basis woes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, where do you plan to send your super-bright fourth grader?

We're planning to keep him in DCPS for 5th, then St. Anselm's (boys Benedictine Abbey school) in Brookland, if he gets in. We're not Catholic but the school is 10K cheaper than many NW privates, and closer to us, and sends many boys to Georgetown, Ivies etc. He will continue to do Johns Hopkins CTY camps in the summers, which he loves. St. Anselm's is no jock school, but at least they have grass, a stage, an orchestra etc. I also like the fact that they don't weed boys out. DC is shy so we don't want hard-earned friends leaving.

They don't weed out? First of all, they weed girls out, they don't even accept them in the first place. Secondly, they weed out anyone who can't come up with the $23,000 tuition. Funny that someone would jump on and criticize schools like BASIS that are open to all and which give everyone a chance about things like retention or "weeding out" (and even that's not an accurate characterization, as the students leaving BASIS self-selected out) and then turn around and trot out a school that's already excluded most DC students whether lower class, middle class and even many upper middle class kids, before they even had a chance.

Yeah, that happened to us. DS got into 6th grade last year. We loved it. But they only offered a $3K break on the tuition. We don't have$20k sitting around. Son doing great in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So BASIS doesn't have a football stadium. I don't really have a problem with that. Big whoop. Schools aren't about athletics anyways, those are extras. There's no athletics requirement in Title IX other than that IF schools provide athletics, it must be equal provisions for both genders. From my experiences, I've seen that schools with those athletic fields, amenities and facilities typically revolve more around patronage jobs and crony contracts than they do around meeting students needs, there is example after example of that everywhere, including the big affluent suburban areas. But either way, to each his own, try and balance those high school footbawl concussions, brain trauma and diminished cognitive ability against the prospect of a well honed mind going to MIT and becoming the next great engineer or scientist.

By way of example, schools like Duke and Stanford face nearly insurmountable challenges recruiting class A scholars and athletes. They have almost fallen apart proving how incompatible academic and athletic excellence are, right? Exactly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, where do you plan to send your super-bright fourth grader?

We're planning to keep him in DCPS for 5th, then St. Anselm's (boys Benedictine Abbey school) in Brookland, if he gets in. We're not Catholic but the school is 10K cheaper than many NW privates, and closer to us, and sends many boys to Georgetown, Ivies etc. He will continue to do Johns Hopkins CTY camps in the summers, which he loves. St. Anselm's is no jock school, but at least they have grass, a stage, an orchestra etc. I also like the fact that they don't weed boys out. DC is shy so we don't want hard-earned friends leaving.

I know little about St. Anselm's, so I read some of the reviews on http://www.greatschools.org/washington-dc/washington/172-St.-Anselms-Abbey-School/?sortBy=&tab=reviews&page=1

The vast majority of the reviews were positive.

The following review levels charges against St. Anselm's that are similar to those often leveled against BASIS DC:

This is a great school that struggles a bit with boys not focused on academic achievement. Like any school, it's better for students who enjoy studying or have structures that support 3-4 hours of homework. Along with others, our son struggles in courses like Latin and Physics with significant homework loads and demanding teachers not inclined to focus on marginal students. Occasionally, that has meant as many as half of a class receive a D or F and face academic probation. The school gives its teachers and students a lot of freedom and the boys not as in tune with the academic rigor can disrupt a class or make inappropriate comments. In other private schools, talented kids who are high C or low B students might not be as marginalized in class, or may excel in athletics or extracurriculars (not a major focus here), and see themselves as valued (if not outstanding) members of academic community. The more-or-less bottom half of the classes here seem to suffer here more than at other schools with similar profiles. Our experience is this is wonderfulfor a talented boy who studies but will stress someone who is gifted but not inclined to study more than 10 hours a week.

