BASIS DC - New Head of School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS clearly needs more competition for the strongest DC public school middle school students.

Without any test-in/GT MS programs in the city, comparable rigor is impossible to find, particularly for math and science, even at Deal.

Please help me understand this picture. BASIS is rigorous in every subject. Every student get above grade level instruction in math and English. Biology, chemistry and physics is given to every middle school student for three years. After all this, students who reach 9th grade are unable to pass the AP exams (4th year doing the same science) and may not graduate. There are two logical explanations here -- either the students are not understanding the advanced concepts taught throughout all these years or instruction is not as advanced as the school is claiming to be.

See 13:39.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS clearly needs more competition for the strongest DC public school middle school students.

Without any test-in/GT MS programs in the city, comparable rigor is impossible to find, particularly for math and science, even at Deal.

Please help me understand this picture. BASIS is rigorous in every subject. Every student get above grade level instruction in math and English. Biology, chemistry and physics is given to every middle school student for three years. After all this, students who reach 9th grade are unable to pass the AP exams (4th year doing the same science) and may not graduate. There are two logical explanations here -- either the students are not understanding the advanced concepts taught throughout all these years or instruction is not as advanced as the school is claiming to be.

See 13:39.

+1 my BASIS student just took one of the mock aps they offered recently and thought it was not that hard after so many years of study, however it was also noticed that the student who struggle in the class did not take advantage of the chance to take a practice AP exam. It is possible to just get by in class and be a poor test taker and bomb the AP. Maybe they need to have a lesser BASIS diploma for those students - it’s not like they haven’t taken more than the DCPS required courseload.

[Anonymous]

a lesser BASIS diploma??? Isn’t it just a high school diploma? And which colleges will this year’s graduates attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a lesser BASIS diploma??? Isn’t it just a high school diploma? And which colleges will this year’s graduates attend?

Well, the passed AP is a BASISrequirement. It not a DCPS requirement (if only they aimed that high!) seems wrong for them to not graduate with Moreno than enough actual high school credits.

[Anonymous]

How is stability with the HOS at BASIS private in McLean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is stability with the HOS at BASIS private in McLean?

About the same. 2-3 years is a long tenure for any Basis school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SMH, BASIS doesn't have consistency, I'd be worried to send me kid there.

Since BASIS does not accept new students past 6th grade, the current sophomores and juniors have had at least 5 years of rigorous world class education in every subject. So how is the school justifying the fact that many students are not getting at least a "3" on the AP exam? Also, I heard from a very reliable source that the SAT scores are in general quite mediocre two years in a row. Since the school has the upside down pyramid model and the weak students have been weeded out or left, shouldn't the majority of the students who survived score well?

And folks on other threads keep claiming we have so many gifted & talented children in the District,

EXACTLY -- you'd think the Darwinian struggle to get past 7th grade would leave a really strong cohort but it just ensures the relatively few families gulping the kool aid remain in the fold

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The strongest BASIS MS students mostly leave for happier high schools. The joyless building, ridiculous grade pressure and weak extra-curricular offerings dissuade many families from staying. As somebody who has volunteered at BASIS, grew up in a working-class family and loved my studies as a teen and 20-something (Ivies for BA, MA and PhD), I can't understand for the life of me why BASIS insists that the program be a grind for most of the kids. They're shooting themselves in the foot for no good reason.

I call BS on this poster and all their advanced degrees unless pp is one of the families who used BASIS MS as a springboard for Sidwell, Choate, etc. The same students who weren’t born with a silver spoon or legacy status at privates are still lining up at the awards ceremonies in high school. The students who left for IB Wilson saw the writing on the wall and the ones who left for SWW were the ones who had wished they had picked Latin in the first place.

Not the PP you're arguing with, but as a BASIS parent, I second the motion! The crappy building, over the top (and pointless) grade pressure and lame extra curriculars certainly drive a lot of families out before, and during, high school. The program is definitely, and needlessly, a grind for most students. BASIS Arizona can be blamed for most of the DC campus' problems, not the kids or even the teachers and admins.

You're supporting PPs arguments in talking about how BASIS DC students leave for Wilson and Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is stability with the HOS at BASIS private in McLean?

About the same. 2-3 years is a long tenure for any Basis school.

Sean Aiken was there prior to opening, the entire first year and then left fall of the 2nd year. They brought on an Associate HOS from Exeter last summer and he became HOS when Sean left. The majority of the admin team was not there when the school opened last year.

[Anonymous]

+1000 I often wondered why Basis DC has not recognized the need to amend the Charter to better serve its DC student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1000 I often wondered why Basis DC has not recognized the need to amend the Charter to better serve its DC student body.

Because serving the DC student body is the least of their worries.
It is a for profit institution serving the interest of selected families so that their students graduate with a very high GPA.

[Anonymous]

How so I become a selected family?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How so I become a selected family?

Ha!

I wish I knew. I have had 2 kids at BASIS; one does well, the other is struggling. Some years I've donated and volunteered; other years I haven't. It's made NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever.

There's not an inner circle, a secret handshake or elite status. It's just a school that expects an awful lot out of middle schoolers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How so I become a selected family?

Ha!

I wish I knew. I have had 2 kids at BASIS; one does well, the other is struggling. Some years I've donated and volunteered; other years I haven't. It's made NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever.

There's not an inner circle, a secret handshake or elite status. It's just a school that expects an awful lot out of middle schoolers.

Excellent damage control pp.

[Anonymous]

Basis seems to get singled out but all private schools are essentially money making Institutions. It does not matter whether they are organized as a for-profit or nonprofit. The heads of school at institutions such as Sidwell and Georgetown prep make 400,000 to 800,000 per year. The profit these schools make is hidden in enormous administrative salaries.

[Anonymous]

How so I become a selected family?


Ha!

I wish I knew. I have had 2 kids at BASIS; one does well, the other is struggling. Some years I've donated and volunteered; other years I haven't. It's made NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever.

There's not an inner circle, a secret handshake or elite status. It's just a school that expects an awful lot out of middle schoolers.

+1000, another Basis parent from a not selected family