how does BASIS work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

An important factor in the US News high school rankings is “CRI,” or the percent of seniors who have passed an AP (or IB) exam during their high school career.

All Basis schools seem to be tied for 100 (first in the nation) on this factor. There are two ways to get to 100%, of course. One of them is to shrink the denominator until it matches the numerator.

If you require kids to pass at least one AP to graduate, and then don’t let seniors take AP courses, you can ensure that the kids who haven’t passed an AP exam by the end of junior year never become seniors, thus maximizing your “CRI” and your ranking in US News.

Come on. How many UMC kids in the DMV haven’t managed to pass a single AP by the end of junior year?? This bar is set so low it’s meaningless. This can’t be the reason at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there's plenty of attrition between 8th and 9th.

The way BASIS works in high school is that four years of academics are effectively crammed into three. The arrangement doesn't tend to leave students enough time to pursue serious extra-curriculars, which the program really doesn't offer anyway. In Arizona, geography is obviously in BASIS' corner where students apply to elite colleges on the coasts. Not so from DC, where weak ECs are much more of a problem in admissions to the most highly competitive colleges. We left BASIS after 10th after having woken up to the reality that our UMC white kid eldest wasn't on track to find the time to shine in his ECs. He made it to an Ivy, applying from a gap year (strongly discouraged by BASIS admins) but almost certainly wouldn't have from BASIS.

It sounds to us like BASIS leaders, in AZ and DC, are starting to wake-up to the pitfalls of BASIS high school as usual in the DC context. We also left because while BASIS pays a lot of lip service to Ivy admissions, their focus is on helping students win merit aid at second-tier institutions. We both went to an Ivy (same one) and wanted our kid to have a good shot. Most BASIS parents seemed fine with the set up so good luck to them.

We have heard this from another Basis family (who pulled his younger child after seeing the older one go through the whole process). Also not for us -- I want our kids to have a shot at the same schools we went to.

Good for you, PP. Inter-generational connections to colleges matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

AP exams are only given in May/June, ergo BASIS wants its students' AP classes and scores completed by the end of jr year. That way, as many AP scores as possible go in with college applications. That's been the franchise's system for optimizing admissions success since the 90s.

BASIS is set in its ways. We found out that some hs students in this Metro area take Cambridge Intl AS or A-Level exams in Nov of sr. year (results available by mid Dec) as an AP alternative. The Americans who take Cambridge exams tend to take them for languages, often after a summer of immersion study. I've never heard of a BASIS DC student taking Cambridge exams, but we know a few Walls and JR students who have. We had our kid take Cambridge Spanish and chemistry at a British Intl school, to cut down on the # of APs he took jr. year. Spreading the exams out worked v. well for us in college admissions (he was admitted to several top 10 SLACs).

Interesting. We know BASIS juniors who took as many as 6 AP exams junior year. That's not how BASIS should work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC has the same curriculum as BASIS McLean, a private school that charges tuition.

BASIS McLean was just ranked the #1 private school in the DMV, beating out Sidwell, GDS, NCS, St. Albans, and every other private school in the area.

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-private-high-schools/m/washington-dc-metro-area/

We are very happy BASIS family. This is a doubly dumb take.

1. BASIS independent schools like McLean charge $35k. BASIS charter schools are free.
2. No one with a choice would select BASIS McLean vs Sidwell or GDS

You completely missed the point of the post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

An important factor in the US News high school rankings is “CRI,” or the percent of seniors who have passed an AP (or IB) exam during their high school career.

All Basis schools seem to be tied for 100 (first in the nation) on this factor. There are two ways to get to 100%, of course. One of them is to shrink the denominator until it matches the numerator.

If you require kids to pass at least one AP to graduate, and then don’t let seniors take AP courses, you can ensure that the kids who haven’t passed an AP exam by the end of junior year never become seniors, thus maximizing your “CRI” and your ranking in US News.

Come on. How many UMC kids in the DMV haven’t managed to pass a single AP by the end of junior year?? This bar is set so low it’s meaningless. This can’t be the reason at all.

High-performing affluent suburban high schools in the DMV (eg Whitman, Maclean) typically have CRIs around 80.

Every single Basis school has a CRI of 100.

