Basis is sucking the energy out of my child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at Basis (both in middle school).

One completes all of her homework during the school day with little effort. She’s been extremely happy this year (though there’s one class with teacher turnover that she complains about).

My other child stresses more about the workload, but still manages to spend a lot of time doing video games and watching TV each evening, plus there’s almost never homework on weekends.

Both kids have stellar grades.

The school is far from perfect, but OP’s posting does not resonate with our family.

This is my family's experience, too.

Everyone knows that kids who succeed at Basis need to be smart and motivated. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the kids who tend to be fast workers will be much more successful than the equally bright kids who just tend to work a bit slower. Homework loads can range from 20 minutes/day(my kids) - 4 hours/day depending on your child's efficiency.

I don’t understand how that can be true. There’s a massibe difference between 20 minutes and 4 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at Basis (both in middle school).

One completes all of her homework during the school day with little effort. She’s been extremely happy this year (though there’s one class with teacher turnover that she complains about).

My other child stresses more about the workload, but still manages to spend a lot of time doing video games and watching TV each evening, plus there’s almost never homework on weekends.

Both kids have stellar grades.

The school is far from perfect, but OP’s posting does not resonate with our family.

This is my family's experience, too.

Everyone knows that kids who succeed at Basis need to be smart and motivated. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the kids who tend to be fast workers will be much more successful than the equally bright kids who just tend to work a bit slower. Homework loads can range from 20 minutes/day(my kids) - 4 hours/day depending on your child's efficiency.

I don’t understand how that can be true. There’s a massibe difference between 20 minutes and 4 hours.

some kids are just faster. Think back to elementary- do you remember the kids who would finish the math test in a fraction of the time of most kids and still get As? Basis is designed for those kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Everyone knows that kids who succeed at Basis need to be smart and motivated. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the kids who tend to be fast workers will be much more successful than the equally bright kids who just tend to work a bit slower. Homework loads can range from 20 minutes/day(my kids) - 4 hours/day depending on your child's efficiency.

I don’t understand how that can be true. There’s a massibe difference between 20 minutes and 4 hours.

Most of the classes have built in time to finish some of the work. So, Kid A is efficient and diligent and spends those 15-20 minutes per class finishing homework. Kid A also utilizes the full 30 minutes of study hall to finish work. Kid B talks with friends, doodles, or otherwise gets distracted and doesn't use any of that time. That's already 2-3 hours of work that Kid A has already finished and Kid B still needs to do. That isn't even accounting for different working speeds.

My 7th grader has about 20 minutes of homework per night and gets mostly As. Other kids on our school's parent forum complain that their 7th graders have hours of homework every night.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of the problem is that parents have overly optimistic views of their child's intelligence and motivation. BASIS will work for kids who are very bright, motivated, high achievers. It won't work for kids who aren't smart enough, aren't motivated, or have other issues (learning disabilities, anxiety, or whatever) that interfere with their ability to be high achievers.

An admission test would help greatly, since it would at least ensure that the kids who attend are smart enough and advanced enough to have some hope of succeeding.

[Anonymous]

Realistically, an admissions test would never happen in DC, as we all know. But I do think that it would be smart for the Charter Board to allow Basis to administer one. They could select the kids most likely to succeed using their academic model, and focus on retaining those kids throughout middle (and perhaps high) school. Instead they take a huge 5th grade class, knowing that they will need to weed out many of them to arrive at a cohort that will succeed at their school. This takes a toll on everyone-- the kids that don't make it, their peers/friends who do, and the kids who could have succeeded there, but struck out in the lottery and weren't offered spots in the first place. It stinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Everyone knows that kids who succeed at Basis need to be smart and motivated. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the kids who tend to be fast workers will be much more successful than the equally bright kids who just tend to work a bit slower. Homework loads can range from 20 minutes/day(my kids) - 4 hours/day depending on your child's efficiency.

I don’t understand how that can be true. There’s a massibe difference between 20 minutes and 4 hours.

