BASIS--opinions please

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two kids there, and my older is opting to stay for high school. They complain (like I did when I was their age) about work, but I never see them working incessantly on school stuff. My kids have a robust social life with many mixed activities and plenty of sleep. I am very happy that nothing gets dumbed down at Basis. Kids KNOW their stuff. The academic program is great... I do not love the shifting of staff so much. The mid year hires don't seem to do as good a job as the ones who have been there for a while. I recommend the program, but I feel as a parent that what has made it successful for us is that I do not project stress onto my kids. They get out of the program what they choose to with a clear understanding of what this program can give them (an edge on college applications/ options) and what it is not designed to give (lifegiving a-ha moments). School does the teaching, parents do the shepherding. It's very unproductive to get on to the school to do a parents' job and plant seeds of frustration in kids' minds that make them resent the wor . IMHO. So, get behind the school and enroll, or don't send your child. Don't send your kid there confused yourself and project those feelings on the children. That messes kids up!

I think the real problem is that parents get behind the school and enroll, committing to three or four years of MS and hoping for 4 years of HS as well. Once the kids get there, they begin to realize how unhappy they are. This happens quickly for some and takes years for others. Unfortunately, it takes time for the parents to take these complaints seriously -- teens can be an angsty bunch and their complaints are often ignored. By the time the parents do take them seriously, there are no MS options available, and the kids are stuck until HS, assuming they are IB for Wilson.

Being stuck in an unhappy environment for years really messes kids up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is mastery defense?

It's the process that BASIS' math department uses to allow students to demonstrate mastery of questions/standards they miss on a test. It enables them to show that they have mastered the content, be tested on new questions on that topic, and if they get it right the second time, earn credit back.

A student that is diligent about attending the after or before school sessions can ultimately earn back nearly all the points they miss on a unit test. There is no mastery defense available for the mid-year pre-comprehensive exams or the end of year comprehensive exams.

It's a scam that allows BASIS to keep MS kids who can't handle the math from flunking out before 9th grade, when most will leave anyway.

Here's how it works: Your DC is diligent about math homework and studies for the weekly or bi-weekly math tests. The material is hard, so he/she misses say 20% questions on a typical test. Many of your DC's classmates race through their math homework and take their math tests cold. However, they listen in class some of the time and, since some of the questions are multiple choice, they guess correctly some of the time. They miss only say 50% of the questions on a typical test.

If the tests were curved, your DC would get an A on tests and the classmates would get Cs or Ds. However, those classmates can attend "Mastery Defense" sessions every week. They don't have to retake entire tests at these sessions. They only have to retake questions addressing the standards they missed. Furthermore, at each session they can pick which standards to retake. So, if the classmate missed the "applying the formula for the area of a circle" standard, he/she can retake just that standard and continue to do so until he/she gets it right or until the end of the grading period. The question given during "Mastery Defense" will be very similar to the one given on the test, except that the radius of the circle will be, say, 3 m instead of 2 m.

The net result is that your DC's classmates will raise their test averages to 90% or higher over the course of the grading period, and your DC will end up with a B- math test average even though your DC is one of the few who could demonstrate mastery of the material in one testing session. So much for preparing kids for high-stakes testing such as the SAT or the AP.

Your DC, then, has no choice but buy into the "Mastery Defense" scam and must retake all of the questions answered incorrectly on math tests. This means that he/she will have to stay after school at least one day a week. Furthermore, to ensure that you and your DC do not complain about this obvious subversion of the testing process, the math teachers will not give your DC partial credit on any math questions. So, if your DC correctly applies the formula for the area of a circle but write m instead of m^2 for the units, he/she will get 0 out of 5 points and you will both be happy that there is "Mastery Defense."

[Anonymous]

What you describe pp is not a scam. It's a legit way to bring kids up to where they should be with the material. You need to chill

[Anonymous]

Agree with 16:52. And all the mastery defense in the world won't help you on the comps and precomps.

And curving every test? No. I truly don't care how my kid's MS grades stack up against others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with 16:52. And all the mastery defense in the world won't help you on the comps and precomps.