The following would give me pause:

I was excited to have my bright son attend St. Anselm's, but it really turned into a nightmare. The bullying was brutal and the school seemed not to care. Multiple times I asked for help and none was given. I was told that my son's class was exceptionally horrid and at one point an administrator said most of the boys with ugly behavior would be asked to leave-that did not happen. I feel this was a good school that lost its way. Overt racial hatred really was soul-crushing to my son. We are a family that embraces all cultures and when kids made whipping noises to the african-american students and made impassioned arguments about slavery being morally correct, I could only shake my head and promise my son to get him out of the school.
—Submitted by a parent

Good luck to you and your son.

[Anonymous]

RE: St. Anselm's

I keep telling my wife it'd be perfect, but she (who attended Catholic school) doesn't want son going to an all-boys school. I say if it helps get him to full potential, great. The place is the nerd school I dreamed I went to when I was a kid out in the sticks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, where do you plan to send your super-bright fourth grader?

We're planning to keep him in DCPS for 5th, then St. Anselm's (boys Benedictine Abbey school) in Brookland, if he gets in. We're not Catholic but the school is 10K cheaper than many NW privates, and closer to us, and sends many boys to Georgetown, Ivies etc. He will continue to do Johns Hopkins CTY camps in the summers, which he loves. St. Anselm's is no jock school, but at least they have grass, a stage, an orchestra etc. I also like the fact that they don't weed boys out. DC is shy so we don't want hard-earned friends leaving.

They don't weed out? First of all, they weed girls out, they don't even accept them in the first place. Secondly, they weed out anyone who can't come up with the $23,000 tuition. Funny that someone would jump on and criticize schools like BASIS that are open to all and which give everyone a chance about things like retention or "weeding out" (and even that's not an accurate characterization, as the students leaving BASIS self-selected out) and then turn around and trot out a school that's already excluded most DC students whether lower class, middle class and even many upper middle class kids, before they even had a chance.

They also weed out any boys with low grades and poor recommendations from previous schools and with low scores on whatever entrance exam they use. However, since those boys are weeded out before your shy son has an opportunity to meet them, he is insulated from that process.

You could achieve a similar result at BASIS by insisting that your son only socialize with the boys who make the distinguished honor roll.

[Anonymous]

All privates weed out. St. Anselm's is no different there.

What's concerning about BASIS is that it is public school that is happy to take tax dollars to operate and only wants to teach a certain type of student. Apparently 10% of the students they don't want have already been pushed out.

As the PCSB recently noted, that's not a compelling educational stance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, where do you plan to send your super-bright fourth grader?

We're planning to keep him in DCPS for 5th, then St. Anselm's (boys Benedictine Abbey school) in Brookland, if he gets in. We're not Catholic but the school is 10K cheaper than many NW privates, and closer to us, and sends many boys to Georgetown, Ivies etc. He will continue to do Johns Hopkins CTY camps in the summers, which he loves. St. Anselm's is no jock school, but at least they have grass, a stage, an orchestra etc. I also like the fact that they don't weed boys out. DC is shy so we don't want hard-earned friends leaving.

I know little about St. Anselm's, so I read some of the reviews on http://www.greatschools.org/washington-dc/washington/172-St.-Anselms-Abbey-School/?sortBy=&tab=reviews&page=1

The vast majority of the reviews were positive.

The following review levels charges against St. Anselm's that are similar to those often leveled against BASIS DC:

This is a great school that struggles a bit with boys not focused on academic achievement. Like any school, it's better for students who enjoy studying or have structures that support 3-4 hours of homework. Along with others, our son struggles in courses like Latin and Physics with significant homework loads and demanding teachers not inclined to focus on marginal students. Occasionally, that has meant as many as half of a class receive a D or F and face academic probation. The school gives its teachers and students a lot of freedom and the boys not as in tune with the academic rigor can disrupt a class or make inappropriate comments. In other private schools, talented kids who are high C or low B students might not be as marginalized in class, or may excel in athletics or extracurriculars (not a major focus here), and see themselves as valued (if not outstanding) members of academic community. The more-or-less bottom half of the classes here seem to suffer here more than at other schools with similar profiles. Our experience is this is wonderfulfor a talented boy who studies but will stress someone who is gifted but not inclined to study more than 10 hours a week.

