Basis Independence McLean vs Bishop O’Connell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, take the current year numbers for what you will. I know I’m not about to keep a time series of the student enrollment by grade every year for the next 3 years (seriously, who does). I will just say that the current senior class is about the same as when they were freshmen. Don’t know the exact number since I don’t keep records of this stuff. But the larger freshman and sophomore classes this year are definitely a new thing compared to last year and the year before last.

You can be sure that management does, but clearly data is a prized secret in that building.

Nothing will really tip the balance until you hear that they are willing to invest in building out the second half of the building and delivering the facilities that were promised over and over to parents in the early days to enjoy just a few years after opening.

Isn't it eight years for BIM now?

[Anonymous]

Personally, I’d strongly consider your zoned public for the combination of strong academics and social experiences. BIM would prepare a student academically, but maybe not socially which is important too. DJO is much more of a traditional HS experience which I think would prepare students better overall for independence, but is academically lighter.

[Anonymous]

O’Connell is what you make of it. A strong, academically-minded student can absolutely take rigorous classes that will challenge them. A student can also easily skate by in the middle of the pack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If BIM published its various numbers online in a manner similar to other local privates, they would have more credibility than they do have right now.

They have been selling the story about senior class growing each year for a while now, yet graduating class size is not materially larger. If the graduating class size story really were true, probably they would publish the numbers online (like other schools) to show the trend. Ditto with college matriculation transparency. As near as we can tell, there is a mass exodus annually after students complete 8th grade, not to TJ, but to public or to other privates.

They also have had higher levels of staff turnover and leadership turnover than is typical at a good private, both of which are negative indicators.

Do whatever you think best for your DC, because you are the expert on your kids.

They must be pretty transparent if you’re able to deduce all that (I’m sure you’re not some disgruntled former employee who had all this information which is clearly pre-2021). There hasn’t been any change in leadership or high teacher turnover since 2021 when teacher turnover was making national news all over the place.

If BIM has entered a new golden age since 2021, why is the senior class of 2024 smaller than 2020? Clearly, the retention in the upper grades still lags behind the top privates.

Anybody know how many sophomores and juniors they have this year (not on the website of course)? That would be an indicator that new management started to make a difference.

That said, BIM has been open since 2016 and still seems to be struggling to get its act together.

25 seniors, 30 sophomores, 44 sophomores, 50 freshman. Nobody said BIM entered a golden age at 2021. There just hasn’t been the alleged turnover since then. It’s not like magically a school improves and everyone starts enrolling. But it’s clearly trending from the size of each class moving up.

I’d be more curious to know how many student the current class of seniors had when they were freshman. Was it close to the same 25, or was it close to the current freshman class of 50? The snapshot you provide could show general growth of the school or could show a 50% attrition rate between 9th and 12th. No way to know without having more data from the past few years at least.

BIM high school is growing because of the change in TJ admission criteria which impacted the current junior class and below. Many capable kids who did not get into TJ turn to BIM, which started the upward trend in class size.

[Anonymous]

The O’Connell families completely soiled themselves at today’s WCAC baseball playoff game. I’ve never seen such bad sportsmanship in 20 years of youth sports. Physically confronting the umps after the game? Wow.

[Anonymous]

BIM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If BIM published its various numbers online like other local privates, they would have more credibility than they do have right now.

They have been selling the story about the senior class growing each year for a while now, yet the graduating class size is not materially larger. If the graduating class size story really were true, probably they would publish the numbers online (like other schools) to show the trend. Ditto with college matriculation transparency. As near as we can tell, there is a mass exodus annually after students complete 8th grade, not to TJ, but to public or to other privates.

They also have had higher levels of staff turnover and leadership turnover than is typical at a good private, both of which are negative indicators.

Do whatever you think best for your DC, because you are the expert on your kids.

They must be pretty transparent if you’re able to deduce all that (I’m sure you’re not some disgruntled former employee who had all this information which is clearly pre-2021). There hasn’t been any change in leadership or high teacher turnover since 2021 when teacher turnover was making national news all over the place.

