How's basis going so far?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous
I find it astounding that there are several people here criticizing BASIS, even though they themselves clearly did not attend BASIS, clearly do not have children in BASIS, and who really have no real foundation or grounding for their criticisms.


The rest of us find it astounding that you would make such assumptions.


Please do everyone a favor and don't insult our intelligence. We're not naive, and we're not stupid. It's quite clear that there are a few troublemakers here who have an anti-BASIS agenda, who do not have kids there and who never had any intention of sending any kids there. And, for another thing, those of us who do have kids doing fine at BASIS are also quite insulted and offended at repeatedly being called dishonest liars. Just stop it already. You aren't fooling anyone here.

You don't speak for me, PP, with your use of 'we'. Many of us on this thread either have children in the school, or want to send children to the school and I, for one, welcome the discussion and experiences of all, positive or negative, Tucson or DC or wherever. People with opinions or experiences different than mine or yours are not troublemakers and their criticisms are completely valid.

[Anonymous]

21:17 / 21:31

Pages 22 and 23 had repeated, undeniable suggestions of dishonesty and lack of honesty. Those posts are all still there. Likewise, any parent who posts here, whose child is doing fine there is being hammered on with "yeah, but you need to give way to the person who said he was a Basis grad" as though someone else's apparent experience a few years ago in Arizona somehow negates our child's own experience in DC right now. Or that it makes us dishonest for not having the same experience.  It doesn't.

The organizers at Basis have been completely honest and up-front with their expectations of academic rigor. And, parents like myself who post here have likewise been completely honest. Anyone who isn't aware of that wasn't deceived, they weren't paying attention. We have not seen any "tension" at the school that affects it or the student body in any significant way, DC's teachers have been responsive and pleasant, and everything has been very well organized and efficient. And as for "mill" or "drill" in our case, likewise the only thing that has been in any way time consuming is the math homework, but each problem set includes a mix with some review and some new material, DC has gotten much better at cranking through the problem sets far more quickly.

For some students Basis works well, it's a very good fit, whereas for others it is not a good fit. Just as just about any of the schools in the District, whether charter, public or private will be a good fit for one kid but not for the next. So even the "negative" is very positive.

And again, as a reminder, the Basis grad who posted here got into a best-of-breed group at Stanford. There is something to be said for that- he probably would have been far less prepared and far less likely to have had that opportunity had he gone through the regular public school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous
I find it astounding that there are several people here criticizing BASIS, even though they themselves clearly did not attend BASIS, clearly do not have children in BASIS, and who really have no real foundation or grounding for their criticisms.

The rest of us find it astounding that you would make such assumptions.

I've had the same thought, there is definitely some serious and persistent anti-Basis astroturfing and sock puppeting going on here.

Bottom line is, BASIS fills an unmet need in DC and provides a viable option for hard-working and high-achieving students. The top reason I can think of why anyone would knock it is because they work for another school and feel threatened.

[Anonymous]

I want to explore the value of AP tests, other posters have stated they don't count for much in the long run. I know my daughter took a battery of AP tests in her last 2 years of private high school in DC. Most interesting to me was the confidence she gained from mastery of the material, which gave her the ability to talk knowledgeably in conversations with adults. For example, american politics. She acquired detailed knowledge of, for example, strategies and motivations and thread that weave through american history in a class that was unabashedly AP test prep.

So I cannot dismiss the value of AP tests, in fact I wish I had received that grounding in subjects like history, biology, physics and a foreign language. The language AP requires recitals, essays, translations and so on - this is not rote memorization but real mastery.

If the argument is they can wait until junior or senior year of HS, I would take issue with that as well. If a student can build their knowledge base gradually through mastering AP subjects over five years then junior and senior year don't have to be quite so hellish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line is, BASIS fills an unmet need in DC and provides a viable option for hard-working and high-achieving students. The top reason I can think of why anyone would knock it is because they work for another school and feel threatened.

I almost agree, with some minor but relevant tweaks to this argument: I think that there are non (or not-yet) Basis parents who take issue with the fact that this welcome option is advertised as "the new it" rather than making clear that it fills an unmet "niche" need, namely for kids who do well with its "back to basics" techniques. I may have a child like that coming along in a few years, but it's utterly not what my otherwise high-achieving older one would do well with. That entire cohorts in some elementary schools decide that this is the best option for all their kids confirms to me that that Basis and its boosters are over-selling it. Basis is doing itself (and everybody, including me) a disservice by making it look like this is a model that'll work for anybody who is "hard-working and high-achieving". In fact, it'll be a great disservice also to the child I have coming along who may indeed be a great fit for this model to find her/him-self surrounded by students who are actually not a good fit and were lured into it to fill seats.

