BASIS attrition after middle school- why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is positivity toxic? Even people with a positive mindset can still be working toward improvements at the school. Most BASIS families recognize that, like any school, BASIS isn’t perfect. Having a good attitude goes a long way toward having a better experience. And kids pick up on parent negativity so at least don’t air grievances about the school in front of your kid if you want them to try to be happy and succeed there.

Working towards improvement? How does that go when the franchise, doesn't solicit, or seem to want, meaningful input from stakeholders? No formal parent or parent-teacher organization is permitted. Parents get to fill in annual surveys where iffy seeming results report how thrilled we are with the program, no matter what sort of input we might have provided. If you take an issue up with the HoS, you can expect to be advised to consider finding a more suitable program for your family. With not even four dozen seniors left this year, from a cohort that began with around 135 5th graders, how many grads should be at the finish line? 42 is too many because the group includes the odd...dissenter? How about 30 or 20? I agree that requiring a bunch of AP tests is reasonable, but not the lack of flexibility at BASIS and college counseling that's not just weak, it's tremendously time wasting and under-girded by borderline bullying. When PPs come here mocking the whining "Cambridge exams" dad whose kid rebelled by studying, gasp, marine bio and immersion language, they're missing the forest for the trees. That family, apparently aiming high in college admissions, innovated within the curriculum by copying an approach embraced by some top privates in the area. Shame on them? Obedience/positivity rules?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG BASIS doesn't have the money for capstone projects. Wait, you didn't notice until senior year?

Then what’s the point of pushing kids so hard to take all these AP for? To do a joke project senior year?

Doesn’t sound like a good system at all. Burn kids out in the AP factory and then take time to recover senior year.

What is the point of a high school student doing a ton of college work that a college might not accept? Some colleges won't place out AP classes.

What's the point of saying my middle school student is doing HS classes and yours isn't?

Its the same thing as showing off your one year old walking vs a 15 month old.

Show me the adult who is happy and smart and thriving in life that came out of a system like this. I know some, I also know a lot who only know how to function in a system and can't do jack on their own. If they didn't pick medicine or law (less so for law) that has a strict structure post bachelors they flounder.

I went through a system like this, and I turned out happy, smart, and thriving. There is no cramming going on? If you know how to study efficiently (something you learn in middle school), a bunch of APs is just a normal course load. Everyone knows that APs aren't true college classes. They do go more in depth than a typical high school class, and for motivated students, that makes the classes more interesting and worth their time. At the same time, I had plenty of time for extracurriculars, socializing, etc., and for the BASIS HS students I know right now, they are the same way.

Didn't say that there aren't positive outcomes. But its not 100% or even 50%.

[Anonymous]

I'm the mom of the 4th grader trying to make this decision right now, and I am very grateful for the Cambridge dad, and also for everyone else who gave me very concrete examples of what works and what doesn't work. Im still digesting all of this and haven't decided yet.


re: toxic positivity -- yes, the posters who are vague and positive and also mean spirited towards anyone with any criticisms are not selling the school very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG BASIS doesn't have the money for capstone projects. Wait, you didn't notice until senior year?

Then what’s the point of pushing kids so hard to take all these AP for? To do a joke project senior year?

Doesn’t sound like a good system at all. Burn kids out in the AP factory and then take time to recover senior year.

What is the point of a high school student doing a ton of college work that a college might not accept? Some colleges won't place out AP classes.

What's the point of saying my middle school student is doing HS classes and yours isn't?

Its the same thing as showing off your one year old walking vs a 15 month old.

Show me the adult who is happy and smart and thriving in life that came out of a system like this. I know some, I also know a lot who only know how to function in a system and can't do jack on their own. If they didn't pick medicine or law (less so for law) that has a strict structure post bachelors they flounder.