If BIM has entered a new golden age since 2021, why is the senior class of 2024 smaller than 2020? Clearly, the retention in the upper grades still lags behind the top privates.

Anybody know how many sophomores and juniors they have this year (not on the website of course)? That would be an indicator that new management started to make a difference.

That said, BIM has been open since 2016 and still seems to be struggling to get its act together.

25 seniors, 30 sophomores, 44 sophomores, 50 freshman. Nobody said BIM entered a golden age at 2021. There just hasn’t been the alleged turnover since then. It’s not like magically a school improves and everyone starts enrolling. But it’s clearly trending from the size of each class moving up.

I’d be more curious to know how many student the current class of seniors had when they were freshman. Was it close to the same 25, or was it close to the current freshman class of 50? The snapshot you provide could show general growth of the school or could show a 50% attrition rate between 9th and 12th. No way to know without having more data from the past few years at least.

BIM is not for everyone. It's academically strong, so not every student can survive. For the kids who look for advanced learning, they will thrive here. My kid enrolled in middle school and using his own word, he felt that he found his people, people who care about study. For people who can't understand this, as far as I know, most students like the school. There are a lot of kids who do outside sport club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If BIM published its various numbers online like other local privates, they would have more credibility than they do have right now.

They have been selling the story about the senior class growing each year for a while now, yet the graduating class size is not materially larger. If the graduating class size story really were true, probably they would publish the numbers online (like other schools) to show the trend. Ditto with college matriculation transparency. As near as we can tell, there is a mass exodus annually after students complete 8th grade, not to TJ, but to public or to other privates.

They also have had higher levels of staff turnover and leadership turnover than is typical at a good private, both of which are negative indicators.

Do whatever you think best for your DC, because you are the expert on your kids.

They must be pretty transparent if you’re able to deduce all that (I’m sure you’re not some disgruntled former employee who had all this information which is clearly pre-2021). There hasn’t been any change in leadership or high teacher turnover since 2021 when teacher turnover was making national news all over the place.

If BIM has entered a new golden age since 2021, why is the senior class of 2024 smaller than 2020? Clearly, the retention in the upper grades still lags behind the top privates.

Anybody know how many sophomores and juniors they have this year (not on the website of course)? That would be an indicator that new management started to make a difference.

That said, BIM has been open since 2016 and still seems to be struggling to get its act together.

25 seniors, 30 sophomores, 44 sophomores, 50 freshman. Nobody said BIM entered a golden age at 2021. There just hasn’t been the alleged turnover since then. It’s not like magically a school improves and everyone starts enrolling. But it’s clearly trending from the size of each class moving up.

I’d be more curious to know how many student the current class of seniors had when they were freshman. Was it close to the same 25, or was it close to the current freshman class of 50? The snapshot you provide could show general growth of the school or could show a 50% attrition rate between 9th and 12th. No way to know without having more data from the past few years at least.

BIM is not for everyone. It's academically strong, so not every student can survive. For the kids who look for advanced learning, they will thrive here. My kid enrolled in middle school and using his own word, he felt that he found his people, people who care about study. For people who can't understand this, as far as I know, most students like the school. There are a lot of kids who do outside sport club.

We are a new BIM family this year, with a kid who entered as a freshman. I posted earlier in this thread too. Our kid looked at most of the VA private schools including O'Connell. He picked BASIS because he clicked with the students on his shadow day, and he loved the small class size. We've been thrilled with the school, and especially with the teachers. It sounds like BIM had a bumpy start a few years ago, and I am sure the pandemic situation didn't help. We haven't experienced any of what has been posted to this thread though. The HOS and admissions staff answered all of my questions honestly when we went through the application process last year. We didn't have any surprises once our kid enrolled, so I don't think there is any great conspiracy. (FWIW- The high school kids use the other side of the building sometimes for small group work, so not sure what the mystery is there?) The seniors have started posting to their Insta page, so you can find the matriculation info firsthand-- so far, Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Rice, GW, UVA, and Virginia Tech. BIM also released all the school acceptances to their blog, with a picture of the senior class. They aren't trying to hide that the 2024 graduating class is small, but the grades in the pipeline are progressively getting bigger. My kid hasn't heard of anyone who isn't coming back next year for 10th grade, and he said there have been quite a few prospective students shadowing their 9th grade classes over the past few weeks. I agree with the PP who speculated that the change in the TJ admissions system has helped BASIS a lot-- it is a similar type of student population, and the randomness of the new TJ essay test is resulting in many students getting rejected from TJ who would have been admitted in the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If BIM published its various numbers online like other local privates, they would have more credibility than they do have right now.