Maybe Basis DC does systematically exclude all poor students (though I’m sure they’d deny it). But even that would not be enough to get their CRI to 90, let alone 100.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

An important factor in the US News high school rankings is “CRI,” or the percent of seniors who have passed an AP (or IB) exam during their high school career.

All Basis schools seem to be tied for 100 (first in the nation) on this factor. There are two ways to get to 100%, of course. One of them is to shrink the denominator until it matches the numerator.

If you require kids to pass at least one AP to graduate, and then don’t let seniors take AP courses, you can ensure that the kids who haven’t passed an AP exam by the end of junior year never become seniors, thus maximizing your “CRI” and your ranking in US News.

Come on. How many UMC kids in the DMV haven’t managed to pass a single AP by the end of junior year?? This bar is set so low it’s meaningless. This can’t be the reason at all.

High-performing affluent suburban high schools in the DMV (eg Whitman, Maclean) typically have CRIs around 80.

Every single Basis school has a CRI of 100.

Maybe Basis DC does systematically exclude all poor students (though I’m sure they’d deny it). But even that would not be enough to get their CRI to 90, let alone 100.

What’s cri

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

An important factor in the US News high school rankings is “CRI,” or the percent of seniors who have passed an AP (or IB) exam during their high school career.

All Basis schools seem to be tied for 100 (first in the nation) on this factor. There are two ways to get to 100%, of course. One of them is to shrink the denominator until it matches the numerator.

If you require kids to pass at least one AP to graduate, and then don’t let seniors take AP courses, you can ensure that the kids who haven’t passed an AP exam by the end of junior year never become seniors, thus maximizing your “CRI” and your ranking in US News.

Come on. How many UMC kids in the DMV haven’t managed to pass a single AP by the end of junior year?? This bar is set so low it’s meaningless. This can’t be the reason at all.

High-performing affluent suburban high schools in the DMV (eg Whitman, Maclean) typically have CRIs around 80.

Every single Basis school has a CRI of 100.

Maybe Basis DC does systematically exclude all poor students (though I’m sure they’d deny it). But even that would not be enough to get their CRI to 90, let alone 100.

There are two elements to CRI, which is just part of the score for USNW&R ranking. One is a participation rate, or the number of 12th grade students who took at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the total number of 12th graders at the school. The other is a quality-adjusted participation rate, defined as the number of 12th grade students who took and earned a qualifying score – which is an AP score of 3 or higher or IB score of 4 or higher – on at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

Quality-adjusted participation was weighted at 75%, and the simple participation rate was weighted at 25% toward CRI. The maximum CRI possible is 100 if every 12th grader at a school took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam by the end of their senior year.

BASIS DC doesn’t discourage students from taking AP exams. In fact, they require AP exams to graduate. As discussed above, in order to graduate, BASIS students must take at least 6 AP exams and obtain at least a 3 on one exam to graduate. Plus, around 40% of BASIS students are AP Scholars (getting a 3 or higher on at least THREE AP exams), a status that fewer than 10% of students attain. In fact, the only public high schools in the DMV that have a 100% CRI are BASIS DC and TJ in Fairfax, which is considered one of the best public high schools in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

An important factor in the US News high school rankings is “CRI,” or the percent of seniors who have passed an AP (or IB) exam during their high school career.

All Basis schools seem to be tied for 100 (first in the nation) on this factor. There are two ways to get to 100%, of course. One of them is to shrink the denominator until it matches the numerator.

If you require kids to pass at least one AP to graduate, and then don’t let seniors take AP courses, you can ensure that the kids who haven’t passed an AP exam by the end of junior year never become seniors, thus maximizing your “CRI” and your ranking in US News.

Come on. How many UMC kids in the DMV haven’t managed to pass a single AP by the end of junior year?? This bar is set so low it’s meaningless. This can’t be the reason at all.

High-performing affluent suburban high schools in the DMV (eg Whitman, Maclean) typically have CRIs around 80.

Every single Basis school has a CRI of 100.

Maybe Basis DC does systematically exclude all poor students (though I’m sure they’d deny it). But even that would not be enough to get their CRI to 90, let alone 100.

There are two elements to CRI, which is just part of the score for USNW&R ranking. One is a participation rate, or the number of 12th grade students who took at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the total number of 12th graders at the school. The other is a quality-adjusted participation rate, defined as the number of 12th grade students who took and earned a qualifying score – which is an AP score of 3 or higher or IB score of 4 or higher – on at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

Quality-adjusted participation was weighted at 75%, and the simple participation rate was weighted at 25% toward CRI. The maximum CRI possible is 100 if every 12th grader at a school took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam by the end of their senior year.