I went through a system like this, and I turned out happy, smart, and thriving. There is no cramming going on? If you know how to study efficiently (something you learn in middle school), a bunch of APs is just a normal course load. Everyone knows that APs aren't true college classes. They do go more in depth than a typical high school class, and for motivated students, that makes the classes more interesting and worth their time. At the same time, I had plenty of time for extracurriculars, socializing, etc., and for the BASIS HS students I know right now, they are the same way.

Didn't say that there aren't positive outcomes. But its not 100% or even 50%.

“Positive outcomes” are less than 50%? Meaning what? Did you conduct a statistical survey of “positive outcomes” at Basis?

Just more glib unsupported comments…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the mom of the 4th grader trying to make this decision right now, and I am very grateful for the Cambridge dad, and also for everyone else who gave me very concrete examples of what works and what doesn't work. Im still digesting all of this and haven't decided yet.


re: toxic positivity -- yes, the posters who are vague and positive and also mean spirited towards anyone with any criticisms are not selling the school very well.

Please choose another school. BASIS will be a very bad fit for someone like you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the mom of the 4th grader trying to make this decision right now, and I am very grateful for the Cambridge dad, and also for everyone else who gave me very concrete examples of what works and what doesn't work. Im still digesting all of this and haven't decided yet.


re: toxic positivity -- yes, the posters who are vague and positive and also mean spirited towards anyone with any criticisms are not selling the school very well.

1/ A lot of kids go to Basis, can’t handle it, and drop out. Their parents then post criticism of the school on this forum that often is out of date and inaccurate. They are trying to rationalize their decision to drop Basis and go to another school. You really need to discount a lot of those comments, and do your own research.

2/ Plus, some of the criticism is pretty dumb. Cambridge Exam Dad claims that Basis discouraged his kid from taking Cambridge exams and studying marine biology and some obscure language. What does even mean? Why would Basis care what the kid was doing on her own time? Obviously, no school—especially DC public school—is going to add a Russian or marine biology class just because some parent asks for it. And if you want to spend $50,000/year for a Big 3 private school and think your kid can get in, go for it. And even if you do, they probably won’t accommodate you either. You want to go go to Basis and take Cambridge exams on your own time or spend your summers studying jellyfish? Go for it. Plenty of kids supplement at Basis and other schools. You can even do a senior project at Basis on scyphozoans if you want.

3/ Basis is challenging and, if your kid is not academically inclined, it will be a slog. Unfortunately, options in DC are limited and some parents choose Basis just because they get admitted in the lottery and think it is a better option than their in-bounds school. Those are often the kids that drop out in the next few years.

4/ Plenty of us at Basis high school are happy with the curriculum and like the small class sizes, which is similar to a private school. If you choose to send your kid elsewhere, great. There are plenty of parents left who have done the research and who will choose Basis.

[Anonymous]

Speak for yourself. We’d have left if we’d had an equally acceptable or good alternative along the way. Happy is a stretch for our BASIS high school family with a couple of the strongest students in their cohorts. The leadership stinks, along with the facility and the curriculum and student supports are mediocre at best. Staunchly defend an institution more worthy of your defense why don’t you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speak for yourself. We’d have left if we’d had an equally acceptable or good alternative along the way. Happy is a stretch for our BASIS high school family with a couple of the strongest students in their cohorts. The leadership stinks, along with the facility and the curriculum and student supports are mediocre at best. Staunchly defend an institution more worthy of your defense why don’t you.

Here we go again. It was the best option available to me. Now let me tell you why that's an indictment against BASIS and not the DC schools system in general.

[Anonymous]

We have two kids in the MS. We're happy. It is a slog. It is what it is. We'll see if they want to stay or jump ship for a different HS. Our view is it is better than our local MS by 1000%. In terms of value for money, it's also unbeatable. We could afford private but didn't want to spend more than $100K over the next 3 years for MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG BASIS doesn't have the money for capstone projects. Wait, you didn't notice until senior year?

Then what’s the point of pushing kids so hard to take all these AP for? To do a joke project senior year?

Doesn’t sound like a good system at all. Burn kids out in the AP factory and then take time to recover senior year.

