Basis is sucking the energy out of my child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While it’s far from perfect, there is a good amount of self-selection that already occurs at Basis. The incoming 5th grade definitely reflects a higher-performing group of kids than most schools. And at my high-performing Capitol Hill elementary school, a number of parents opted against Basis because they assessed it wouldn’t be a good match for their kids. (But a small number of kids with academic challenges still enrolled at Basis.)

While threads like this, which overall reflect badly on the school, tend to make me defensive, they do serve a purpose in warning parents to think hard about whether their kids are a good match.

Signed,
Very happy parent of a thriving Basis kid, with a younger kid who will not be enrolling at Basis, as she’s a poor match

Yes, and a good amount of self-selection occurs at BASIS on the part of families where kids can work fast enough to burn through homework, but leave before HS anyway. My kid was a "good match" student, but we left for a parochial school anyway because it's a dreary school with weak facilities. He wanted to perform, play on a serious sports team, play in an orchestra, get fresh air and exercise during the day, attend a school with its own TV station, with a language lab, computer lab, library/media center, decent art and music rooms etc.

I don't think that's a flaw with BASIS, though. It's a very small school, so of course the sports, orchestra, drama, and other "larger school" activities will be limited. There will always be some number of kids who decide that they want the larger school experience and leave the smaller schools like BASIS. What I've noticed is that the kids who stay are the ones in the fringe sports that normally wouldn't have high school teams anyway, and the ones who play non-band/orchestra instruments, like piano or guitar, or play in local youth orchestras.

They can't make the self selection perfect.

Our not very religious parochial school has smaller grade cohorts than BASIS. It has a small but strong band and orchestra, a lively school newspaper, a good choir, nicely done school play (with parents directing as volunteers). We pay just 11K per year. What's most different is the psychology and spirit of the place. They believe in character and ethnics training and offering a well-rounded education, vs. a focus on prepping kids to ace high school standardized tests.

No, what's most different is that its a private school, where you pay money, where they can select and remove kids, that is financed by the church, and where they don't need to meet state run testing standards.

FFS.

Deal parent, former BASIS parent who disagrees. The criticism is fair. At Deal have fine extra-curriculars, an upbeat atmosphere, plays, musical ensembles, a choir, competitive sports and so forth.

We also have 7th grade algebra and students who go on to Wilson then Ivy League and other super elite colleges and universities.

Sorry as I feel for DC families who don't have a Deal, don't try to convince us that the depressing atmosphere at BASIS can be blamed on the PS environment per se.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While it’s far from perfect, there is a good amount of self-selection that already occurs at Basis. The incoming 5th grade definitely reflects a higher-performing group of kids than most schools. And at my high-performing Capitol Hill elementary school, a number of parents opted against Basis because they assessed it wouldn’t be a good match for their kids. (But a small number of kids with academic challenges still enrolled at Basis.)

While threads like this, which overall reflect badly on the school, tend to make me defensive, they do serve a purpose in warning parents to think hard about whether their kids are a good match.

Signed,
Very happy parent of a thriving Basis kid, with a younger kid who will not be enrolling at Basis, as she’s a poor match

Yes, and a good amount of self-selection occurs at BASIS on the part of families where kids can work fast enough to burn through homework, but leave before HS anyway. My kid was a "good match" student, but we left for a parochial school anyway because it's a dreary school with weak facilities. He wanted to perform, play on a serious sports team, play in an orchestra, get fresh air and exercise during the day, attend a school with its own TV station, with a language lab, computer lab, library/media center, decent art and music rooms etc.

I don't think that's a flaw with BASIS, though. It's a very small school, so of course the sports, orchestra, drama, and other "larger school" activities will be limited. There will always be some number of kids who decide that they want the larger school experience and leave the smaller schools like BASIS. What I've noticed is that the kids who stay are the ones in the fringe sports that normally wouldn't have high school teams anyway, and the ones who play non-band/orchestra instruments, like piano or guitar, or play in local youth orchestras.

They can't make the self selection perfect.

