Basis tracks MS math but not English?

[Anonymous]

I am interested in Basis for my rising 5th grader. She is very advanced in English but only one grade level ahead in math. I know Basis offers all kinds of acceleration for math starting in 5th grade, but see from their course sequence that the LEAP program for English begins only at 9th grade. I have also heard from various current parents that their kids have some children in their English and other non math classes who are repeating the class because they failed their comprehensives the prior year. Often, they claim, these students are disruptive.

I want to hear from families at Basis about their experiences in the non math classes and whether there are any plans at Basis to provide either accelerated or remedial English classes. the course sequence sort of gives me the impression that their commitment to accelerated learning extends only to math and perhaps science, but not to humanities and English. If they are offering an accelerated curriculum within the English classes, and lumping all the kids together, then presumably they will have an extremely high number of students who fail to advance each year, as 25% of students are basic or below on dc cas. Not sure I want a lot of 8th graders in my fifth grader's English class, if this is true.

Can basis parents comment with helpful info?

[Anonymous]

Here are the course sequences: https://basisschools.org/student-handbook-course-sequences

I don't know if they are planning to make any changes. Their focus does seem to be on STEM but do seem to at least have a decent emphasis on grammar, literature and composition as compared to a lot of the other schools. I was impressed that their students won the Library of Congress "Letters About Literature" contest, along with having several other Basis students as finalists.

Last year they did remediation, they also do a STARS program to give kids a boost. Most other DC charters I am aware of do not do anything like that.

Sadly there are a handful of parents who don't seem like they are on the ball - for example saying they don't know how their kid is doing or it being a surprise when they fail on precomps or comprehensives, since you can get a good idea of where your kid stands and how he or she is doing every week via the CJ. Basis is not a miracle school that will magically turn young Johnny into the next Einstein. It's a challenging and demanding school that does take some solid commitment and support at home from mom and dad - some families aren't paying attention and are learning that the hard way.

I also don't think the numbers held back will accumulate as it would have to take a really special kind of obstinate and obtuse to allow your child to stay behind 2 years. Especially so, when Basis give second chances by allowing students who failed comps to work on a packet over summer and retry.

They are demanding and challenging but one certainly cannot accuse them of not helping, not trying, or just leaving kids to flounder with all of the supports that they give - far more than most others give. But, there's only so much that one can expect them to do given the limited resources they have. There's much that the student and families need to be bringing to the table too, in terms of academic support.

[Anonymous]

To OPs question, yes, DC had a few hold-backs in non-math classes and they were disruptive at the beginning if the year, probably out of embarrassment (especially once the other kids figured this out). This has calmed down, possibly because they don't want to repeat again.

If your DC is really advanced in English, BASIS will not be your cup of tea, however, DC was advanced in English in DCPS, but is now so interested in math and science that I am grateful that we didn't peg DC to being interested only in literary pursuits. It's easy to write and read extracurricularly. but it's hard to get math and science instruction that way.

[Anonymous]

OP here and thank you for the helpful comments! I do harbor the hope that my child will be pulled more in the math and science direction if we go to Basis, as she has aptitude for math and has recently shown interest in the science activities at her ES. The language arts stuff has always come so easily to her that, by comparison, math seems like a lot of work.

Did anyone help prepare your child by starting the Saxon math homeschool program in advance? We are coming from Montessori, so I think some more traditional math prep might be in order.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Basis Parent here. We prep'ed with short pre-algebra and short algebra summary book. Something like Barron's Algebra made easy series. She did a few pages a day during the summer. It was a nice and light. It served her well and she has done fine since.

Minor correction Leap English is in 8th grade from the curriculum. Not sure how it is working in practice.

Beyond leap/advanced classes, there are nice extras in the curriculum that are outside of pure math and science. While it is a general class the Logic/Rhetoric class in 7th is an added humanities sort of. Also, the Latin in 5 and 6 is humanities oriented as well.

[Anonymous]

RE: non math classes

This is from the BASIS ORO VALLEY curriculum for the 7th grade Rhetoric/Logic Class. You can contact Basis dc to find out if they are using similar materials or not.

Rhetoric/Logic
7th
Speeches and Short Works:
The Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, Susan B.
Anthony’s “Women’s Right to Vote” speech, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream”
speech, George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” and “Such, Such Were the Joys ...”
(parts 1 - 3), Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” Walt Whitman’s poem “When I Heard
the Learn’d Astronomer”; and Lewis Carroll riddles

[Anonymous]

Yes, the material for Basis' English classes is far more advanced than what you will find elsewhere. So, being one year ahead of peers now should not really be a cause for concern.

Keep in mind that the LEAP program sets you up for AP English in 9th grade -- a full two years sooner than the best possible case for traditional schools.

We have found the material to be a little slow, but on level, and DS tests several years above grade level.

[Anonymous]

OP here. If the advanced English kids are doing AP in 9th, then I certainly hope that LEAP class in8th grade, and all the previous englishnclasses at Basis are writing heavy! Anyone have any experience of how much attention is put on writing in the MS grades? Are they writing extended essays? My oldest child is at Deal in seventh and he is just now beginning to write 5-7 paragraph analytical essays on Shakespeare or historical topics in his english and geo classes. Thinking of Basis for next child because of Deal boundary changes and because a small, accelerated program might fit the bill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. If the advanced English kids are doing AP in 9th, then I certainly hope that LEAP class in8th grade, and all the previous englishnclasses at Basis are writing heavy! Anyone have any experience of how much attention is put on writing in the MS grades? Are they writing extended essays? My oldest child is at Deal in seventh and he is just now beginning to write 5-7 paragraph analytical essays on Shakespeare or historical topics in his english and geo classes. Thinking of Basis for next child because of Deal boundary changes and because a small, accelerated program might fit the bill.

In 6th, we were mostly doing what you were doing in 7th at Deal. However, we did have a couple of longer assignments. My understanding is that the heavy writing component begins in 7th with formal Rhetoric and Logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Did anyone help prepare your child by starting the Saxon math homeschool program in advance? We are coming from Montessori, so I think some more traditional math prep might be in order.

Thanks!

I know this thread is about English, but in reference to this question, Basis is adament about kids learning their math facts. if your child could master the math facts ahead of time, that would give him/her a huge confidence boost. I recommend parents start at the earliest possible age (2 1/2?) to start counting-by for fun as you walk together (i.e., count by twos, threes up to twelves) It flows directly into multiplication facts, pain-free.

[Anonymous]

Basis parent here-dc is in 5th and the emphasis this year has been on grammar and learning how to analyze text, so while the writing volume has been limited to 1 paragraph to one page, they have been learning about character archs, protagonists/antagonists/foils, etc. getting the grammar diwn has been a primary focus though.

[Anonymous]

Is there any creative writing included in the curriculum, or it all analytical and expository with a grammar emphasis?

[Anonymous]

I don't know if it is in the curriculum per se, but DS did some of it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any creative writing included in the curriculum, or it all analytical and expository with a grammar emphasis?

They have gotten to do some creative writing, DC wrote a story to add to the Jungle Book, wrote a poem, and so on - but there is an emphasis on academic writing.