[Anonymous]

I want to thank the parents at Basis and the Basis grads for their info about the school. Whereas previously, Basis wasn't on our radar as a middle school option - from people's description, it sounds exactly what we were looking for; A sound foundation in the basics, lots of math drills using Saxon math and an accelerated math curriculum.

Everyone's criticisms about Basis seems to be about what it's not. ..

I like the Chinese model of teaching math probably b/c I'm Asian. Unlike Americans, we think everyone can be "good" at math and expect kids to be able to do algebra and trig in middle school - this is not rocket science. Average math students need a lot of drilling and practice/homework to get the fundamental down pat - unlike your math whizzes who "get it". Nothing wrong in having to work for something...

[Anonymous]

I don't really see the "over sell" or "new it". Nobody here is claiming Basis to be all things to all students, nobody is saying it's the answer to all educational issues. It is what it is.

Anybody could find issue with any school in DC. "Oh, this one doesn't even offer calculus", "Oh, that one doesn't have lacrosse", "Oh, this one doesn't teach Urdu" or whatever. And, that's fine. But do we see threads for other schools where that kind of constant sniping goes on,, week after week, hundreds of posts, even though the other schools have plenty of their own shortcomings as well? No. We don't. So why with Basis?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I almost agree, with some minor but relevant tweaks to this argument: I think that there are non (or not-yet) Basis parents who take issue with the fact that this welcome option is advertised as "the new it" rather than making clear that it fills an unmet "niche" need, namely for kids who do well with its "back to basics" techniques. I may have a child like that coming along in a few years, but it's utterly not what my otherwise high-achieving older one would do well with. That entire cohorts in some elementary schools decide that this is the best option for all their kids confirms to me that that Basis and its boosters are over-selling it. Basis is doing itself (and everybody, including me) a disservice by making it look like this is a model that'll work for anybody who is "hard-working and high-achieving". In fact, it'll be a great disservice also to the child I have coming along who may indeed be a great fit for this model to find her/him-self surrounded by students who are actually not a good fit and were lured into it to fill seats.

Actually, Basis has been very clear in their information sessions about their model of education and on their website. There has been no misleading at all IMO and I attended multiple information sessions and scoured their website for info. Also, if anyone is interested there is a movie called "2 Million Minutes" that presents an accurate portrayal of the school. Anyone who chooses this school blindly is doing so by their own fault and not Basis' fault.

As for boosters over-selling it, I disagree. I know I am just thrilled to have found a school that my son is thriving in I am not under any delusions that this school is for everyone. I do believe that a typical average kid who works hard can succeed at the school though. Any parent who chooses this school unknowingly is at fault IMO. I am also grateful that there are plenty of choices here in DC and I hope to see more since every child is different.

[Anonymous]

Parent of current BASIS student.
We came from a well regarded charter which boasts exceptional teachers, creativity, critical thinking and deep understanding of subjects.

My son was completely miserable and begged me to send him back overseas. Teachers was complaining again and again that he was not trying and refusing to do his work. I asked them repeatedly to send the work home even in advance, but it never happened. They only sent home monthly notes that he was not turning in his homework. When I asked him about it, the answer was always the same -- there is no homework, or I think I am supposed to do more research or try to make the work of better quality with my partner.

At BASIS, there is structure and my child knows exactly what the expectations are. I check the CJ every day. Not once has he missed homework, which is taking a lot of time because he is making up for the past two years.
Now he loves going to school and says teachers are nice and explain well. I already met with the program director and learned that students were being grouped according to prior knowledge of English and Math.
We're happy. I know other parents who are also happy. And I am just a parent, not a BASIS booster.

[Anonymous]

21:17 / 21:31

Pages 22 and 23 had repeated, undeniable suggestions of dishonesty and lack of honesty. Those posts are all still there. Likewise, any parent who posts here, whose child is doing fine there is being hammered on with "yeah, but you need to give way to the person who said he was a Basis grad" as though someone else's apparent experience a few years ago in Arizona somehow negates our child's own experience in DC right now. Or that it makes us dishonest for not having the same experience. It doesn't.

The organizers at Basis have been completely honest and up-front with their expectations of academic rigor. And, parents like myself who post here have likewise been completely honest. Anyone who isn't aware of that wasn't deceived, they weren't paying attention. We have not seen any "tension" at the school that affects it or the student body in any significant way, DC's teachers have been responsive and pleasant, and everything has been very well organized and efficient. And as for "mill" or "drill" in our case, likewise the only thing that has been in any way time consuming is the math homework, but each problem set includes a mix with some review and some new material, DC has gotten much better at cranking through the problem sets far more quickly.