And curving every test? No. I truly don't care how my kid's MS grades stack up against others.

Comps and precomps are curved, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with 16:52. And all the mastery defense in the world won't help you on the comps and precomps.

And curving every test? No. I truly don't care how my kid's MS grades stack up against others.

Comps and precomps are curved, PP.

Not all. The PPP who wrote a brief dissertation on mastery defense was arguing that every math unit test should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard this comment before on this board which puzzles me. My DC is a 5th grader at BASIS and I too do not see many worksheets. Some worksheets but not a lot.

Perhaps our kids are on different teams. My kids element is a lot of worksheets at least to our family. But maybe your kids previous school was a lot of worksheets. Our Kid came from a more exoeriential/field curriculum. So to US it is way too many worksheets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with 16:52. And all the mastery defense in the world won't help you on the comps and precomps.

And curving every test? No. I truly don't care how my kid's MS grades stack up against others.

Comps and precomps are curved, PP.

Not for all.
My kid was doing great in the teacher given exam, not so well for the precomps, but somehow do terrible on the comps.
The comps counting 50% of the whole year's grade and the precomps being 50% of advisory 2 grade meant that comps and precomps counted for 62.5% of the whole year's grade.
So any kid can have all A's, but the comps can make the A into a C and vice versa
And we tried to have a copy of these comps and precomps to see the big discrepency in the grades, at no avail.

And from what we are hearing, most current seniors who have been in the school for 5 years, did not score well on their SAT's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two kids there, and my older is opting to stay for high school. They complain (like I did when I was their age) about work, but I never see them working incessantly on school stuff. My kids have a robust social life with many mixed activities and plenty of sleep. I am very happy that nothing gets dumbed down at Basis. Kids KNOW their stuff. The academic program is great... I do not love the shifting of staff so much. The mid year hires don't seem to do as good a job as the ones who have been there for a while. I recommend the program, but I feel as a parent that what has made it successful for us is that I do not project stress onto my kids. They get out of the program what they choose to with a clear understanding of what this program can give them (an edge on college applications/ options) and what it is not designed to give (lifegiving a-ha moments). School does the teaching, parents do the shepherding. It's very unproductive to get on to the school to do a parents' job and plant seeds of frustration in kids' minds that make them resent the wor . IMHO. So, get behind the school and enroll, or don't send your child. Don't send your kid there confused yourself and project those feelings on the children. That messes kids up!

A great down to earth review!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with 16:52. And all the mastery defense in the world won't help you on the comps and precomps.

And curving every test? No. I truly don't care how my kid's MS grades stack up against others.

Comps and precomps are curved, PP.

Not for all.
My kid was doing great in the teacher given exam, not so well for the precomps, but somehow do terrible on the comps.
The comps counting 50% of the whole year's grade and the precomps being 50% of advisory 2 grade meant that comps and precomps counted for 62.5% of the whole year's grade.
So any kid can have all A's, but the comps can make the A into a C and vice versa
And we tried to have a copy of these comps and precomps to see the big discrepency in the grades, at no avail.

And from what we are hearing, most current seniors who have been in the school for 5 years, did not score well on their SAT's.

Is the information about the SAT scores readily available for all to see? Or is this just something you heard through the grapevine? The senior class is very small but many of the seniors got into prestigious colleges according to the email the HOS sent out in December so it is hard to believe that most of them did not do well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with 16:52. And all the mastery defense in the world won't help you on the comps and precomps.

And curving every test? No. I truly don't care how my kid's MS grades stack up against others.

Comps and precomps are curved, PP.

Not for all.
My kid was doing great in the teacher given exam, not so well for the precomps, but somehow do terrible on the comps.
The comps counting 50% of the whole year's grade and the precomps being 50% of advisory 2 grade meant that comps and precomps counted for 62.5% of the whole year's grade.
So any kid can have all A's, but the comps can make the A into a C and vice versa
And we tried to have a copy of these comps and precomps to see the big discrepency in the grades, at no avail.

