Capitol Hill - middle school and beyond?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m new to the area. Can someone help?

DCI?
Latin?
Basis?
ITS?

Can you give me the general gist if these schools?

Thank you.

Lol, I hope this is a joke, but here:

DCI: Dual language with tracks in Spanish, French, and Chinese. You will not get in unless your child attends one of the feeder elementaries, especially if you are Spanish track, as feeders get preference in the lottery (lots of Spanish feeders, only one Chinese and a couple French). Most of those are hard to get into via the lottery, especially for PK. So this may come down to your willingness to send your kid to immersion in 1st or 2nd grade. YMMV.

Latin: People seem to like it ok. Better option than Eastern for sure. Two campuses, the newer one (Cooper) is closer to the Hill, though a temporary space that isn't that great. They have an IB diploma program. You have to lottery for this and there are no feeders, and lots of people don't get spots.

BASIS: Very math/science focused, very testing focused. Lots of stuff on the Basis approach online, go look it up. People who really care about high math scores like Basis a lot because that can be hard to find in DC. Campus is in Chinatown, reasonable commute from the Hill. But not a great fit if you really care about things like having access to arts, athletics, foreign language at school (many BASIS families do those, but outside school). It's kind of a love it or hate it situation. Also incredibly hard to get into via the lottery.

ITS: This is a fairly progressive charter with emphasis on social justice and socio-emotional learning, though they have decent test scores. Elementary feeds to middle, if you don't get into ITS in PK there are opportunities to lottery in during middle elementary or even just for middle school, and you don't have the immersion issue if you do. MS is very small, which is not for everyone (limits activities and certain course offerings as well). Like BASIS, this school is either a good fit for you or it's really not a good fit for you. Know yourself.

Five years ago, most people would have put every one of these schools above the Ward 6 middle schools. Now, there are more people who would argue the proximity, size, and offerings of Stuart Hobson, Eliot-Hine, and Jefferson Academy make them better options for many students. They all have better IB buy-in than they used to, and it will likely increase as competition for spots at charters gets harder.

However, pretty much everyone still prefers any of these over Eastern High School (save ITS, which only goes through middle), so even people who are open minded about the DCPS middle schools will lottery for spots at these schools in order to have a more concrete HS path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New USN&WR rankings are out.

BASIS DC retained its rankings as #1 middle public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective high school in DC.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia

My kids are at BASIS. And I care not at all about USN&WR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m new to the area. Can someone help?

DCI?
Latin?
Basis?
ITS?

Can you give me the general gist if these schools?

Thank you.

Lol, I hope this is a joke, but here:

DCI: Dual language with tracks in Spanish, French, and Chinese. You will not get in unless your child attends one of the feeder elementaries, especially if you are Spanish track, as feeders get preference in the lottery (lots of Spanish feeders, only one Chinese and a couple French). Most of those are hard to get into via the lottery, especially for PK. So this may come down to your willingness to send your kid to immersion in 1st or 2nd grade. YMMV.

Latin: People seem to like it ok. Better option than Eastern for sure. Two campuses, the newer one (Cooper) is closer to the Hill, though a temporary space that isn't that great. They have an IB diploma program. You have to lottery for this and there are no feeders, and lots of people don't get spots.

BASIS: Very math/science focused, very testing focused. Lots of stuff on the Basis approach online, go look it up. People who really care about high math scores like Basis a lot because that can be hard to find in DC. Campus is in Chinatown, reasonable commute from the Hill. But not a great fit if you really care about things like having access to arts, athletics, foreign language at school (many BASIS families do those, but outside school). It's kind of a love it or hate it situation. Also incredibly hard to get into via the lottery.

ITS: This is a fairly progressive charter with emphasis on social justice and socio-emotional learning, though they have decent test scores. Elementary feeds to middle, if you don't get into ITS in PK there are opportunities to lottery in during middle elementary or even just for middle school, and you don't have the immersion issue if you do. MS is very small, which is not for everyone (limits activities and certain course offerings as well). Like BASIS, this school is either a good fit for you or it's really not a good fit for you. Know yourself.