For some students Basis works well, it's a very good fit, whereas for others it is not a good fit. Just as just about any of the schools in the District, whether charter, public or private will be a good fit for one kid but not for the next. So even the "negative" is very positive.

And again, as a reminder, the Basis grad who posted here got into a best-of-breed group at Stanford. There is something to be said for that- he probably would have been far less prepared and far less likely to have had that opportunity had he gone through the regular public school system.

Seriously, PP, you sound paranoid. You quote things that were never said (no one told you to give way to anything) and you overuse victim language...seriously? You are "hammered" and "negated"? Seriously? BASIS has only been open 6 weeks, hardly long enough to be so very oppressed.

You seem to like to work the line of good fit to stomp out any suggestion that BASIS isn't perfect. You are entitled, of course, to spin, as a booster, whatever narrative you wish to. But, while you do this, you need to understand that pretending you are some oppressed person struggling to be respected because you are some kind of pioneer who understands more about education yet has to, Hollywood-style, fight the man....is complete and utter fantasy.

[Anonymous]

15:34, you've just proven PP's point - you keep referring to any parent who speaks in favor of BASIS patronizingly as "booster" without any real basis or knowledge for doing so, and with anyone who ever disagrees with you or says BASIS is working for them, you deny, ridicule and call them "paranoid", "dishonest" or living "complete and utter fantasy". Those are direct quotes now, and this has been going on for months now. You go on and on and on with this stuff in post after post (and there are now dozens and dozens of them) and whenever someone else on the board finally gets sufficiently annoyed and fed up, we get your hasty denials and "dial it back" and all the rest of the nonsense. Nothing PP said backs up your suggestion of being "some kind of pioneer who understands education" "struggling to be respected" or "fighting the man", all anyone in support of BASIS has ever talked about is that BASIS has a model that is about academic rigor and hard work, that they accelerate math and provide good foundational work in the other areas, and that it works for some kids and fills a need, but that it isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, and nobody here ever said it was. Nobody here said it was perfect. That does not merit any of the mischaracterizations and misportrayals you have made, as though everyone here is a "booster", as though everyone here says it's "perfect" and "pioneering" and "knowing more about education" et cetera. All it is, is a different model, yet here you are storming in on the attack, hell bent on stomping these fictitious "boosters" supposedly posting "BASIS is perfect" (which I'm not seeing anyone doing), with a whole host of your own false premises..

[Anonymous]

NP here. PP, you seem pretty positive that Basis is working for you and anyone who has doubts or doesn't share your optimism is "wrong" and "has no real knowledge" and is "ridiculing" you or calling you "dishonest".

Pot, meet kettle. You're exactly what you're accusing the previous posters of being.

[Anonymous]

BASIS is working for my DC. Love it. Nothing left to say.

[Anonymous]

18:00, I never called anyone who has doubts "wrong". Again, I said it's a school that works great for some kids, but which won't necessarily work for all kids.

I will however say that I'm not terribly apt to put a lot of stock into the vague, random and disjointed stuff someone on the sidelines is posting anonymously on a message board, as opposed to what I routinely hear firsthand, in person, from other actual parents, when we're doing pickups, dropoffs, activities, et cetera.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:21:17 / 21:31And again, as a reminder, the Basis grad who posted here got into a best-of-breed group at Stanford. There is something to be said for that- he probably would have been far less prepared and far less likely to have had that opportunity had he gone through the regular public school system.

So all's well that ends well because the guy was admitted to Stanford? I was disabused of the notion that attending a blue chip college at any cost pays off long ago, when a sibling died of a drug overdose at any Ivy. Moreover, I have a spouse who barely speaks to his father a quarter-century after graduating from MIT because his immigrant dad subjected him to extreme academic pressure throughout his childhood. And I haven't forgotten how two Brown classmates took their own lives on campus (class of '90 for those needing to verify). My Ivy PhD program was largely populated by happy seeming non-Ivy grads. If the Stanford Basis Tuscon guy feels that he would've been better off elsewhere in secondary school, his prerogative. In MoCo, the "regular public school system" includes full-time programs for highly gifted 4th and 5th graders and middle schoolers where, as I understand it, creativity is not in short supply. Those are the sort of enrichment programs I'd like to see emerge in DC, whatever happens at Basis.