They have been selling the story about the senior class growing each year for a while now, yet the graduating class size is not materially larger. If the graduating class size story really were true, probably they would publish the numbers online (like other schools) to show the trend. Ditto with college matriculation transparency. As near as we can tell, there is a mass exodus annually after students complete 8th grade, not to TJ, but to public or to other privates.

They also have had higher levels of staff turnover and leadership turnover than is typical at a good private, both of which are negative indicators.

Do whatever you think best for your DC, because you are the expert on your kids.

They must be pretty transparent if you’re able to deduce all that (I’m sure you’re not some disgruntled former employee who had all this information which is clearly pre-2021). There hasn’t been any change in leadership or high teacher turnover since 2021 when teacher turnover was making national news all over the place.

If BIM has entered a new golden age since 2021, why is the senior class of 2024 smaller than 2020? Clearly, the retention in the upper grades still lags behind the top privates.

Anybody know how many sophomores and juniors they have this year (not on the website of course)? That would be an indicator that new management started to make a difference.

That said, BIM has been open since 2016 and still seems to be struggling to get its act together.

25 seniors, 30 sophomores, 44 sophomores, 50 freshman. Nobody said BIM entered a golden age at 2021. There just hasn’t been the alleged turnover since then. It’s not like magically a school improves and everyone starts enrolling. But it’s clearly trending from the size of each class moving up.

I’d be more curious to know how many student the current class of seniors had when they were freshman. Was it close to the same 25, or was it close to the current freshman class of 50? The snapshot you provide could show general growth of the school or could show a 50% attrition rate between 9th and 12th. No way to know without having more data from the past few years at least.

BIM is not for everyone. It's academically strong, so not every student can survive. For the kids who look for advanced learning, they will thrive here. My kid enrolled in middle school and using his own word, he felt that he found his people, people who care about study. For people who can't understand this, as far as I know, most students like the school. There are a lot of kids who do outside sport club.

We are a new BIM family this year, with a kid who entered as a freshman. I posted earlier in this thread too. Our kid looked at most of the VA private schools including O'Connell. He picked BASIS because he clicked with the students on his shadow day, and he loved the small class size. We've been thrilled with the school, and especially with the teachers. It sounds like BIM had a bumpy start a few years ago, and I am sure the pandemic situation didn't help. We haven't experienced any of what has been posted to this thread though. The HOS and admissions staff answered all of my questions honestly when we went through the application process last year. We didn't have any surprises once our kid enrolled, so I don't think there is any great conspiracy. (FWIW- The high school kids use the other side of the building sometimes for small group work, so not sure what the mystery is there?) The seniors have started posting to their Insta page, so you can find the matriculation info firsthand-- so far, Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Rice, GW, UVA, and Virginia Tech. BIM also released all the school acceptances to their blog, with a picture of the senior class. They aren't trying to hide that the 2024 graduating class is small, but the grades in the pipeline are progressively getting bigger. My kid hasn't heard of anyone who isn't coming back next year for 10th grade, and he said there have been quite a few prospective students shadowing their 9th grade classes over the past few weeks. I agree with the PP who speculated that the change in the TJ admissions system has helped BASIS a lot-- it is a similar type of student population, and the randomness of the new TJ essay test is resulting in many students getting rejected from TJ who would have been admitted in the past.

The changing TJ admissions policy saved BIM's bacon because it created a pool of BIM-type grinder students who needed a landing spot, which BIM was eager to offer. Without that, who knows if they would have kept the doors open.

The other half of the building is the SAME SIZE as the current school. It was supposed to be completely finished out with great facilities once the school reached the right enrollment. Never happened, even though they pay rent on it. No full-size-auditorium, sports halls, etc.

