Basis changes language curriculum; less Latin, no world language until 8th

[Anonymous]

Factually correct, now you get to wait to be called a BASIS hating troll, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, any criticism of BASIS' inflexibility, however minor, thoughtful or valid, constitutes "hating" the school. Give us a break.

I'm with posters who view BASIS' policy on language as being outmoded. There's a strong trend toward teaching foreign languages at younger ages in schools in this country, in all kinds of schools. High-performing school districts all around the country are coming on board in an age of increasing globalization.

Basis parent here. I think anyone is justified to complain about the school's inflexiblity. I do think, however, that parents who enroll kids there need to know that this is the way it is. If its going to make you insane, pick a different school.

NP. We didn't enroll after BASIS admins informed us that our 5th grader would be forced to start a new language eventually, or to take beginner classes in the world language we speak at home. Neither option appealed, or seemed to belong in the 21st century. I enrolled the kid in a suburban school near where my ex lives. He does well in 6th grade algebra there. BASIS can freely push DC families around because parents EotP are desperate for OK middle schools. That's a longstanding political problem none of us can fix of course.

True, but its also not Basis' fault. I say this as someone who lives in bounds for Deal, and we chose Basis. So perhaps we feel less frustrated about it since we have that option.

Regardless, Basis doesn't discriminate. They are equally inflexible in all their locations. As you can see here, this currciulum change was made system-wide. So thinking that Basis DC could, say, have advanced language classes for middle schoolers who are coming from immersion schools is laughable. And no doubt there are things like this across the country that other communities would like to see changed.

There are 2 epic differences in the way BASIS DC and suburban schools in the DMV offering equally challenging 6th-12th grade STEM (namely test-in programs in Fairfax and MoCo) operate.

The first difference is that suburban parents who don't like the way they're being treated by admins in public schools have recourse up the chain in school systems that are fairly accountable to parents (because large cohorts of UMC ed-minded voters ensure this is the case at the ballot box). The second difference is that the suburbs support large bilingual immigrant communities where ed stakeholders/voters care deeply about advanced language study in public schools.

Well, that's the entire point of the charter system though, isn't it? You can choose what you want. So parents who prioritize language can choose immersion/DCI schools. Parents who want montessori or IB schools can choose those. You actually have a lot more control over what you want in DC than in Moco. And if you think Moco is AT ALL responsive to parental demands, I have a nice bridge to sell you ...

The real issue here is that middle class, capitol hill parents don't like their IB middle school options. So they figure they will do Basis and sort things out when they get there. But that is just not a good plan.

And btw, I don't think there are many Basis parents who care about the language program. At least not in my experience.

Happy Basis parent of a 7th grader here - this is true! Language option at Basis this year is fine - child is getting good exposure to the language. IMHO if you want to be fluent you need to study abroad anyway - that is what worked for me in high school/college! In the meantime, child is getting an EXCELLENT education - I am regularly impressed with the quality (and dedication) of child's teachers and the high-level content of the classes.

[Anonymous]

Right, so you need to study abroad to learn to speak a language you grew up speaking. No immigrants speaking the languages of their countries of origin at home involved. At BASIS DC, you're UMC and white or black, or low SES, American-born and minority.

[Anonymous]

Fair point about bilingual immigrant students not really fitting in at BASIS DC. Greener pastures in VA and MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fair point about bilingual immigrant students not really fitting in at BASIS DC. Greener pastures in VA and MD.

This is true, because these families don't live in DC -- or if they do, they're in Upper NW, which is going to Deal/private schools anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, any criticism of BASIS' inflexibility, however minor, thoughtful or valid, constitutes "hating" the school. Give us a break.

I'm with posters who view BASIS' policy on language as being outmoded. There's a strong trend toward teaching foreign languages at younger ages in schools in this country, in all kinds of schools. High-performing school districts all around the country are coming on board in an age of increasing globalization.

Basis parent here. I think anyone is justified to complain about the school's inflexiblity. I do think, however, that parents who enroll kids there need to know that this is the way it is. If its going to make you insane, pick a different school.

NP. We didn't enroll after BASIS admins informed us that our 5th grader would be forced to start a new language eventually, or to take beginner classes in the world language we speak at home. Neither option appealed, or seemed to belong in the 21st century. I enrolled the kid in a suburban school near where my ex lives. He does well in 6th grade algebra there. BASIS can freely push DC families around because parents EotP are desperate for OK middle schools. That's a longstanding political problem none of us can fix of course.

