“Basis DC: Want the Peer Group, But Not the Boot Camp?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just the sequencing of the math taught at BASIS vis a vis Walls recognition. It's rampant math acceleration for acceleration's sake at BASIS.

Our eldest was a strong math student in a DCPS ES who also did well in 5th and 6th grade math at BASIS yet wasn't quite ready for 7th grade algebra. How were we to know that in 4th grade when we put in for the lottery, or even in the lower grades at BASIS?

Our is a common BASIS story, even among the "appealing peer group," OP.

OK - so now folks have been warned, but Basis could easily suggest a home diagnostic so folks can assess whether they are Basis-ready, which can’t just be doing well in DCPS or Charter elementary.

A good number of folks have done serious math enrichment through outside programs or resources (eg, AOPS/Beast Academy, pretty common in the burbs, frankly) and Basis could be a good option for those folks.

But it seems like no one has any incentive to just be honest with folks.

I guess what I'm saying is that there already is a diagnostic that every DCPS elementary schooler has taken -- iReady. That is one of the tests used in Fairfax County to assess if a kid is ready for AAP.

Agree that the 1-4 "grades" are meaningless, but iReady, and CAPE, are actually meaningful.

And agree that maybe BASIS can be a little more explicit about what scores indicates that a kid will be able to handle the math.

[Anonymous]

I agree that their acceleration is sort of crazy. They also invite 5th graders to take pre-algebra over the summer and then get on a hyper-accelerated path that has them taking algebra/geo/algebra 2 in 6th and 7th, pre-calc in 8th, AB calc in 9th and BC Calc in 10th. and then things like multivariable calc and statistics in 11th and 12th.

I'm fighting against every instinct in my body that is in favor of taking every opportunity to say no to this. This is not necessary, right?

Can any experienced BASIS parents tell me if this is worth doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just the sequencing of the math taught at BASIS vis a vis Walls recognition. It's rampant math acceleration for acceleration's sake at BASIS.

Our eldest was a strong math student in a DCPS ES who also did well in 5th and 6th grade math at BASIS yet wasn't quite ready for 7th grade algebra. How were we to know that in 4th grade when we put in for the lottery, or even in the lower grades at BASIS?

Our is a common BASIS story, even among the "appealing peer group," OP.

OK - so now folks have been warned, but Basis could easily suggest a home diagnostic so folks can assess whether they are Basis-ready, which can’t just be doing well in DCPS or Charter elementary.

A good number of folks have done serious math enrichment through outside programs or resources (eg, AOPS/Beast Academy, pretty common in the burbs, frankly) and Basis could be a good option for those folks.

But it seems like no one has any incentive to just be honest with folks.

I guess what I'm saying is that there already is a diagnostic that every DCPS elementary schooler has taken -- iReady. That is one of the tests used in Fairfax County to assess if a kid is ready for AAP.

Agree that the 1-4 "grades" are meaningless, but iReady, and CAPE, are actually meaningful.

And agree that maybe BASIS can be a little more explicit about what scores indicates that a kid will be able to handle the math.

Those scores are meaningful but clearly don’t translate into success at Basis. Basis should just tell people what concepts kids should be solid on before attending. They won’t do this of course because it would scare folks away and just highly elementary school gaps. A complete mess of dishonesty and lack of transparency all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that their acceleration is sort of crazy. They also invite 5th graders to take pre-algebra over the summer and then get on a hyper-accelerated path that has them taking algebra/geo/algebra 2 in 6th and 7th, pre-calc in 8th, AB calc in 9th and BC Calc in 10th. and then things like multivariable calc and statistics in 11th and 12th.

I'm fighting against every instinct in my body that is in favor of taking every opportunity to say no to this. This is not necessary, right?

You don’t have to follow that track.

Some kids at BASIS take AB Calc in 11th grade and never take Calc BC and multivar.



Can any experienced BASIS parents tell me if this is worth doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just the sequencing of the math taught at BASIS vis a vis Walls recognition. It's rampant math acceleration for acceleration's sake at BASIS.