The day they announce that project, you'll know that BIM is doing more than just scraping by and trying to inch up the ladder.

[Anonymous]

It seems there are more anti-BIM trolls than so-called BIM trolls . The simple fact is that Basis is not a stand-alone school. It has campuses in different states. NYC has at least two campuses, and they have an excellent reputation.
Again if you are willing to stay away from the good public schools in the area, you probably care about education. Find the school that will work for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If BIM published its various numbers online in a manner similar to other local privates, they would have more credibility than they do have right now.

They have been selling the story about senior class growing each year for a while now, yet graduating class size is not materially larger. If the graduating class size story really were true, probably they would publish the numbers online (like other schools) to show the trend. Ditto with college matriculation transparency. As near as we can tell, there is a mass exodus annually after students complete 8th grade, not to TJ, but to public or to other privates.

They also have had higher levels of staff turnover and leadership turnover than is typical at a good private, both of which are negative indicators.

Do whatever you think best for your DC, because you are the expert on your kids.

They must be pretty transparent if you’re able to deduce all that (I’m sure you’re not some disgruntled former employee who had all this information which is clearly pre-2021). There hasn’t been any change in leadership or high teacher turnover since 2021 when teacher turnover was making national news all over the place.

If BIM has entered a new golden age since 2021, why is the senior class of 2024 smaller than 2020? Clearly, the retention in the upper grades still lags behind the top privates.

Anybody know how many sophomores and juniors they have this year (not on the website of course)? That would be an indicator that new management started to make a difference.

That said, BIM has been open since 2016 and still seems to be struggling to get its act together.

25 seniors, 30 sophomores, 44 sophomores, 50 freshman. Nobody said BIM entered a golden age at 2021. There just hasn’t been the alleged turnover since then. It’s not like magically a school improves and everyone starts enrolling. But it’s clearly trending from the size of each class moving up.

I’d be more curious to know how many student the current class of seniors had when they were freshman. Was it close to the same 25, or was it close to the current freshman class of 50? The snapshot you provide could show general growth of the school or could show a 50% attrition rate between 9th and 12th. No way to know without having more data from the past few years at least.

BIM high school is growing because of the change in TJ admission criteria which impacted the current junior class and below. Many capable kids who did not get into TJ turn to BIM, which started the upward trend in class size.

And the fact that BIM is desperate and takes everyone.

[Anonymous]

Current BIM family here. I know at least one or two high school kids still doing club Soccer. There was a school soccer team in Spring. We couldn’t attract the highest level players because their schedule with the club was too demanding.
My kid plays a travel team in another sport, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems there are more anti-BIM trolls than so-called BIM trolls . The simple fact is that Basis is not a stand-alone school. It has campuses in different states. NYC has at least two campuses, and they have an excellent reputation.
Again if you are willing to stay away from the good public schools in the area, you probably care about education. Find the school that will work for your kid.

I am fine with other BIM sites but I would never allow a kid to attend the one in McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems there are more anti-BIM trolls than so-called BIM trolls . The simple fact is that Basis is not a stand-alone school. It has campuses in different states. NYC has at least two campuses, and they have an excellent reputation.
Again if you are willing to stay away from the good public schools in the area, you probably care about education. Find the school that will work for your kid.

I am fine with other BIM sites but I would never allow a kid to attend the one in McLean.

If you read employee reviews on sites like GlassDoor, they are remarkably similar across the current Basis Independent Network. The facilities sound similarly limited. They have to refit office buildings for their campuses, so the funds and space aren't there to build out much more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems there are more anti-BIM trolls than so-called BIM trolls . The simple fact is that Basis is not a stand-alone school. It has campuses in different states. NYC has at least two campuses, and they have an excellent reputation.
Again if you are willing to stay away from the good public schools in the area, you probably care about education. Find the school that will work for your kid.

I’m not so much anti-BIM as I am anti-BIM-booster. They’re like vegans, or proselytizing Christians. Their way is the One True way, and they are going to shove it in everyone else’s face and tell everyone else how they are wrong.