Basis 5th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The comments about special education at Basis caught my attention.

I have a mainstreamed child with HFA who excels academically. My child has no academic weaknesses and is especially gifted in math. But child also needs and receives social support at school.

Most people have advised me to rank Latin first because it has a stronger special education reputation, but given my child’s giftedness (as documented in neuropsych exams and reflected in performance) I sometimes wonder if Basis wouldn’t be a better fit, especially for a likely math wonk.

Thoughts?

I don’t think either school will have significant social support - perhaps a lunch bunch (no different than most public middle schools).How is your child at sports? Latin requires participation. If your child is noise-sensitive the BASIS building and hallways may be an issue. Small and loud.

I know 1 HFA student who went to each school for middle and both went to SWW for high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I/m interested in Basis b/c i think that a traditional,academically focused curriculum will work for my hyper focused ADD child who is super nerdy and nonathletic butttt i think a hw load of 2 hours every day ( so doing hw from 5-7) in the evening is a bit much unless that includes reading for pleasure which has to be tracked and turned in in elementary school anyways. When are they supposed to play piano/swim/play chess etc. . or anything else? Is it truly 2 hours of math problems and stuff or is it inclusive of reading, working on projects, solving math problems, looking up stuff on internet, learning spelling/ writing responses etc?? what is the experience truly like? Can anyone give me any input who's child is currently doing 5th/6th grade there. Are the kids allowed time to have other interests like taking a screen writing class or volunteering or playing a sport for a few hours a week when in 6-8 grades? I know that some of the long hw hours in 5th might also be filling in gaps in their knowledge. I love the location of BASIS so i'd love for it to work for our family.

Thanks

There are 30 Math problems assigned that are due every Monday thru Friday. It takes some kids 30 minutes to do them, and others take more like an hour. Sometimes there is time to work on them during class, but not always.

The other 6 or so classes try to keep homework to no more than 10 minutes a night, and teachers coordinate things like big tests so there aren't a lot that happen on the same day. The elective and PE will not typically have homework.

Most kids do other activities after school -- perhaps not every night -- and on weekends.

BASIS is very open and your child can spend a day shadowing a current student for an entire day if you are thinking of applying.

I think HW for many families happens between 8-9 or 9:30.

This must be a joke. Yes there is a shadow day but that's it.
As for the 30 problems a day, those who do it in 30 minutes, they are just completing it. If a student wants to solve each problem correctly, the 30 problems will take between an hour and an hour and a half.
The SAT results for this year's graduates were dismal. These are students who took advanced math and years of science since 7th grade.
As numerous parents have written, BASIS is far from being an inclusive community regardless of your child's merits and study habits. This said, if the school is making you feel very welcome, stay. But remember that once in college, all these supposed advanced classes will not help your child stand out -- just the opposite.

The problem sets are for completion, not perfection. Homework is not graded for perfection, just completion, then they go over the problems in class the next day. A fairly standard method of teaching. If you helicopter over your child and their honework, you and they are doing it wrong.

SATs also have an ELA component besides math, which is where BASIS has been poor, but improving. It is also where most DCPS tide to fall behind, btw.

Many of us do not care if our student stand still out in college, we are just trying to get through middle and high school in DC without paying $40k a year so that we can afford to send our students to college. And retire. BASIS is one of the better public options, charter or not, for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The comments about special education at Basis caught my attention.

I have a mainstreamed child with HFA who excels academically. My child has no academic weaknesses and is especially gifted in math. But child also needs and receives social support at school.

Most people have advised me to rank Latin first because it has a stronger special education reputation, but given my child’s giftedness (as documented in neuropsych exams and reflected in performance) I sometimes wonder if Basis wouldn’t be a better fit, especially for a likely math wonk.

Thoughts?


OP, your child is very unlikely to lottery into Latin, even if you list it first. OTOH, Basis 5th is relatively easy to get into. Go ahead and list Latin first, but realize it's an extreme longshot. If, perchance, you get in but decide to turn it down, you will certainly have a lottery number that will easily get you into Basis. Make sure you tour and/or do a shadow day for both schools in the unlikely event you are in a position to make a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The comments about special education at Basis caught my attention.

I have a mainstreamed child with HFA who excels academically. My child has no academic weaknesses and is especially gifted in math. But child also needs and receives social support at school.

Most people have advised me to rank Latin first because it has a stronger special education reputation, but given my child’s giftedness (as documented in neuropsych exams and reflected in performance) I sometimes wonder if Basis wouldn’t be a better fit, especially for a likely math wonk.