Our eldest was a strong math student in a DCPS ES who also did well in 5th and 6th grade math at BASIS yet wasn't quite ready for 7th grade algebra. How were we to know that in 4th grade when we put in for the lottery, or even in the lower grades at BASIS?

Our is a common BASIS story, even among the "appealing peer group," OP.

OK - so now folks have been warned, but Basis could easily suggest a home diagnostic so folks can assess whether they are Basis-ready, which can’t just be doing well in DCPS or Charter elementary.

A good number of folks have done serious math enrichment through outside programs or resources (eg, AOPS/Beast Academy, pretty common in the burbs, frankly) and Basis could be a good option for those folks.

But it seems like no one has any incentive to just be honest with folks.

I guess what I'm saying is that there already is a diagnostic that every DCPS elementary schooler has taken -- iReady. That is one of the tests used in Fairfax County to assess if a kid is ready for AAP.

Agree that the 1-4 "grades" are meaningless, but iReady, and CAPE, are actually meaningful.

And agree that maybe BASIS can be a little more explicit about what scores indicates that a kid will be able to handle the math.

Every kid at Basis takes FastBridge multiple times a year so they already do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that their acceleration is sort of crazy. They also invite 5th graders to take pre-algebra over the summer and then get on a hyper-accelerated path that has them taking algebra/geo/algebra 2 in 6th and 7th, pre-calc in 8th, AB calc in 9th and BC Calc in 10th. and then things like multivariable calc and statistics in 11th and 12th.

I'm fighting against every instinct in my body that is in favor of taking every opportunity to say no to this. This is not necessary, right?

Can any experienced BASIS parents tell me if this is worth doing?

You don’t have to follow that track.

Some kids at BASIS take AB Calc in 11th grade and never take Calc BC and multivar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that their acceleration is sort of crazy. They also invite 5th graders to take pre-algebra over the summer and then get on a hyper-accelerated path that has them taking algebra/geo/algebra 2 in 6th and 7th, pre-calc in 8th, AB calc in 9th and BC Calc in 10th. and then things like multivariable calc and statistics in 11th and 12th.

I'm fighting against every instinct in my body that is in favor of taking every opportunity to say no to this. This is not necessary, right?

Can any experienced BASIS parents tell me if this is worth doing?

Not a BASIS parent, but I have an undergraduate degree in mathematics, a graduate degree in operations research, and have worked for many years in operations research. The answer is no.

The BASIS sequencing is bizarre to me. Three years of Algebra and Geometry education packed into two years. And then one year of Calculus stretched out over two years. In my opinion it's better to go slower at first to really establish foundational concepts and then speed up as students are able. This does the opposite.

I also see limited value in starting so early. I took multivariate calculus my first semester of college and had no trouble meeting all the course requirements for my mathematics degree and another degree I earned concurrently.

Maybe the argument is more about having a competitive application for college admissions? Can't speak to that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that their acceleration is sort of crazy. They also invite 5th graders to take pre-algebra over the summer and then get on a hyper-accelerated path that has them taking algebra/geo/algebra 2 in 6th and 7th, pre-calc in 8th, AB calc in 9th and BC Calc in 10th. and then things like multivariable calc and statistics in 11th and 12th.

I'm fighting against every instinct in my body that is in favor of taking every opportunity to say no to this. This is not necessary, right?

Can any experienced BASIS parents tell me if this is worth doing?

Not a BASIS parent, but I have an undergraduate degree in mathematics, a graduate degree in operations research, and have worked for many years in operations research. The answer is no.

The BASIS sequencing is bizarre to me. Three years of Algebra and Geometry education packed into two years. And then one year of Calculus stretched out over two years. In my opinion it's better to go slower at first to really establish foundational concepts and then speed up as students are able. This does the opposite.

