No one is taking 12 APs, but let’s say you are - the kid is extraordinary! It’s not the school that makes them. Basis didn’t make that kid who they are and they don’t need basis to be great. |
The school creates the atmosphere that makes kids think that is a normal goal. |
12 APs was not abnormal in our FCPS high school |
But the point is that there are very few places like that in DC! JR (which you have to be in bounds for), Walls and Banneker (which you have to apply to, with no guarantee of admission), a couple of charters (again, no guarantee), and then privates (expensive and no guarantee). As I and many other Basis parents have said, it's not perfect, just that it's the best of the options available, and overall a pretty decent option for many kids. |
Want an "option available" if you're not happy with your DC public HS options and can't afford a private? Move a few miles to MoCo or Arlington for a high-performing neighborhood HS with fine AP choices, a stable faculty and possibly IB Diploma choices. You get more good facilities, electives and ECs than you know what to do with. I have yet to meet a DC family that regrets moving to MoCo or Arlington for HS and I've lived in Ward 6 for more than 30 years. Some of our oldest friends from DC are renting in VA for HS, planning to return to their DC homes afterwards. A couple of the families are doing this after exiting BASIS. |
So, the rest of us have to pay for the fact that you didn't want to live in-boundary or send your kid to private? Also, if your kid is taking 12 APs, they're going to get money to go to a private. |
I mean, moving to arlington would make me hang myself. MoCo might be manageable. |
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes will be there when it is time to apply to colleges. |
+1 If Basis serves a critical mass of families well what’s the complaint? No one is forced to attend and its eyes wide open as this point. |
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted. If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators. |
Thank you for this, this is how we feel, too. The gap-year esque senior year is a plus for us, and our kid loves and needs the challenging curriculum. I think everything that needs to be said about BASIS has been said on all of these threads. Parents know the pros and cons. There are those of us who go, are well aware of the cons, and stay because the pros are worth it. |
Yawn. Bitter much? Your kid washed out years ago and now you bash the school? Per capita, Basis DC has the best college admissions results of any public school in DC. You really can’t do better for an academically motivated kid in DC unless you want to pay $60,000/year at one of the Big 3 privates. |
I really hate the way Basis boosters seem to feel the need to sneer at absolutely everyone else. |
Seriously. BASIS is a mid school and if you like it, fine. But there's no need for the nastiness, defensiveness, and constant obsession with the ratings that BASIS openly games. BASIS boosters are annoying and that's why people get like this about it. |
PP here. Think this pretty much illustrates my point. This parent was very unhappy with BASIS. It didn’t “work” for them so they left for a private. Not sure how this makes BASIS any different than any other public school, but no one froths at the mouth like this about Coolidge or Roosevelt SHSs. And if you want to quibble about the college admissions, I would encourage you to look at BASIS’s college acceptance insta page. Lots of “blue chips” and strong from top to bottom. I can also tell you about many of the schools that got turned down. The results are even more impressive with that data. This is not the hill you want to die on. |