Five years ago, most people would have put every one of these schools above the Ward 6 middle schools. Now, there are more people who would argue the proximity, size, and offerings of Stuart Hobson, Eliot-Hine, and Jefferson Academy make them better options for many students. They all have better IB buy-in than they used to, and it will likely increase as competition for spots at charters gets harder.

However, pretty much everyone still prefers any of these over Eastern High School (save ITS, which only goes through middle), so even people who are open minded about the DCPS middle schools will lottery for spots at these schools in order to have a more concrete HS path.

Just to be clear, t's true that DCI will be harder to get into as the feeder school expansions come of age to enter 6th. But for now, non-feeder admissions are definitely a thing, just not in Spanish. For example 30 non-feeder kids matched for French this year, and they've made offers for Chinese as well.

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay

The great thing about ITS is you can have your middle schoolers, elementary schoolers, and preschoolers in a single location and all on the same calendar. Preschool and elementary are pretty great, and I think middle school has room for improvement but is about as good as you're going to get in a lottery-admissions, small-size school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have lived on the hill a decade now with no plans to leave - DH is obsessed with being in the city and we can't afford upper NW so for the foreseeable future we plan to stay in our townhouse. Both kids are in a DCI feeder school so we are putting all our eggs in the DCI basket. Will try for one of the Latin campuses in 6th if we don't get into DCI.

You should prod DH on whether he really believes that people really he cool because he lives near the federal government.

I am the PP who is moving and my DH was like this too, and actually it really is worth it to unpack why one or both partners are very attached to living "in the city." For my DH, he had this idea that moving outside the city was moving backwards because he'd lived in the suburbs in his 20s before finally moving into DC and being much happier to be close to friends and things to do. He moved into DC around the time we met, and he associates moving into DC as the time his life got really good.

But that was over a decade ago, before we married, owned a home, or had kids. When I'd suggest moving, he'd talk about how lonely he was in the burbs and how much less lonely his is now, and it took some time for me to convince him that living in a 1-bedroom apartment in the suburbs at the age of 26 is a totally different deal than living in a 3 bedroom house with your wife and family in your 40s. I actually think that potentially we will be more social and go out more once we move, because our lifestyle will be more in line with neighbors and also the lower cost of living will leave more money for babysitters and date nights.

It is somewhat comical how long it took to convince him of this but eventually he came around. But yes, initially he was incredibly attached to staying in the city, like if he left it would be some kind of tragedy. We're talking about moving 30 minutes away to a close-in suburb!

Different strokes for different folks.

My sister and her DH are home homebodies and burbs would fit them fine.

Whereas we do a lot of things in the city with dining out, Kennedy center, theater, concerts, family friendly activities in the city. Even if we moved just 1/2 hour outside, there is no way we would do 2/3rd of the things we would do because of the hassle of driving into the city.

It’s much easier though because we have only 1 and more time for outside interests/hobbies/friends and don’t need a huge place.

I agree different strokes but you make it sound like all city people go out a lot and the suburbs are just for staying home. This is a weird binary. Everyone I know in the suburbs goes out a ton. It's just more likely to be stuff like an evening bike ride with kids, a backyard BBQ with other families, hiking nearby, etc.

Not all suburbs are huge and sprawling with big houses either. I also know people who live in dense close in suburbs, in walkable neighborhoods close to Metro, who regularly do the things you mention.

The primary difference between them and people on CH is that they have an acceptable IB HS situation. Not lifestyle.

I'm not buying this. My ex lives in Arlington and we share custody so my kids go to an Arlington public MS. My life would be easier if I moved to Arlington to be closer to my ex but I'm not going. The Arlington lifestyle doesn't appeal. I won't give up Hill density, longtime friends, neighbors, activities, lovely architecture, or my walkable/bikeable commute to a Congressional office building. My kids don't want me to move.