Our not very religious parochial school has smaller grade cohorts than BASIS. It has a small but strong band and orchestra, a lively school newspaper, a good choir, nicely done school play (with parents directing as volunteers). We pay just 11K per year. What's most different is the psychology and spirit of the place. They believe in character and ethnics training and offering a well-rounded education, vs. a focus on prepping kids to ace high school standardized tests.

No, what's most different is that its a private school, where you pay money, where they can select and remove kids, that is financed by the church, and where they don't need to meet state run testing standards.

FFS.

Deal parent, former BASIS parent who disagrees. The criticism is fair. At Deal have fine extra-curriculars, an upbeat atmosphere, plays, musical ensembles, a choir, competitive sports and so forth.

We also have 7th grade algebra and students who go on to Wilson then Ivy League and other super elite colleges and universities.

Sorry as I feel for DC families who don't have a Deal, don't try to convince us that the depressing atmosphere at BASIS can be blamed on the PS environment per se.

Deal can have all those nice things because of the economy of scale. But size can also lead to problems. See the many threads about fighting, crowding.
Private school can have those nice things because they charge money and select their students.

Smaller schools like BASIS have neither the size nor the private revenue to fund a ton of extracurriculars.

[Anonymous]

I would not pull my kid from Basis for parochial school in a million years, but I respect that parochial school is a preferred option for some families.

If I were IB for Deal perhaps I would opt for it over Basis.

But my kids are presently extremely happy at Basis, thriving in fact. If they weren’t we would go private or move. But we presently have no reason to fix what isn’t broken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not pull my kid from Basis for parochial school in a million years, but I respect that parochial school is a preferred option for some families.

If I were IB for Deal perhaps I would opt for it over Basis.

But my kids are presently extremely happy at Basis, thriving in fact. If they weren’t we would go private or move. But we presently have no reason to fix what isn’t broken.

+1. The most valid criticism people should have for BASIS is that it's a very bad fit for about half of the kids who are admitted. The strongest critics here are people for whom the school was a very bad fit. That's fine, and I respect that. What I don't respect is the incessant need of those parents to trash the school or even try to abolish it. The school is a great fit for some kids. Why do you so strongly want to take a good fit away from those kids just because it was the wrong fit for your kid? It has been a great fit for my kids, and they don't find it depressing or overwhelming at all. I'm thrilled that BASIS is there for the people who want it, but there are numerous other options for the people who would be a bad fit for BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not pull my kid from Basis for parochial school in a million years, but I respect that parochial school is a preferred option for some families.

If I were IB for Deal perhaps I would opt for it over Basis.

But my kids are presently extremely happy at Basis, thriving in fact. If they weren’t we would go private or move. But we presently have no reason to fix what isn’t broken.

+1. The most valid criticism people should have for BASIS is that it's a very bad fit for about half of the kids who are admitted. The strongest critics here are people for whom the school was a very bad fit. That's fine, and I respect that. What I don't respect is the incessant need of those parents to trash the school or even try to abolish it. The school is a great fit for some kids. Why do you so strongly want to take a good fit away from those kids just because it was the wrong fit for your kid? It has been a great fit for my kids, and they don't find it depressing or overwhelming at all. I'm thrilled that BASIS is there for the people who want it, but there are numerous other options for the people who would be a bad fit for BASIS.

+1 there also seems to be this incessant need to argue with the folks who are happy with Basis and try to convince them that they are wrong/misguided/haven't yet seen the light (that is private school or Deal or moving to the suburbs or . .. ).

[Anonymous]

Sounds to me like most of the BASIS posters here have 5th, 6th, maybe 7th graders. I don't know too many high school families are thrilled with BASIS. OK, maybe, loving it, no longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not pull my kid from Basis for parochial school in a million years, but I respect that parochial school is a preferred option for some families.

If I were IB for Deal perhaps I would opt for it over Basis.

But my kids are presently extremely happy at Basis, thriving in fact. If they weren’t we would go private or move. But we presently have no reason to fix what isn’t broken.