Thoughts?


OP, your child is very unlikely to lottery into Latin, even if you list it first. OTOH, Basis 5th is relatively easy to get into. Go ahead and list Latin first, but realize it's an extreme longshot. If, perchance, you get in but decide to turn it down, you will certainly have a lottery number that will easily get you into Basis. Make sure you tour and/or do a shadow day for both schools in the unlikely event you are in a position to make a choice.

Adding to this - discuss, explicitly with any middle school you are considering, your child's needs and current IEP and ask how they would support him. But in general I think you should take both your child's strengths and weaknesses into consideration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BASIS can work well for math gifted kids. But ask yourself how your child will do in a cramped building with no outdoor space, no library, no real performance space. Our kid tested into algebra at BASIS in 5th grade. We left after 7th. Kid is now at a private with green playing fields, big library, strong arts program and behaving much better than when at BASIS.

So what? You were at Basis for the majority of middle school...which is what most Basis parents are considering.

[Anonymous]

I had a low 3 digit original number and still haven't received a call. I think I'm now down to #7 for BASIS. Do they really still accept until October?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS can work well for math gifted kids. But ask yourself how your child will do in a cramped building with no outdoor space, no library, no real performance space. Our kid tested into algebra at BASIS in 5th grade. We left after 7th. Kid is now at a private with green playing fields, big library, strong arts program and behaving much better than when at BASIS.

So what? You were at Basis for the majority of middle school...which is what most Basis parents are considering.

NP. Point is well taken nonetheless. BASIS isn't a great experience for a good many of the middle school kids. The math gifted kids tend to be the happiest. OP wants to think all this through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a low 3 digit original number and still haven't received a call. I think I'm now down to #7 for BASIS. Do they really still accept until October?

You will certainly get a phone call if the school wants your child and your family to be part of their clique. Admins seem to have changed their method of accepting students according to their wait list number, then deciding if the kid is "BASIS material" or not. It's been difficult for them to justify very low or failing grades at the end of the year when the student has done quite well throughout the whole year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a low 3 digit original number and still haven't received a call. I think I'm now down to #7 for BASIS. Do they really still accept until October?

You will certainly get a phone call if the school wants your child and your family to be part of their clique. Admins seem to have changed their method of accepting students according to their wait list number, then deciding if the kid is "BASIS material" or not. It's been difficult for them to justify very low or failing grades at the end of the year when the student has done quite well throughout the whole year.

This is BS. If there are spaces and your number is next, you will be called.

[Anonymous]

Anyone called off the waitlist willing to share their ORIGINAL waitlist number (or range)?

[Anonymous]

Last night there was an event for BASIS families. The HOS shared that the school has 642 students enrolled this year -- including 59 9th graders (largest cohort that has ever stayed there from 8th to 9th).

So I think the 5th grade waitlist did move less than it has in past year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last night there was an event for BASIS families. The HOS shared that the school has 642 students enrolled this year -- including 59 9th graders (largest cohort that has ever stayed there from 8th to 9th).

So I think the 5th grade waitlist did move less than it has in past year.

Any other news from the event? We are a BASIS lower school family, but were unable to attend last night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last night there was an event for BASIS families. The HOS shared that the school has 642 students enrolled this year -- including 59 9th graders (largest cohort that has ever stayed there from 8th to 9th).

So I think the 5th grade waitlist did move less than it has in past year.

Any other news from the event? We are a BASIS lower school family, but were unable to attend last night.

Nothing earth shattering -- I think the powerpoint is going to be sent out via parent square. Covered lots of things that they are proud of and named specific areas for continued growth and improvement. Reported out high level results of student, parent and teacher satisfaction surveys.

My kid is in high school so I was most focused on the information related to the class of 2018 and colleges.

The average SAT score for the class of 2018 was 1280 (up from 2017 and on par with SWW but not quite where Jill wants it to be; 17 grads (15 seniors and 2 juniors who graduated early) earned total $3.8M in merit awards; the AP exam pass rate was 10 points higher in 2018 than in 2017. For second year in a row a BASIS student was the city's female "State AP scholar" meaning most AP exams and highest score on them in the city.

BASIS MS did particularly well on comps (compared to other schools in the network) in physics, Latin (8th) and English scoring higher than some of the more established BASIS schools.

[Anonymous]

We are still on the waitlist.