I've been sleeping with your ex since about a year before you got divorced and I can assure you our quality of life is excellent. The number of places we've hooked up in the burbs would make your head spin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that, when it comes to in-bounds by-right schools on the Hill that kids can walk to and go to school with their neighbors, it breaks down to some great ES options, a few mediocre at best MS options, and no viable HS option.

So, your choices are:

- Move
- lottery
- Private

The obvious upside to lottery or private is that you don't have to move. But the downside of lottery is the uncertainty (and that none of the lottery schools are better than what you'd find in a strong public off the Hill) and the downside of private is $$ and perhaps culture depending on your views on that.

The upside to moving is that you move where you want your kid to go to school and you have instant community and a neighborhood school that they can ideally walk to, and attend through 12th. The downside is uprooting and in many cases, $$.

Everyone is going to value these factors differently. And different choices will be different for different famiiles. But these are the factors to consider.

There's another option, homeschool for middle school. We have Hill neighbors who homeschooled two teens for 7th and 8th grades, after bailing from DCI. They hired a variety of tutors to help, before sending their kids to parochial high schools (St. John's, St. Anselm's).

I bet those kids are REALLY well adjusted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that, when it comes to in-bounds by-right schools on the Hill that kids can walk to and go to school with their neighbors, it breaks down to some great ES options, a few mediocre at best MS options, and no viable HS option.

So, your choices are:

- Move
- lottery
- Private

The obvious upside to lottery or private is that you don't have to move. But the downside of lottery is the uncertainty (and that none of the lottery schools are better than what you'd find in a strong public off the Hill) and the downside of private is $$ and perhaps culture depending on your views on that.

The upside to moving is that you move where you want your kid to go to school and you have instant community and a neighborhood school that they can ideally walk to, and attend through 12th. The downside is uprooting and in many cases, $$.

Everyone is going to value these factors differently. And different choices will be different for different famiiles. But these are the factors to consider.

There's another option, homeschool for middle school. We have Hill neighbors who homeschooled two teens for 7th and 8th grades, after bailing from DCI. They hired a variety of tutors to help, before sending their kids to parochial high schools (St. John's, St. Anselm's).

I bet those kids are REALLY well adjusted.

DP (I'm one of the people who is planning to move because I can't deal with the lack of a secure path) but I think this is rude and inaccurate. I don't get the hate on homeschooling. When schools are bad or uneven, or just not meeting your kid's needs, I don't see what the issue is with homeschooling for a year or two until you can find a better spot for them. I know a couple families who have done this (not in DC) and it was definitely the right choice for them. And they aren't religious fundamentalists or anti-vaxxers or any of the fringe stuff people associate with homeschoolers.

Look, if schools were all universally good and we lived in a culture that really valued public education, I can see thinking homeschool is off. But it's weird to have that attitude on a thread where the premise is literally "hey, fellow CH families, what's your plan for dealing with the mishmash clusterf*** that is our public school options on the Hill." I don't see how homeschooling for a couple years is somehow crazier (or worse for kids) than playing the lottery every year for 8 years, or moving, or commuting to a school across town, or all they myriad of other solutions people have mentioned, not ONE of which is "I will send my children to their inbound public schools on the Hill through high school graduation."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have lived on the hill a decade now with no plans to leave - DH is obsessed with being in the city and we can't afford upper NW so for the foreseeable future we plan to stay in our townhouse. Both kids are in a DCI feeder school so we are putting all our eggs in the DCI basket. Will try for one of the Latin campuses in 6th if we don't get into DCI.

You should prod DH on whether he really believes that people really he cool because he lives near the federal government.

I am the PP who is moving and my DH was like this too, and actually it really is worth it to unpack why one or both partners are very attached to living "in the city." For my DH, he had this idea that moving outside the city was moving backwards because he'd lived in the suburbs in his 20s before finally moving into DC and being much happier to be close to friends and things to do. He moved into DC around the time we met, and he associates moving into DC as the time his life got really good.