I also see limited value in starting so early. I took multivariate calculus my first semester of college and had no trouble meeting all the course requirements for my mathematics degree and another degree I earned concurrently.

Maybe the argument is more about having a competitive application for college admissions? Can't speak to that one.

I think I the hurry-up-and-wait math curriculum is about trapping the strongest students in the Basis system. The rushed early math means that most kids who leave for high school can’t pass the placement exams required by private high schools, and squeezing three Carnegie units of math into two Carnegie units of class time means that even schools without placement tests (like Walls or J-R) will require students to repeat a course. Kids whose whole identity has become “math acceleration” will refuse to face such hurdles, and thus “choose” to stay at Basis.

[Anonymous]

You're painting with too broad a brush, PP above. We switched from BASIS to Arlington school for 8th grade. In APS, half as many kids are permitted to take 6th or 7th grade algebra as just five years ago, and not for lack of good prep.

What the burbs have been finding is that even kids with strong math preparation and chops often aren't truly ready for 7th grade algebra. It's a developmental issue. What they've done is adapted by cutting back on 7th grade algebra. Same story in Fairfax and Loudoun.

BASIS hasn't adapted. The franchise is too top down to bother.

[Anonymous]

+100. Same in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

The math acceleration? I think it could be partly that it looks good — like taking lots of AP classes. People have also somewhat soured on taking lots of AP classes too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're painting with too broad a brush, PP above. We switched from BASIS to Arlington school for 8th grade. In APS, half as many kids are permitted to take 6th or 7th grade algebra as just five years ago, and not for lack of good prep.

What the burbs have been finding is that even kids with strong math preparation and chops often aren't truly ready for 7th grade algebra. It's a developmental issue. What they've done is adapted by cutting back on 7th grade algebra. Same story in Fairfax and Loudoun.

BASIS hasn't adapted. The franchise is too top down to bother.

I understand where you’re coming from, and it’s true that several suburban districts — including Arlington, Fairfax, and Montgomery — have pulled back from universal 7th grade algebra in recent years. But I think it’s important to be precise about why that happened, and what it does (and doesn’t) say about BASIS.

The shift wasn’t driven by some new discovery that algebra before 8th is developmentally inappropriate. It was mostly a response to uneven preparation, equity concerns, and the reality that many kids were being placed in accelerated tracks without the conceptual foundation to thrive — especially in systems that equated “strong math” with procedural fluency or test scores.

BASIS doesn’t operate that way. Their model assumes (or presumes) that students are entering with real number sense, flexible thinking, and early exposure to abstraction — the kind that programs like Beast Academy or AoPS build from a young age. For kids with that background, 7th grade algebra isn’t a stretch — it’s the natural next step. Those kids should have an option at middle school.

So BASIS hasn’t “failed to adapt” — it was never designed to mass-place kids into algebra. It was designed to serve students already on that cognitive trajectory. The burden is on early foundation, not late remediation.

It’s definitely not for everyone, and it’s fair to critique the model if it’s misaligned with a specific child’s needs. But I don’t think it’s fair to equate BASIS’s approach with outdated pedagogy. If anything, it reflects an international standard that U.S. schools are still figuring out how to deliver equitably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that their acceleration is sort of crazy. They also invite 5th graders to take pre-algebra over the summer and then get on a hyper-accelerated path that has them taking algebra/geo/algebra 2 in 6th and 7th, pre-calc in 8th, AB calc in 9th and BC Calc in 10th. and then things like multivariable calc and statistics in 11th and 12th.

I'm fighting against every instinct in my body that is in favor of taking every opportunity to say no to this. This is not necessary, right?

Can any experienced BASIS parents tell me if this is worth doing?

Not a BASIS parent, but I have an undergraduate degree in mathematics, a graduate degree in operations research, and have worked for many years in operations research. The answer is no.

The BASIS sequencing is bizarre to me. Three years of Algebra and Geometry education packed into two years. And then one year of Calculus stretched out over two years. In my opinion it's better to go slower at first to really establish foundational concepts and then speed up as students are able. This does the opposite.