The following would give me pause:

I was excited to have my bright son attend St. Anselm's, but it really turned into a nightmare. The bullying was brutal and the school seemed not to care. Multiple times I asked for help and none was given. I was told that my son's class was exceptionally horrid and at one point an administrator said most of the boys with ugly behavior would be asked to leave-that did not happen. I feel this was a good school that lost its way. Overt racial hatred really was soul-crushing to my son. We are a family that embraces all cultures and when kids made whipping noises to the african-american students and made impassioned arguments about slavery being morally correct, I could only shake my head and promise my son to get him out of the school.
—Submitted by a parent

Good luck to you and your son.

Interesting, the vast majority of the St. Anselm's reviews on Great Schools are positive. When I checked BASIS DC on Great Schools was was surprised by the large number of negative reviews. Why didn't you post those on DCUM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Saw this in the The nine schools that won permission to expand are: Carlos Rosario, DC Prep, KIPP DC, Next Step, E.L. Haynes, Education Strengthens Families, Excel, Paul and Washington Yu Ying.


Anybody know more about these expansions?

These are all established schools. Rosario, Next Steps, ESF are adult ed or alternative schools for GED and teen parents, etc.

The others are all tier 1 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All privates weed out. St. Anselm's is no different there.

What's concerning about BASIS is that it is public school that is happy to take tax dollars to operate and only wants to teach a certain type of student. Apparently 10% of the students they don't want have already been pushed out.As the PCSB recently noted, that's not a compelling educational stance.

This has been my concern about BASIS too. It's like they want to be a test-in school but in a different way. The school doesn't really sit well with me, but I'm sure there are enough brillant students in the area that will make it work. Also, can a student get A's all throughout the year and bomb that comprehensive test at the end and fail the grade? This does and can happen. Just wondering what is done in those situations.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:Unless I missed it, nobody has mentioned that the charter board last night refused BASIS's request to expand enrollment. Based on tweets I read, BASIS justified the request on the need for more students so that the school could pay its rent. When asked to provide an educational justification, officials were unable and the board unanimously rejected the expansion request.

Creative Minds' request to expand was also rejected.

But BASIS is still allowed to expand as originally planned. It also may be par for the course for the charter board to turn down a school's request for an increase in the cap in their first year of operation.

Yes, I think that is correct.

So how is it that BASIS didn't reach their first enrollment target when they opened and now ask for more money? I thought the whole Basis approach was that if you work hard enough you can pass your comps and get promoted. Looks like BASIS did not pass it's pre-comps of initial and mid-year enrollment. By their own methodology, shouldn't they just work harder to get and keep students before they get promoted, i.e. more money?

[Anonymous]

St. Anselm's is quite easy to get into for the appropriate candidate. They don't care if you are rich, have fancy jobs, drive a certain kind of car, have a certain kind of job. If your son is smart (gifted, hard-working -- at least 1 of the above), interested in going beyond the minimum in terms of education, it could be a good fit. They use 2 widely well-regarded standardized entrance exams and also look at grades, teacher recommendations, student visit and interview, parent interview (are the parents interested in supporting the success of the child at the school), and student essays. The Admissions people are very open and honest about what makes a successful candidate and what doesn't. They are very open and honest throughout the process about who will succeed and if they feel your son won't, why.

I am horrified to hear about a negative racial situation happening at the Abbey. There are sometimes small groups of difficult boys and it sounds like an unfortunate situation where those boys got some bad ideas and made a child's life unpleasant. I have never seen any sort of racial division there, but the boys do have a lot of freedom in their day and things could be whispered.

The middle school boys do NOT have 3-4 hours of homework/night. If they do, something is wrong. It's more like 1-2, more if there are tests or projects. The upper school boys have more, but not out of ratio with that of other kids at demanding college prep programs. There are some hard-nosed, old-school teachers and they grade accordingly. It can be a tough wake-up call for kids who are smart enough to skate through most programs.