But that was over a decade ago, before we married, owned a home, or had kids. When I'd suggest moving, he'd talk about how lonely he was in the burbs and how much less lonely his is now, and it took some time for me to convince him that living in a 1-bedroom apartment in the suburbs at the age of 26 is a totally different deal than living in a 3 bedroom house with your wife and family in your 40s. I actually think that potentially we will be more social and go out more once we move, because our lifestyle will be more in line with neighbors and also the lower cost of living will leave more money for babysitters and date nights.

It is somewhat comical how long it took to convince him of this but eventually he came around. But yes, initially he was incredibly attached to staying in the city, like if he left it would be some kind of tragedy. We're talking about moving 30 minutes away to a close-in suburb!

Different strokes for different folks.

My sister and her DH are home homebodies and burbs would fit them fine.

Whereas we do a lot of things in the city with dining out, Kennedy center, theater, concerts, family friendly activities in the city. Even if we moved just 1/2 hour outside, there is no way we would do 2/3rd of the things we would do because of the hassle of driving into the city.

It’s much easier though because we have only 1 and more time for outside interests/hobbies/friends and don’t need a huge place.

I agree different strokes but you make it sound like all city people go out a lot and the suburbs are just for staying home. This is a weird binary. Everyone I know in the suburbs goes out a ton. It's just more likely to be stuff like an evening bike ride with kids, a backyard BBQ with other families, hiking nearby, etc.

Not all suburbs are huge and sprawling with big houses either. I also know people who live in dense close in suburbs, in walkable neighborhoods close to Metro, who regularly do the things you mention.

The primary difference between them and people on CH is that they have an acceptable IB HS situation. Not lifestyle.

I'm not buying this. My ex lives in Arlington and we share custody so my kids go to an Arlington public MS. My life would be easier if I moved to Arlington to be closer to my ex but I'm not going. The Arlington lifestyle doesn't appeal. I won't give up Hill density, longtime friends, neighbors, activities, lovely architecture, or my walkable/bikeable commute to a Congressional office building. My kids don't want me to move.

Dear My Ex Lives in Arlington while I Enjoy the Hill,

You do realize you have benefits from 2 locations while most families have to commit to 1?

Your children enjoy the Arlington schools while you enjoy CH. You are child free 50% of the time & can enjoy city life as an adult. Your children get to experience a decently supported & run school. Of course they don't want you to move. They can enjoy the city as well but not have to experience the public schools. They might not appreciate that now but ...

Presumably your ex enjoys Arlington.

Signed,
Some are Able to Have their Cake & Eat it TOO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New USN&WR rankings are out.

BASIS DC retained its rankings as #1 middle public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective high school in DC.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia

My kids are at BASIS. And I care not at all about USN&WR.

Yet you care enough to comment here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New USN&WR rankings are out.

BASIS DC retained its rankings as #1 middle public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective high school in DC.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia

My kids are at BASIS. And I care not at all about USN&WR.

+1. The fact that BASIS itself cares about it so much is hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have lived on the hill a decade now with no plans to leave - DH is obsessed with being in the city and we can't afford upper NW so for the foreseeable future we plan to stay in our townhouse. Both kids are in a DCI feeder school so we are putting all our eggs in the DCI basket. Will try for one of the Latin campuses in 6th if we don't get into DCI.

You should prod DH on whether he really believes that people really he cool because he lives near the federal government.

I am the PP who is moving and my DH was like this too, and actually it really is worth it to unpack why one or both partners are very attached to living "in the city." For my DH, he had this idea that moving outside the city was moving backwards because he'd lived in the suburbs in his 20s before finally moving into DC and being much happier to be close to friends and things to do. He moved into DC around the time we met, and he associates moving into DC as the time his life got really good.