True, but its also not Basis' fault. I say this as someone who lives in bounds for Deal, and we chose Basis. So perhaps we feel less frustrated about it since we have that option.

Regardless, Basis doesn't discriminate. They are equally inflexible in all their locations. As you can see here, this currciulum change was made system-wide. So thinking that Basis DC could, say, have advanced language classes for middle schoolers who are coming from immersion schools is laughable. And no doubt there are things like this across the country that other communities would like to see changed.

There are 2 epic differences in the way BASIS DC and suburban schools in the DMV offering equally challenging 6th-12th grade STEM (namely test-in programs in Fairfax and MoCo) operate.

The first difference is that suburban parents who don't like the way they're being treated by admins in public schools have recourse up the chain in school systems that are fairly accountable to parents (because large cohorts of UMC ed-minded voters ensure this is the case at the ballot box). The second difference is that the suburbs support large bilingual immigrant communities where ed stakeholders/voters care deeply about advanced language study in public schools.

I never understood this language argument. My home language isn't taught in any public schools in the DMV. I've always sent my kids to outside language school to make sure they learn it properly, and they learn another more commonly taught language in public school. It seems that this home/immingrant language argument would apply only to a very small number of people, or those lucky enough to have their home language also taught in public schools.

[Anonymous]

Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, any criticism of BASIS' inflexibility, however minor, thoughtful or valid, constitutes "hating" the school. Give us a break.

I'm with posters who view BASIS' policy on language as being outmoded. There's a strong trend toward teaching foreign languages at younger ages in schools in this country, in all kinds of schools. High-performing school districts all around the country are coming on board in an age of increasing globalization.

Basis parent here. I think anyone is justified to complain about the school's inflexiblity. I do think, however, that parents who enroll kids there need to know that this is the way it is. If its going to make you insane, pick a different school.

NP. We didn't enroll after BASIS admins informed us that our 5th grader would be forced to start a new language eventually, or to take beginner classes in the world language we speak at home. Neither option appealed, or seemed to belong in the 21st century. I enrolled the kid in a suburban school near where my ex lives. He does well in 6th grade algebra there. BASIS can freely push DC families around because parents EotP are desperate for OK middle schools. That's a longstanding political problem none of us can fix of course.

True, but its also not Basis' fault. I say this as someone who lives in bounds for Deal, and we chose Basis. So perhaps we feel less frustrated about it since we have that option.

Regardless, Basis doesn't discriminate. They are equally inflexible in all their locations. As you can see here, this currciulum change was made system-wide. So thinking that Basis DC could, say, have advanced language classes for middle schoolers who are coming from immersion schools is laughable. And no doubt there are things like this across the country that other communities would like to see changed.

There are 2 epic differences in the way BASIS DC and suburban schools in the DMV offering equally challenging 6th-12th grade STEM (namely test-in programs in Fairfax and MoCo) operate.

The first difference is that suburban parents who don't like the way they're being treated by admins in public schools have recourse up the chain in school systems that are fairly accountable to parents (because large cohorts of UMC ed-minded voters ensure this is the case at the ballot box). The second difference is that the suburbs support large bilingual immigrant communities where ed stakeholders/voters care deeply about advanced language study in public schools.

I never understood this language argument. My home language isn't taught in any public schools in the DMV. I've always sent my kids to outside language school to make sure they learn it properly, and they learn another more commonly taught language in public school. It seems that this home/immingrant language argument would apply only to a very small number of people, or those lucky enough to have their home language also taught in public schools.

Right. You aren't going to learn a foreign language in the US by taking a class at school. You need do an immersion course or go to a bilingual immersion school.

We all know plenty of non-immigrant Americans that took 4 years of Spanish, French, or whatever in school and barely speak a word of the language.

Changing around the curriculum to focus first on writing and linguistics before starting a foreign language is a smart decision by BASIS DC.

In addition, BASIS DC has a lot of international families (and it is 17% Hispanic and Asian), so there are plenty of kids that already speak another language. Because it follows an international-style curriculum it especially attracts parents who want a more rigorous curriculum along the lines of what you see in Europe or Singapore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

Your statement is categorically false, Troll.

Stop spreading false information.

Go post in the Virginia public school thread. No one here cares what you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

There are students at BASIS who could test out of French, Spanish, Mandarin AND Latin? Wow. If you could test out of French, why not take one of the others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

There are students at BASIS who could test out of French, Spanish, Mandarin AND Latin? Wow. If you could test out of French, why not take one of the others?