And from what we are hearing, most current seniors who have been in the school for 5 years, did not score well on their SAT's.

Is the information about the SAT scores readily available for all to see? Or is this just something you heard through the grapevine? The senior class is very small but many of the seniors got into prestigious colleges according to the email the HOS sent out in December so it is hard to believe that most of them did not do well.

Are you serious re the December email? At that time, only a handful of colleges were mentioned, and only ONE was prestigious (Princeton). It is absolutely possible that has changed in the interim, but in December, it was nothing to write home about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is mastery defense?

It's the process that BASIS' math department uses to allow students to demonstrate mastery of questions/standards they miss on a test. It enables them to show that they have mastered the content, be tested on new questions on that topic, and if they get it right the second time, earn credit back.

A student that is diligent about attending the after or before school sessions can ultimately earn back nearly all the points they miss on a unit test. There is no mastery defense available for the mid-year pre-comprehensive exams or the end of year comprehensive exams.

It's a scam that allows BASIS to keep MS kids who can't handle the math from flunking out before 9th grade, when most will leave anyway.

Here's how it works: Your DC is diligent about math homework and studies for the weekly or bi-weekly math tests. The material is hard, so he/she misses say 20% questions on a typical test. Many of your DC's classmates race through their math homework and take their math tests cold. However, they listen in class some of the time and, since some of the questions are multiple choice, they guess correctly some of the time. They miss only say 50% of the questions on a typical test.

If the tests were curved, your DC would get an A on tests and the classmates would get Cs or Ds. However, those classmates can attend "Mastery Defense" sessions every week. They don't have to retake entire tests at these sessions. They only have to retake questions addressing the standards they missed. Furthermore, at each session they can pick which standards to retake. So, if the classmate missed the "applying the formula for the area of a circle" standard, he/she can retake just that standard and continue to do so until he/she gets it right or until the end of the grading period. The question given during "Mastery Defense" will be very similar to the one given on the test, except that the radius of the circle will be, say, 3 m instead of 2 m.

The net result is that your DC's classmates will raise their test averages to 90% or higher over the course of the grading period, and your DC will end up with a B- math test average even though your DC is one of the few who could demonstrate mastery of the material in one testing session. So much for preparing kids for high-stakes testing such as the SAT or the AP.

Your DC, then, has no choice but buy into the "Mastery Defense" scam and must retake all of the questions answered incorrectly on math tests. This means that he/she will have to stay after school at least one day a week. Furthermore, to ensure that you and your DC do not complain about this obvious subversion of the testing process, the math teachers will not give your DC partial credit on any math questions. So, if your DC correctly applies the formula for the area of a circle but write m instead of m^2 for the units, he/she will get 0 out of 5 points and you will both be happy that there is "Mastery Defense."

Appreciate this analysis. System sounds deeply flawed. Thanks, PP.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your opinion re the ED college admissions of <17 kids you don't know. I'd be happy if my DC got into Boston College (35% acceptance rate) and thrilled with Barnard (16%).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for your opinion re the ED college admissions of <17 kids you don't know. I'd be happy if my DC got into Boston College (35% acceptance rate) and thrilled with Barnard (16%).

Not to mention these are early admission acceptances. It will be interesting to see what the final college list will be for this very first senior class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for your opinion re the ED college admissions of <17 kids you don't know. I'd be happy if my DC got into Boston College (35% acceptance rate) and thrilled with Barnard (16%).

Not to mention these are early admission acceptances. It will be interesting to see what the final college list will be for this very first senior class.

Um, I said that it is entirely possible that things changed between that email in December you were claiming showed the many of the graduating class being admitted in oresteguous schools and today, but it wasn't like a lot of the 17 kids got into prestigious colleges according to the December like you claimed-of course, Princeton is prestegious, but most of the other ones (Arizona State, Virginia Commonwealth, Johnson and Wales, High Point, University of Dallas, University of Pittsburgh) are not even ones many have heard of, and are certainly not prestigious.