But that was over a decade ago, before we married, owned a home, or had kids. When I'd suggest moving, he'd talk about how lonely he was in the burbs and how much less lonely his is now, and it took some time for me to convince him that living in a 1-bedroom apartment in the suburbs at the age of 26 is a totally different deal than living in a 3 bedroom house with your wife and family in your 40s. I actually think that potentially we will be more social and go out more once we move, because our lifestyle will be more in line with neighbors and also the lower cost of living will leave more money for babysitters and date nights.

It is somewhat comical how long it took to convince him of this but eventually he came around. But yes, initially he was incredibly attached to staying in the city, like if he left it would be some kind of tragedy. We're talking about moving 30 minutes away to a close-in suburb!

Different strokes for different folks.

My sister and her DH are home homebodies and burbs would fit them fine.

Whereas we do a lot of things in the city with dining out, Kennedy center, theater, concerts, family friendly activities in the city. Even if we moved just 1/2 hour outside, there is no way we would do 2/3rd of the things we would do because of the hassle of driving into the city.

It’s much easier though because we have only 1 and more time for outside interests/hobbies/friends and don’t need a huge place.

I agree different strokes but you make it sound like all city people go out a lot and the suburbs are just for staying home. This is a weird binary. Everyone I know in the suburbs goes out a ton. It's just more likely to be stuff like an evening bike ride with kids, a backyard BBQ with other families, hiking nearby, etc.

Not all suburbs are huge and sprawling with big houses either. I also know people who live in dense close in suburbs, in walkable neighborhoods close to Metro, who regularly do the things you mention.

The primary difference between them and people on CH is that they have an acceptable IB HS situation. Not lifestyle.

I'm not buying this. My ex lives in Arlington and we share custody so my kids go to an Arlington public MS. My life would be easier if I moved to Arlington to be closer to my ex but I'm not going. The Arlington lifestyle doesn't appeal. I won't give up Hill density, longtime friends, neighbors, activities, lovely architecture, or my walkable/bikeable commute to a Congressional office building. My kids don't want me to move.

I've been sleeping with your ex since about a year before you got divorced and I can assure you our quality of life is excellent. The number of places we've hooked up in the burbs would make your head spin.

I know this woman, PP, and she's right. Thinking CH is better is just you getting fooled twice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New USN&WR rankings are out.

BASIS DC retained its rankings as #1 middle public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective high school in DC.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia

My kids are at BASIS. And I care not at all about USN&WR.

Yet you care enough to comment here.

Your reply makes no sense. I said I don't care about their rating in USN&WR. As in, that's a silly data point to refer to or rely on. Not sure why this is hard for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m new to the area. Can someone help?

DCI?
Latin?
Basis?
ITS?

Can you give me the general gist if these schools?

Thank you.

Lol, I hope this is a joke, but here:

DCI: Dual language with tracks in Spanish, French, and Chinese. You will not get in unless your child attends one of the feeder elementaries, especially if you are Spanish track, as feeders get preference in the lottery (lots of Spanish feeders, only one Chinese and a couple French). Most of those are hard to get into via the lottery, especially for PK. So this may come down to your willingness to send your kid to immersion in 1st or 2nd grade. YMMV.

Latin: People seem to like it ok. Better option than Eastern for sure. Two campuses, the newer one (Cooper) is closer to the Hill, though a temporary space that isn't that great. They have an IB diploma program. You have to lottery for this and there are no feeders, and lots of people don't get spots.

BASIS: Very math/science focused, very testing focused. Lots of stuff on the Basis approach online, go look it up. People who really care about high math scores like Basis a lot because that can be hard to find in DC. Campus is in Chinatown, reasonable commute from the Hill. But not a great fit if you really care about things like having access to arts, athletics, foreign language at school (many BASIS families do those, but outside school). It's kind of a love it or hate it situation. Also incredibly hard to get into via the lottery.