Most of the classes have built in time to finish some of the work. So, Kid A is efficient and diligent and spends those 15-20 minutes per class finishing homework. Kid A also utilizes the full 30 minutes of study hall to finish work. Kid B talks with friends, doodles, or otherwise gets distracted and doesn't use any of that time. That's already 2-3 hours of work that Kid A has already finished and Kid B still needs to do. That isn't even accounting for different working speeds.

My 7th grader has about 20 minutes of homework per night and gets mostly As. Other kids on our school's parent forum complain that their 7th graders have hours of homework every night.

I think this is a great description. My DS is really efficient at planning his homework schedule on his own. He’s great at optimizing breaks during the day(sometimes working ahead of schedule) to get work done so he can do whatever he wants after school. He definitely doesn’t get it from me as I’m obviously spending the break in my work schedule surfing DCUM lol. I wish I could be as efficient, but it’s just not my nature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Everyone knows that kids who succeed at Basis need to be smart and motivated. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the kids who tend to be fast workers will be much more successful than the equally bright kids who just tend to work a bit slower. Homework loads can range from 20 minutes/day(my kids) - 4 hours/day depending on your child's efficiency.

I don’t understand how that can be true. There’s a massibe difference between 20 minutes and 4 hours.

Most of the classes have built in time to finish some of the work. So, Kid A is efficient and diligent and spends those 15-20 minutes per class finishing homework. Kid A also utilizes the full 30 minutes of study hall to finish work. Kid B talks with friends, doodles, or otherwise gets distracted and doesn't use any of that time. That's already 2-3 hours of work that Kid A has already finished and Kid B still needs to do. That isn't even accounting for different working speeds.

My 7th grader has about 20 minutes of homework per night and gets mostly As. Other kids on our school's parent forum complain that their 7th graders have hours of homework every night.

This is exactly why we didn't opt for BASIS - I definitely have a Kid B! He comes by it honestly, at least, I am Adult B for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This is exactly why we didn't opt for BASIS - I definitely have a Kid B! He comes by it honestly, at least, I am Adult B for sure.

Heh. There's nothing wrong with realizing that the school would be a bad fit for your child.

My view is that BASIS is a tremendous school offering a lot of opportunities for the kids for whom it is a good fit. The problem is that BASIS isn't being allowed the tools to select kids who are likely to be a good fit, so they end up admitting a lot of kids who aren't. Also, parents aren't necessarily being given the information to determine whether it's likely to be a good fit for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is exactly why we didn't opt for BASIS - I definitely have a Kid B! He comes by it honestly, at least, I am Adult B for sure.

Heh. There's nothing wrong with realizing that the school would be a bad fit for your child.

My view is that BASIS is a tremendous school offering a lot of opportunities for the kids for whom it is a good fit. The problem is that BASIS isn't being allowed the tools to select kids who are likely to be a good fit, so they end up admitting a lot of kids who aren't. Also, parents aren't necessarily being given the information to determine whether it's likely to be a good fit for their kids.

if Basis can be selective, every charter will ask for the same right and the whole system will devolve into the kind of tiered good school/bad school set up that the lottery was intended to avoid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Everyone knows that kids who succeed at Basis need to be smart and motivated. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the kids who tend to be fast workers will be much more successful than the equally bright kids who just tend to work a bit slower. Homework loads can range from 20 minutes/day(my kids) - 4 hours/day depending on your child's efficiency.

I don’t understand how that can be true. There’s a massibe difference between 20 minutes and 4 hours.

Most of the classes have built in time to finish some of the work. So, Kid A is efficient and diligent and spends those 15-20 minutes per class finishing homework. Kid A also utilizes the full 30 minutes of study hall to finish work. Kid B talks with friends, doodles, or otherwise gets distracted and doesn't use any of that time. That's already 2-3 hours of work that Kid A has already finished and Kid B still needs to do. That isn't even accounting for different working speeds.

My 7th grader has about 20 minutes of homework per night and gets mostly As. Other kids on our school's parent forum complain that their 7th graders have hours of homework every night.