Yes, it is very similar to BASIS in many ways in terms of seeking academic rigor. The differences are that they "weed out" according to the rights of private schools from the outset. There are always some kids who don't rise to the challenge, but the ones who attend the school all could do the work. They take kids with well-maintained ADHD, high-functioning Asperger's, anxiety/depression, as long as the parents and child (as appropriate) are aware of what the school can and cannot do for the student. They are clear about what they can and cannot accommodate, which is in keeping with the rights of a non-public school.

St. Anselm's has about 40% of its students on financial aid. If you know anything about Benedictine monasticism, you will know that they will do anything they can to make a St. Anselm's education possible for your family. If the numbers show that you could pay $20K/year and you feel you really couldn't, the reality is probably somewhere in the middle. The FA office will be happy to have a discussion with you on the subject to see if a compromise can be made. As is the case with other schools, sometimes families don't want to do what it takes to make the sacrifice. St. Anselm's is very much a middle-class school for which many families are willing to make an extra sacrifice. I totally understand that that is not possible in all cases.

BASIS states that if a student is willing to work hard and take advantage of the extra help they can succeed at the school. I think the jury is still out on that. I know some of the families of kids who left and there are stories there. They are stories that are not mine to tell, but they are interesting ones.

I hope BASIS succeeds, but I think they need to beef up their support mechanisms to make sure no one is left behind who truly wants to do the work.

[Anonymous]

Is there a similar school to St A's for girls in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, where do you plan to send your super-bright fourth grader?

We're planning to keep him in DCPS for 5th, then St. Anselm's (boys Benedictine Abbey school) in Brookland, if he gets in. We're not Catholic but the school is 10K cheaper than many NW privates, and closer to us, and sends many boys to Georgetown, Ivies etc. He will continue to do Johns Hopkins CTY camps in the summers, which he loves. St. Anselm's is no jock school, but at least they have grass, a stage, an orchestra etc. I also like the fact that they don't weed boys out. DC is shy so we don't want hard-earned friends leaving.

I know little about St. Anselm's, so I read some of the reviews on http://www.greatschools.org/washington-dc/washington/172-St.-Anselms-Abbey-School/?sortBy=&tab=reviews&page=1

The vast majority of the reviews were positive.

The following review levels charges against St. Anselm's that are similar to those often leveled against BASIS DC:

This is a great school that struggles a bit with boys not focused on academic achievement. Like any school, it's better for students who enjoy studying or have structures that support 3-4 hours of homework. Along with others, our son struggles in courses like Latin and Physics with significant homework loads and demanding teachers not inclined to focus on marginal students. Occasionally, that has meant as many as half of a class receive a D or F and face academic probation. The school gives its teachers and students a lot of freedom and the boys not as in tune with the academic rigor can disrupt a class or make inappropriate comments. In other private schools, talented kids who are high C or low B students might not be as marginalized in class, or may excel in athletics or extracurriculars (not a major focus here), and see themselves as valued (if not outstanding) members of academic community. The more-or-less bottom half of the classes here seem to suffer here more than at other schools with similar profiles. Our experience is this is wonderfulfor a talented boy who studies but will stress someone who is gifted but not inclined to study more than 10 hours a week.

The following would give me pause:

I was excited to have my bright son attend St. Anselm's, but it really turned into a nightmare. The bullying was brutal and the school seemed not to care. Multiple times I asked for help and none was given. I was told that my son's class was exceptionally horrid and at one point an administrator said most of the boys with ugly behavior would be asked to leave-that did not happen. I feel this was a good school that lost its way. Overt racial hatred really was soul-crushing to my son. We are a family that embraces all cultures and when kids made whipping noises to the african-american students and made impassioned arguments about slavery being morally correct, I could only shake my head and promise my son to get him out of the school.
—Submitted by a parent

Good luck to you and your son.

Interesting, the vast majority of the St. Anselm's reviews on Great Schools are positive. When I checked BASIS DC on Great Schools was was surprised by the large number of negative reviews. Why didn't you post those on DCUM?

4 out of 23 is a very large number!