ITS: This is a fairly progressive charter with emphasis on social justice and socio-emotional learning, though they have decent test scores. Elementary feeds to middle, if you don't get into ITS in PK there are opportunities to lottery in during middle elementary or even just for middle school, and you don't have the immersion issue if you do. MS is very small, which is not for everyone (limits activities and certain course offerings as well). Like BASIS, this school is either a good fit for you or it's really not a good fit for you. Know yourself.

Five years ago, most people would have put every one of these schools above the Ward 6 middle schools. Now, there are more people who would argue the proximity, size, and offerings of Stuart Hobson, Eliot-Hine, and Jefferson Academy make them better options for many students. They all have better IB buy-in than they used to, and it will likely increase as competition for spots at charters gets harder.

However, pretty much everyone still prefers any of these over Eastern High School (save ITS, which only goes through middle), so even people who are open minded about the DCPS middle schools will lottery for spots at these schools in order to have a more concrete HS path.

Whoever wrote this doesn’t know much about BASIS, and is just parroting points they read on DCUM:

1) BASIS has a lot of advanced math/science but the ELA is advanced as well. If you look at high school, they have among the top ELA PARCC scores in DC. If you exclude at-risk students (they are 100% lottery), they have the best ELA PARCC scores in DC. BASIS also has the top average SAT scores of any public school in DC.

2) BASIS is not in Chinatown. It is downtown though.

3) Access to arts? The school is a block from the National Portrait Gallery and easily walkable to the main Smithsonian art museums on the mall. There are plenty of art classes as well.

4) BASIS is pretty small and not particularly sports focused but they have plenty of sports for their size. But, yes, if you want to play tackle football or lacrosse, go someplace else.

5) Foreign languages? BASIS requires 2 years of linguistics (which covers different languages) plus 5 years of a specific foreign language. That is 7 years total. DCPS requires 2 years of a foreign language to graduate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New USN&WR rankings are out.

BASIS DC retained its rankings as #1 middle public middle school in DC, #1 charter school in DC, and #1 non-selective high school in DC.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia

My kids are at BASIS. And I care not at all about USN&WR.

Yet you care enough to comment here.

Your reply makes no sense. I said I don't care about their rating in USN&WR. As in, that's a silly data point to refer to or rely on. Not sure why this is hard for you.

You sound silly. Move on.

[Anonymous]

[google]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that, when it comes to in-bounds by-right schools on the Hill that kids can walk to and go to school with their neighbors, it breaks down to some great ES options, a few mediocre at best MS options, and no viable HS option.

So, your choices are:

- Move
- lottery
- Private

The obvious upside to lottery or private is that you don't have to move. But the downside of lottery is the uncertainty (and that none of the lottery schools are better than what you'd find in a strong public off the Hill) and the downside of private is $$ and perhaps culture depending on your views on that.

The upside to moving is that you move where you want your kid to go to school and you have instant community and a neighborhood school that they can ideally walk to, and attend through 12th. The downside is uprooting and in many cases, $$.

Everyone is going to value these factors differently. And different choices will be different for different famiiles. But these are the factors to consider.

There's another option, homeschool for middle school. We have Hill neighbors who homeschooled two teens for 7th and 8th grades, after bailing from DCI. They hired a variety of tutors to help, before sending their kids to parochial high schools (St. John's, St. Anselm's).

I bet those kids are REALLY well adjusted.

We must have the same neighbors. Their kids are actually great. FWIW though they homeschooled the older 2, the younger two both go to DCI now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m new to the area. Can someone help?

DCI?
Latin?
Basis?
ITS?

Can you give me the general gist if these schools?

Thank you.

Lol, I hope this is a joke, but here:

DCI: Dual language with tracks in Spanish, French, and Chinese. You will not get in unless your child attends one of the feeder elementaries, especially if you are Spanish track, as feeders get preference in the lottery (lots of Spanish feeders, only one Chinese and a couple French). Most of those are hard to get into via the lottery, especially for PK. So this may come down to your willingness to send your kid to immersion in 1st or 2nd grade. YMMV.