I also see limited value in starting so early. I took multivariate calculus my first semester of college and had no trouble meeting all the course requirements for my mathematics degree and another degree I earned concurrently.

Maybe the argument is more about having a competitive application for college admissions? Can't speak to that one.

Former BASIS parent. Competitive academic applications for college admissions are indeed the BASIS fixation from the get go. But from what I can tell, they're not pivoting to adapt to current trends in admissions with much thought or determination, explaining why we left for HS. Their ill-conceived experiment teaching middle school linguistics is a good example of this.

BASIS' 2-year calc sequence and heavy STEM AP exam-load-for-all only works so well. At my NYC magnet HS, then and now, top math students took BCC calc without having taken AB calc. The strangest part is how poorly BASIS uses senior year, letting burned out students mostly goof around in pursuit of vague and poorly supervised and resourced internships and independent studies/projects. If they spread out serious academics out over four years of HS, their students would generally wind up with more impressive ECs for college admissions.

OP, BASIS doesn't run a boot camp for the right peer group as much as highly controlled sprint to a bright red line in the sand, a conventional college admissions finish line. The inconvenient truth is that the line's relevance is fading as the years go by.

If you can do better by your children, do that.

[Anonymous]

BASIS knows best; parents seldom challenge. No point in doing so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that their acceleration is sort of crazy. They also invite 5th graders to take pre-algebra over the summer and then get on a hyper-accelerated path that has them taking algebra/geo/algebra 2 in 6th and 7th, pre-calc in 8th, AB calc in 9th and BC Calc in 10th. and then things like multivariable calc and statistics in 11th and 12th.

I'm fighting against every instinct in my body that is in favor of taking every opportunity to say no to this. This is not necessary, right?

Can any experienced BASIS parents tell me if this is worth doing?

Not a BASIS parent, but I have an undergraduate degree in mathematics, a graduate degree in operations research, and have worked for many years in operations research. The answer is no.

The BASIS sequencing is bizarre to me. Three years of Algebra and Geometry education packed into two years. And then one year of Calculus stretched out over two years. In my opinion it's better to go slower at first to really establish foundational concepts and then speed up as students are able. This does the opposite.

I also see limited value in starting so early. I took multivariate calculus my first semester of college and had no trouble meeting all the course requirements for my mathematics degree and another degree I earned concurrently.

Maybe the argument is more about having a competitive application for college admissions? Can't speak to that one.

Former BASIS parent. Competitive academic applications for college admissions are indeed the BASIS fixation from the get go. But from what I can tell, they're not pivoting to adapt to current trends in admissions with much thought or determination, explaining why we left for HS. Their ill-conceived experiment teaching middle school linguistics is a good example of this.

BASIS' 2-year calc sequence and heavy STEM AP exam-load-for-all only works so well. At my NYC magnet HS, then and now, top math students took BCC calc without having taken AB calc. The strangest part is how poorly BASIS uses senior year, letting burned out students mostly goof around in pursuit of vague and poorly supervised and resourced internships and independent studies/projects. If they spread out serious academics out over four years of HS, their students would generally wind up with more impressive ECs for college admissions.

OP, BASIS doesn't run a boot camp for the right peer group as much as highly controlled sprint to a bright red line in the sand, a conventional college admissions finish line. The inconvenient truth is that the line's relevance is fading as the years go by.

If you can do better by your children, do that.

This. There is no benefit in accelerating so much and what you lose is the depth and developing good math foundations. Superficial acceleration does not equate to strong foundational understanding.

What you then find is that the kids that leave and go the private route are not strong and struggle. They do not test into the highest math group. The top privates don’t accelerate as much. They go slower but with much more depth.

Also kids taking a bunch of AP courses are a dime a dozen across the country. You don’t stand out anymore and the ROI for trying to squeeze so much AP into a condensed 3 instead of 4 years is not worth it. PP is right, senior year is just a waste.