+1. The most valid criticism people should have for BASIS is that it's a very bad fit for about half of the kids who are admitted. The strongest critics here are people for whom the school was a very bad fit. That's fine, and I respect that. What I don't respect is the incessant need of those parents to trash the school or even try to abolish it. The school is a great fit for some kids. Why do you so strongly want to take a good fit away from those kids just because it was the wrong fit for your kid? It has been a great fit for my kids, and they don't find it depressing or overwhelming at all. I'm thrilled that BASIS is there for the people who want it, but there are numerous other options for the people who would be a bad fit for BASIS.

Where are the results of an anonymous parent survey regarding the quality of the program at BASIS DC? I used to work at a public school in MoCo where school satisfaction surveys were not only done every year or two, the results were, and are, public. You can see them on school profile web site pages. Claim what you want here, pro and con. Where's the data? Why should we believe any of the drivel about BASIS on this thread or any other?

[Anonymous]

All DCPS and DCPCS care about are test scores and retention rates.

BASIS does well on those metrics relative to most other DC public schools.

Worth remembering that we're mired in relativism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How social are the kids at Basis? Do they hang out together after school or on weekends? Do they do sleepovers, etc?

They are as social as any other MS and HS kids and do have fun with their friends in normal times. The only challenge is that they may live all over the city.

My son left BASIS for larger pastures after 8th. But most of his close friends are from his Basis days. Of the five of them, 3 are still at Basis (10th grade now).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds to me like most of the BASIS posters here have 5th, 6th, maybe 7th graders. I don't know too many high school families are thrilled with BASIS. OK, maybe, loving it, no longer.

Happy BASIS high school parent here and we had a child graduate from BASIS DC who is in college. The kid currently there loves it and is is thriving and we have zero regrets about staying at the school for high school. I haven’t posted on this forum in years because I was tired of being called a senseless booster when I said anything positive about the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How social are the kids at Basis? Do they hang out together after school or on weekends? Do they do sleepovers, etc?

They are as social as any other MS and HS kids and do have fun with their friends in normal times. The only challenge is that they may live all over the city.

My son left BASIS for larger pastures after 8th. But most of his close friends are from his Basis days. Of the five of them, 3 are still at Basis (10th grade now).

That’s nice. Good to hear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds to me like most of the BASIS posters here have 5th, 6th, maybe 7th graders. I don't know too many high school families are thrilled with BASIS. OK, maybe, loving it, no longer.

Happy BASIS high school parent here and we had a child graduate from BASIS DC who is in college. The kid currently there loves it and is is thriving and we have zero regrets about staying at the school for high school. I haven’t posted on this forum in years because I was tired of being called a senseless booster when I said anything positive about the school.

And I'm tired of being told that my kid was not a "good match" by veritable senseless boosters because he couldn't be happy in a school with little in the way of fun, exercise, art education, natural light or respect for individual learning styles and preferences. He's also thriving elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds to me like most of the BASIS posters here have 5th, 6th, maybe 7th graders. I don't know too many high school families are thrilled with BASIS. OK, maybe, loving it, no longer.

Happy BASIS high school parent here and we had a child graduate from BASIS DC who is in college. The kid currently there loves it and is is thriving and we have zero regrets about staying at the school for high school. I haven’t posted on this forum in years because I was tired of being called a senseless booster when I said anything positive about the school.

And I'm tired of being told that my kid was not a "good match" by veritable senseless boosters because he couldn't be happy in a school with little in the way of fun, exercise, art education, natural light or respect for individual learning styles and preferences. He's also thriving elsewhere.

wow, someone is feeling a bit dog-in-the-manger! it actually sounds like your kid wasn't a good match - not sure why you find that offensive?

[Anonymous]

My math and science whiz kid wasn't a good match because he wanted a school library where he could sit and reflect and select books. He wanted a gym, where he could shoot baskets to blow off steam. He wanted windows in the cafeteria. He wanted basic inputs any halfway decent public school serving more than 500 "academically advanced" students should obviously offer.

[Anonymous]

^^ It also sounds like you left for reasons 100% known before even enrolling.