BASIS DC parents don't know what they're missing unless they've taken a hard look at what's offered at the best half dozen suburban high schools in this Metro area.

Few BASIS DC students score 5s on AP French or Spanish and, to my knowledge, none on Mandarin since the get go.

With Asian languages written in characters (Chinese, Japanese, some Vietnamese), it's at least 3,000 characters for basic literacy. To put this learning feat in perspective, YuYing 4th grade grads arriving at BASIS know, on average, 250-300 characters, while a 5 score on AP Mandarin requires knowledge of roughly 1,000 characters. Throw in a requirement to study an Indo-European language for years at BASIS, or a requirement that a Chinese speaker takes beginning language classes for years there, and your kid doesn't have a shot of scoring high on AP or IB Diploma Mandarin. There are public high schools in the DC burbs that will get your kid to basic literacy in Chinese (1 or 2 years past AP), or simply leave you alone to get your kid there yourself. BASIS DC does neither, rejecting best practices in learning Asian languages.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't matter what the languages curriculum at BASIS may be.

They're not serious about teaching languages at an "advanced level" (middle-school level in Europe or Canada).

This is obvious to any parent paying attention from 6th or 7th grade.

[Anonymous]

^^BASIS DC parent here -- willing to concede, without any hesitation, that many if not most adjacent suburban schools have a stronger language curriculum and selection. Moreover, if language fluency is your priority (including in a native tongue), I suggest that BASIS DC will not meet your family's needs.

With that, can we end this tedious chain?...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

There are students at BASIS who could test out of French, Spanish, Mandarin AND Latin? Wow. If you could test out of French, why not take one of the others?

BASIS DC parents don't know what they're missing unless they've taken a hard look at what's offered at the best half dozen suburban high schools in this Metro area.

Few BASIS DC students score 5s on AP French or Spanish and, to my knowledge, none on Mandarin since the get go.

With Asian languages written in characters (Chinese, Japanese, some Vietnamese), it's at least 3,000 characters for basic literacy. To put this learning feat in perspective, YuYing 4th grade grads arriving at BASIS know, on average, 250-300 characters, while a 5 score on AP Mandarin requires knowledge of roughly 1,000 characters. Throw in a requirement to study an Indo-European language for years at BASIS, or a requirement that a Chinese speaker takes beginning language classes for years there, and your kid doesn't have a shot of scoring high on AP or IB Diploma Mandarin. There are public high schools in the DC burbs that will get your kid to basic literacy in Chinese (1 or 2 years past AP), or simply leave you alone to get your kid there yourself. BASIS DC does neither, rejecting best practices in learning Asian languages.

How would you have any clue what BASIS DC students score on AP French, Spanish, or Mandarin exams? Stop making stuff up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you live. My sibling sends her children to Oakton public HS by the Vienna Metro stop. The school teaches a dozen languages to an advanced level, including four Asian languages: Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Japanese. If bilingual families don’t want language instruction at school, they can test out (test out standards completely transparent) on day 1 of 9th grade. Meanwhile. BASIS DC won’t let any student test out of language instruction and routinely forces students to study languages they speak well to study them at the beginning level for “scheduling purposes.” Don’t care for these dumb policies, policy? Admins tell you to go find another school. The boosters cheer, same idiocy for all.

There are students at BASIS who could test out of French, Spanish, Mandarin AND Latin? Wow. If you could test out of French, why not take one of the others?

BASIS DC parents don't know what they're missing unless they've taken a hard look at what's offered at the best half dozen suburban high schools in this Metro area.

Few BASIS DC students score 5s on AP French or Spanish and, to my knowledge, none on Mandarin since the get go.

With Asian languages written in characters (Chinese, Japanese, some Vietnamese), it's at least 3,000 characters for basic literacy. To put this learning feat in perspective, YuYing 4th grade grads arriving at BASIS know, on average, 250-300 characters, while a 5 score on AP Mandarin requires knowledge of roughly 1,000 characters. Throw in a requirement to study an Indo-European language for years at BASIS, or a requirement that a Chinese speaker takes beginning language classes for years there, and your kid doesn't have a shot of scoring high on AP or IB Diploma Mandarin. There are public high schools in the DC burbs that will get your kid to basic literacy in Chinese (1 or 2 years past AP), or simply leave you alone to get your kid there yourself. BASIS DC does neither, rejecting best practices in learning Asian languages.

OK, if I want my kid to be fluent in Vietnamese, I won't send him to Basis.