[Anonymous]

I'm no expert on public school education in this city, but having visited the Penn Quarter building a couple times to check the school out for my 3rd grader, it's clear that BASIS has made a few big mistakes in DC. Wrong building, wrong starting size, wrong population pyramid.

They should have held out for a more workable arrangement, going to the DC City Council Committee on Education to lobby for it and generating press coverage when the DC Public Charter Board shot them down initially.

Their high octane academic program would have worked better with mandatory summer prep for kids who weren't already ahead of the curve, better facilities (yes, at least a bball court, and, yes, multipurpose room with stage), and without the rowdy, cash cow 6th-8th grade population. They should have started with 5th somewhere else and added one grade per year - other charters have done it.

Too bad, because the out-of-the-box high standards are a welcome change of pace. I say this as an MIT grad who's leaning toward the burbs. My kid did Johns Hopkins CTY last summer for math - instructors think he will test into a MoCo 4th-5th grade Highly Gifted Center. He's 5th grade algebra material but also into music - we probably want a stage and orchestra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

By the way, where do you plan to send your super-bright fourth grader?

We're planning to keep him in DCPS for 5th, then St. Anselm's (boys Benedictine Abbey school) in Brookland, if he gets in. We're not Catholic but the school is 10K cheaper than many NW privates, and closer to us, and sends many boys to Georgetown, Ivies etc. He will continue to do Johns Hopkins CTY camps in the summers, which he loves. St. Anselm's is no jock school, but at least they have grass, a stage, an orchestra etc. I also like the fact that they don't weed boys out. DC is shy so we don't want hard-earned friends leaving.

I know little about St. Anselm's, so I read some of the reviews on http://www.greatschools.org/washington-dc/washington/172-St.-Anselms-Abbey-School/?sortBy=&tab=reviews&page=1

The vast majority of the reviews were positive.

The following review levels charges against St. Anselm's that are similar to those often leveled against BASIS DC:

This is a great school that struggles a bit with boys not focused on academic achievement. Like any school, it's better for students who enjoy studying or have structures that support 3-4 hours of homework. Along with others, our son struggles in courses like Latin and Physics with significant homework loads and demanding teachers not inclined to focus on marginal students. Occasionally, that has meant as many as half of a class receive a D or F and face academic probation. The school gives its teachers and students a lot of freedom and the boys not as in tune with the academic rigor can disrupt a class or make inappropriate comments. In other private schools, talented kids who are high C or low B students might not be as marginalized in class, or may excel in athletics or extracurriculars (not a major focus here), and see themselves as valued (if not outstanding) members of academic community. The more-or-less bottom half of the classes here seem to suffer here more than at other schools with similar profiles. Our experience is this is wonderfulfor a talented boy who studies but will stress someone who is gifted but not inclined to study more than 10 hours a week.

The following would give me pause:

I was excited to have my bright son attend St. Anselm's, but it really turned into a nightmare. The bullying was brutal and the school seemed not to care. Multiple times I asked for help and none was given. I was told that my son's class was exceptionally horrid and at one point an administrator said most of the boys with ugly behavior would be asked to leave-that did not happen. I feel this was a good school that lost its way. Overt racial hatred really was soul-crushing to my son. We are a family that embraces all cultures and when kids made whipping noises to the african-american students and made impassioned arguments about slavery being morally correct, I could only shake my head and promise my son to get him out of the school.
—Submitted by a parent

Good luck to you and your son.

Interesting, the vast majority of the St. Anselm's reviews on Great Schools are positive. When I checked BASIS DC on Great Schools was was surprised by the large number of negative reviews. Why didn't you post those on DCUM?

The Great Schools reviews of BASIS have been discussed on DCUM before. There is little point in bringing them up again.

I did note, however, that the fist negative St. Anselm's review I posted is similar to the negative reviews I've read about BASIS in the past. Both schools appear to cater to bright motivated children.

It was the second review of St. Anselm's that I found very troubling. I have yet to hear of that sort of behavior at BASIS DC and I see no similar posts on Great Schools.

Of course, you should feel free to read through the reviews of BASIS DC on Great Schools and post those which you think are germane to the discussion.