Agree that this sums things up nicely. Fortunately my 6th grader is very motivated to knock things out during the day/class periods. She rarely has any homework other than the math problem set.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, an admissions test would never happen in DC, as we all know. But I do think that it would be smart for the Charter Board to allow Basis to administer one. They could select the kids most likely to succeed using their academic model, and focus on retaining those kids throughout middle (and perhaps high) school. Instead they take a huge 5th grade class, knowing that they will need to weed out many of them to arrive at a cohort that will succeed at their school. This takes a toll on everyone-- the kids that don't make it, their peers/friends who do, and the kids who could have succeeded there, but struck out in the lottery and weren't offered spots in the first place. It stinks.

Why can't an admissions test happen in DC? We already have selective HS admissions at four or five programs, just not for MS. I'd wager that we will have selective MS admissions somewhere in the system 5 or 10 years hence. If the political will existed for BASIS to move toward selective admissions it could happen with a new LEA and perhaps DCPS sponsorship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, an admissions test would never happen in DC, as we all know. But I do think that it would be smart for the Charter Board to allow Basis to administer one. They could select the kids most likely to succeed using their academic model, and focus on retaining those kids throughout middle (and perhaps high) school. Instead they take a huge 5th grade class, knowing that they will need to weed out many of them to arrive at a cohort that will succeed at their school. This takes a toll on everyone-- the kids that don't make it, their peers/friends who do, and the kids who could have succeeded there, but struck out in the lottery and weren't offered spots in the first place. It stinks.

Why can't an admissions test happen in DC? We already have selective HS admissions at four or five programs, just not for MS. I'd wager that we will have selective MS admissions somewhere in the system 5 or 10 years hence. If the political will existed for BASIS to move toward selective admissions it could happen with a new LEA and perhaps DCPS sponsorship.

Basis isn’t going to get special treatment

[Anonymous]

While it’s far from perfect, there is a good amount of self-selection that already occurs at Basis. The incoming 5th grade definitely reflects a higher-performing group of kids than most schools. And at my high-performing Capitol Hill elementary school, a number of parents opted against Basis because they assessed it wouldn’t be a good match for their kids. (But a small number of kids with academic challenges still enrolled at Basis.)

While threads like this, which overall reflect badly on the school, tend to make me defensive, they do serve a purpose in warning parents to think hard about whether their kids are a good match.

Signed,
Very happy parent of a thriving Basis kid, with a younger kid who will not be enrolling at Basis, as she’s a poor match

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at Basis (both in middle school).

One completes all of her homework during the school day with little effort. She’s been extremely happy this year (though there’s one class with teacher turnover that she complains about).

My other child stresses more about the workload, but still manages to spend a lot of time doing video games and watching TV each evening, plus there’s almost never homework on weekends.

Both kids have stellar grades.

The school is far from perfect, but OP’s posting does not resonate with our family.

This is my family's experience, too.

Everyone knows that kids who succeed at Basis need to be smart and motivated. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the kids who tend to be fast workers will be much more successful than the equally bright kids who just tend to work a bit slower. Homework loads can range from 20 minutes/day(my kids) - 4 hours/day depending on your child's efficiency.

I don’t understand how that can be true. There’s a massibe difference between 20 minutes and 4 hours.

some kids are just faster. Think back to elementary- do you remember the kids who would finish the math test in a fraction of the time of most kids and still get As? Basis is designed for those kids

A little faster, but not 12x faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is exactly why we didn't opt for BASIS - I definitely have a Kid B! He comes by it honestly, at least, I am Adult B for sure.

Heh. There's nothing wrong with realizing that the school would be a bad fit for your child.

My view is that BASIS is a tremendous school offering a lot of opportunities for the kids for whom it is a good fit. The problem is that BASIS isn't being allowed the tools to select kids who are likely to be a good fit, so they end up admitting a lot of kids who aren't. Also, parents aren't necessarily being given the information to determine whether it's likely to be a good fit for their kids.

Actually, it sounds like BASIS is not proactively coaching kids to be successful. Any kid who is spending 4 hours doing the homework should be coached on how to finish it up during the school day (assuming that everyone is being honest here about the time, and not exaggerating.)