Deal and Wilson as safe bets, since we can't afford privates, or to Takoma Park MD.

Basis parents have encouraged us to look at the school. Our concern about Basis, admittedly, without having visited yet, is that our kids wouldn't necessarily get a well-rounded education there. One of us attended public school in Asia and disliked the narrow emphasis on academics.

I have a number of questions about Basis that haven't really been answered on other threads, or Great Schools.com on the Arizona threads. I don't mean to sound too picky, just gathering impressions to inform our decison-making process.

*About how many Asian kids are in the school now? I haven't been able to find any info/stats.

*What is the real deal with music, sports, drama, art and other non-academic offerings? Are the exercise sessions on the Navy Memorial space and National Mall working out? Does the school use a gym/basketball court elsewhere? Is there a good stage for music and drama performances? Are there musical groups kids can participate in, or are some planned? Can they take mid level to advanced music lessons at the school, e.g. violin? I've had a look at most of the Basis posts in the last year, without getting the full picture.

*Does anybody know where their high school will be located and if it will offer playing fields/courts and a stage?

Also, what is the deal with studying Chinese (our kids speak a dialect fairly well, but can't read/write much yet). Is Spanish the only foreign language taught during the school day? Do all the kids coming in at 5th have to take it?

Thanks for the info.

[Anonymous]

We're not wild about the facilities and will probably move to MoCo for 6th. Trying it for a year before making a final decision on where we'll live for junior high & high.

The faculty & staff are super enthusiastic and mostly competent though. It's a fine school with nice science labs just not offering much in the way of non academic facilities compared to Deal (we are not IB) or MoCo. The lunchroom is just depressing.

My kid doesn't mind running around on the Navy Memorial with tourists looking on, but he's banged up his knees falling on the pavement so looking forward to grass next year.

Looks like there are half a dozen Asian kids, most in 5th.

I'd say go w/Basis if you're dead set on staying in the city and can't afford a decent house in NW. Sounds like the great majority of parents will in fact stay.

[Anonymous]

Can you get into Deal?

Deal is very well rounded. The Chinese teacher is hands down one of the best teachers we have ever had for Chinese.

That said, we never looked at Basis so I can't really compare.

[Anonymous]

OP. Thanks. I'd heard that Deal has a good Chinese teacher, and that classes are part of the regular curriculum. Sounds like Basis is talking about teaching Chinese before or after school, with parents paying extra..? We know that Deal has more kids of Asian descent than any other DCPS or charter middle school. We also know that there are MoCo schools that are 1/4 Asian.

We probably can only get into Deal if we move off the Hill, why we're fact-finding now and watching the real estate market. Been thinking of moving for years.

We can afford a house for around 700K, which would buy a lot more in MD than in NW. We're not even sure that we could get into Basis next year of course, since they might auction off spots in a lottery over the winter. Sounds like it's anybody's guess what the lottery will look like (just for 5th and 6th?). Our IB school is OK for 5th, so we could wait 18 months or so to move.

We half expected SH to be much further along by now. Call us the rose-colored glasses brigade....

[Anonymous]

you're not alone with those rose colored glasses, mate

DEAL if you really want to stay in the city; TakomaMD hands down if what goes on in school is most important to your family

the Basis boosters are seriously thin-skinned and hyper

[Anonymous]

5th and 6th graders only take Latin in regular classes -- not sure about 7th. After that, they will have class instruction in French, Spanish, Chinese and I think one other modern language. Wash Latin also has Chinese at some point, I think.

You can play bball all over the Hill via SOTH and DCPR and CYO. Not sure what plans there are or that at BASIS.

[Anonymous]

If you want a good Asian continent at a DCP school OP you are going to have to high-tail it to the burbs. You might want to deal with this reality sooner rather than later. Even DC privates attract very few Asians -we've made the rounds. I'm an Asian immigrant who doesn't relate to what can seem like PC thinking on the part of ultra liberal white parents and teachers at my children's EotP ES. I have an easier time talking to high-ses AA parents. I don't see either BASIS or Deal attracting many Asians for a long time, although a few more will surely come with each passing year as gentrification continues apace. Asian parents see majority AA at a school and quietly steer clear if they have decent options. They aren't missed in DCPS or DC Charter for their "racist" views and are rarely comfortable asserting themselves on race-related academic issues. Diverity doesn't do it for them; they just want their kids to crack great colleges. That, in a nutshell, is why YY and BASIS have so few and Rockville, Potomac and Takoma Park so many.\

[Anonymous]

+1. Yea, the Asians won't be beating down the doors at DC Charter anytime soon...

If you're going to go to the trouble of uprooting mainly for MS and HS and are raising math gifted kids, I'd stick with MoCo/Takoma Park. Deal and Wilson are just OK by comparison and BASIS is a test tube school.

[Anonymous]

For non-academics, definitely Deal-Wilson over Basis. There's no comparison now, nor will there be anytime soon. It's just a question of numbers. Bigger schools in wealthier parts of town have more scale and variety in their offerings. Wilson has sports-oriented academy if you kids turn into athlete scholars.

Like you said, OP, there's no guarantee you'd get into Basis even if you stay in DC.

I have no comparison for Takoma Park, MD. But hope things work out!

[Anonymous]

The Asian children at Eastern are doing phenomenal well. They are academically strong and are involved in extra-curricular activities. I strongly encourage that you give Principal Skerritt a call 202-698-4500.

[Anonymous]

Yes, all three of them. :eyeroll:

[Anonymous]

BASIS isn't "Asian" style academics, I'm not sure why people keep trying to make that connection. It's more European style academics.

They have a strong focus on math and science but also are big on classical liberal arts education. Our 5th grader has classics and latin, they also teach physical geography and other subjects for 5th. I am also looking forward to history and other classes. DC also gets Art and Music, and the gym class is Taekwondo. Drama is an extracurricular, as are Robotics, Chess and a number of other activities.

As far as "math gifted" goes, BASIS does have some of their more advanced 5th graders in Algebra I, so they can advance and accelerate as needed - more so than most schools in the area.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thanks, PPs, any bit of info and insight helps.

For the Basis parents, when you say the kids take art and do drama, what sort of facilities are there for these extras? Is there a stage/auditorium where school plays and musicals are performed? I don't see one on the floor plan - does the cafeteria substitute or something? Is there a kiln for ceramics and a well-stocked art room (I won't ask about wood & metal shop, sewing, cooking!). Are there any sorts of teams that compete against other schools?

For the Deal parents, what sort of ability grouping are they doing in various academic subjects? English? Social studies? When we visited, we had trouble getting straight answers about acceleration from teachers, unlike at Takoma Park MS. At Deal, nobody was willing to articulate a policy on tracking. Teachers spoke vaguely of "appropriate differentiation" not a definite path up to AP BC Calculus at some point in high school, like Basis does. We understand that Deal offers 7th grade Algebra I, but couldn't find out how a kid got into the class, or how many kids were taking it this year, or what happens in 8th grade etc. afterwards. And it seemed that there aren't definite honors classes in other subjects (or did I get that wrong?), as in MoCo.

Really appreciate your info.

[Anonymous]

16:14, what is your point, one is too many or three is not enough? Please explain yourself. :eyeroll and the neck roll: Sheesh!

[Anonymous]

If you want a large Asian cohort, you should move to Virginia and apply to TJ.