APs aren't even hard. Look at how that other parent has their kid taking all the APs and also all the Cambridge exams, plus summer immersion programs. Where's the burnout?

The burnout emanates from cramming for a slew of APs that BASIS requires to be taken by May of jr. year. Cambridge exams aren't graded by computers. Some kids prefer them because they allow a test taker to show what they've learned to human graders through good writing, speaking languages, spelling out math work etc. Saving a couple subject exams for Nov of senior year sounds smart, and sane.

The AP exams are mostly graded by humans and based on good writing and showing math work. Are you completely unfamiliar with how AP exams work? The multiple choice section is worth only around 40% of the score. The remaining points are from essays (in english and humanities exams) and fully worked out problems (in math and science exams).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the mom of the 4th grader trying to make this decision right now, and I am very grateful for the Cambridge dad, and also for everyone else who gave me very concrete examples of what works and what doesn't work. Im still digesting all of this and haven't decided yet.


re: toxic positivity -- yes, the posters who are vague and positive and also mean spirited towards anyone with any criticisms are not selling the school very well.

Is Basis some magical school that can be everything for everyone? Of course not. Cambridge dad's gripe is largely that the school didn't serve up everything that he wanted, which is absurd. No school could or would do that.

Is Basis better than top notch privates? Of course not, but it is a lot cheaper.

Basis works well for the kids for whom it is a good fit. For the most part, these are kids who are bright, motivated, organized, have high executive function, and love learning. It's a small school with somewhat limited offerings (obviously), so if you're expecting the school to provide tons of language options or fringe classes, it's not going to be able to do that. If your kid wants a real sports scene or big orchestras, plays, etc., the school won't be able to do that, either.

If your kid wants a more normal high school experience, but wants to be well prepared, there's nothing wrong with enrolling in basis for middle school and then leaving after 8th grade. Tons of people do that.

[Anonymous]

No, we’re expecting little fron BASIS. But we’d sure like a modicum of common sense flexibility at no cost to the school on curriculum here and there. The ironclad policy on language instruction is so over the top obtuse that you can’t make this stuff up. Be our guests, march and salute on into the high school claiming that the rest of us leave because are children are too dumb and lazy to cope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, we’re expecting little fron BASIS. But we’d sure like a modicum of common sense flexibility at no cost to the school on curriculum here and there. The ironclad policy on language instruction is so over the top obtuse that you can’t make this stuff up. Be our guests, march and salute on into the high school claiming that the rest of us leave because are children are too dumb and lazy to cope.

Sounds like you enrolled at BASIS expecting them to change the curriculum, especially as it relates to language. Why enroll at all if you don't like the curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, we’re expecting little fron BASIS. But we’d sure like a modicum of common sense flexibility at no cost to the school on curriculum here and there. The ironclad policy on language instruction is so over the top obtuse that you can’t make this stuff up. Be our guests, march and salute on into the high school claiming that the rest of us leave because are children are too dumb and lazy to cope.

What, specifically, were you expecting? Obviously, adding a class for your kid would be at significant cost to the school. Letting your kid take class with a higher grade level can cause scheduling issues. Letting your kid do independent study rather than one of the offered languages means that the school would still need to babysit your kid for a period and somewhat oversee things. Again, the school can't be everything for everyone, and they have to make do on a pretty tight budget. They offer what they offer. If you don't like the offerings, you obviously should go somewhere else with no hard feelings. Your extreme bitterness is odd, especially since you could easily opt to attend an immersion school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, we’re expecting little fron BASIS. But we’d sure like a modicum of common sense flexibility at no cost to the school on curriculum here and there. The ironclad policy on language instruction is so over the top obtuse that you can’t make this stuff up. Be our guests, march and salute on into the high school claiming that the rest of us leave because are children are too dumb and lazy to cope.

Self centered entitled parent has entered the chat. He doesn't understand why the school can't just make an exception for his snowflake.