Latin: People seem to like it ok. Better option than Eastern for sure. Two campuses, the newer one (Cooper) is closer to the Hill, though a temporary space that isn't that great. They have an IB diploma program. You have to lottery for this and there are no feeders, and lots of people don't get spots.

BASIS: Very math/science focused, very testing focused. Lots of stuff on the Basis approach online, go look it up. People who really care about high math scores like Basis a lot because that can be hard to find in DC. Campus is in Chinatown, reasonable commute from the Hill. But not a great fit if you really care about things like having access to arts, athletics, foreign language at school (many BASIS families do those, but outside school). It's kind of a love it or hate it situation. Also incredibly hard to get into via the lottery.

ITS: This is a fairly progressive charter with emphasis on social justice and socio-emotional learning, though they have decent test scores. Elementary feeds to middle, if you don't get into ITS in PK there are opportunities to lottery in during middle elementary or even just for middle school, and you don't have the immersion issue if you do. MS is very small, which is not for everyone (limits activities and certain course offerings as well). Like BASIS, this school is either a good fit for you or it's really not a good fit for you. Know yourself.

Five years ago, most people would have put every one of these schools above the Ward 6 middle schools. Now, there are more people who would argue the proximity, size, and offerings of Stuart Hobson, Eliot-Hine, and Jefferson Academy make them better options for many students. They all have better IB buy-in than they used to, and it will likely increase as competition for spots at charters gets harder.

However, pretty much everyone still prefers any of these over Eastern High School (save ITS, which only goes through middle), so even people who are open minded about the DCPS middle schools will lottery for spots at these schools in order to have a more concrete HS path.

Whoever wrote this doesn’t know much about BASIS, and is just parroting points they read on DCUM:

1) BASIS has a lot of advanced math/science but the ELA is advanced as well. If you look at high school, they have among the top ELA PARCC scores in DC. If you exclude at-risk students (they are 100% lottery), they have the best ELA PARCC scores in DC. BASIS also has the top average SAT scores of any public school in DC.

2) BASIS is not in Chinatown. It is downtown though.

3) Access to arts? The school is a block from the National Portrait Gallery and easily walkable to the main Smithsonian art museums on the mall. There are plenty of art classes as well.

4) BASIS is pretty small and not particularly sports focused but they have plenty of sports for their size. But, yes, if you want to play tackle football or lacrosse, go someplace else.

5) Foreign languages? BASIS requires 2 years of linguistics (which covers different languages) plus 5 years of a specific foreign language. That is 7 years total. DCPS requires 2 years of a foreign language to graduate.

Wow, defensive much?

1) No one said BASIS had bad ELA scores. They are math/science focused though. That's the whole draw.
2) The school is between the Chinatown and Archives metro stops. I guess technically you'd call it Penn Quarter. Saying it's in Chinatown is more accurate than "downtown".
3) No one who is talking about access to arts in education is talking about the school's proximity to a museum, lol. Yes they have art classes, no arts are not a focus, including performing arts (next you'll tell me their proximity to Ford's Theater and arena music acts at Capitol One proves they have a great theater/music program).
4) Right, so not a good fit for people who expect to get a lot of athletics programming from their school, which includes plenty of people who don't care about "tackle football."
5) Some people on DCUM complain about the way BASIS handles foreign language. My understanding is it has something to do with when you are allowed to start taking foreign language, as well as maybe whether kid's with native experience with a language are allowed to test into a higher level. Others can speak to this more than I can, but it's definitely commented on here.

Note that no one is saying BASIS is a bad school, and that every other school in that list also had pluses and minuses. I don't understand what is wrong with BASIS parents who will not accept any commentary other than "BASIS IS #1! BASIS Rules and all other schools drool!" Or freak out if someone says they aren't interested in the school because the curriculum/approach is not a good fit ("whatever, you're just jealous because you didn't get a spot!").

Perhaps one of the downsides of BASIS that should be mentioned for newcomers is: weirdly cultish boosters who are unable to accept the school, like all schools, has limitations and downsides.