BASIS DC doesn’t discourage students from taking AP exams. In fact, they require AP exams to graduate. As discussed above, in order to graduate, BASIS students must take at least 6 AP exams and obtain at least a 3 on one exam to graduate. Plus, around 40% of BASIS students are AP Scholars (getting a 3 or higher on at least THREE AP exams), a status that fewer than 10% of students attain. In fact, the only public high schools in the DMV that have a 100% CRI are BASIS DC and TJ in Fairfax, which is considered one of the best public high schools in the US.

Thanks for confirming that Basis requires a 3 on one AP exam to graduate. Basis itself is extremely cagey about this graduation requirement and doesn’t seem to publish it anywhere.

It’s a very elegant system. Require the score to graduate, don’t allow the student to fulfill that graduation requirement as a 12th grader, and voila, your CRI is always 100.

Any school could do it. All you need is the will to force out every student who hasn’t passed an AP by the end of junior year.

[Anonymous]

There is absolutely nothing “cagey” about BASIS’ requirements. You have a right not to like them, but they’re published everywhere and parents and students are repeatedly briefed on academic requirements. Prospective families are told as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is absolutely nothing “cagey” about BASIS’ requirements. You have a right not to like them, but they’re published everywhere and parents and students are repeatedly briefed on academic requirements. Prospective families are told as well.

I earlier went looking for a public link and couldn’t find one. If you can, feel free to post it here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading the other BASIS thread, I think I'm confused.

Unlike Walls and other application schools, admissions is based only on outcomes to the 5th grade lottery, right?

I always assumed the rigor was just a reputational thing and most kids wouldn't apply if the idea of 90min-3hrs of homework was totally unappealing.

But, do they actually weed out in ways beyond pressuring kids by making them feel unsupported? (Someone mentioned comps?) I have a pretty academically average -- and sometimes not very focused -- but very stem interested 4th grader in another charter school who wanted to consider the school but now am wondering if we skip it altogether?

BASIS parent here. Students being weeded out is fake news, just an urban myth. The school is open for everyone. It is rigorous no matter what the crazies say. It is a perfect fit for some but not for others. There is no social promotion. The amount of homework is another myth. Many students start in class or study hall and have maybe an hour each night in MS. When it is pre-comps and comps it goes up to 2 hours a night, just depends on your student and how efficient they are. Go on a tour. Ask more questions. Let your 4th grader shadow a current student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

An important factor in the US News high school rankings is “CRI,” or the percent of seniors who have passed an AP (or IB) exam during their high school career.

All Basis schools seem to be tied for 100 (first in the nation) on this factor. There are two ways to get to 100%, of course. One of them is to shrink the denominator until it matches the numerator.

If you require kids to pass at least one AP to graduate, and then don’t let seniors take AP courses, you can ensure that the kids who haven’t passed an AP exam by the end of junior year never become seniors, thus maximizing your “CRI” and your ranking in US News.

Come on. How many UMC kids in the DMV haven’t managed to pass a single AP by the end of junior year?? This bar is set so low it’s meaningless. This can’t be the reason at all.

High-performing affluent suburban high schools in the DMV (eg Whitman, Maclean) typically have CRIs around 80.

Every single Basis school has a CRI of 100.

Maybe Basis DC does systematically exclude all poor students (though I’m sure they’d deny it). But even that would not be enough to get their CRI to 90, let alone 100.

There are two elements to CRI, which is just part of the score for USNW&R ranking. One is a participation rate, or the number of 12th grade students who took at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the total number of 12th graders at the school. The other is a quality-adjusted participation rate, defined as the number of 12th grade students who took and earned a qualifying score – which is an AP score of 3 or higher or IB score of 4 or higher – on at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

Quality-adjusted participation was weighted at 75%, and the simple participation rate was weighted at 25% toward CRI. The maximum CRI possible is 100 if every 12th grader at a school took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam by the end of their senior year.

BASIS DC doesn’t discourage students from taking AP exams. In fact, they require AP exams to graduate. As discussed above, in order to graduate, BASIS students must take at least 6 AP exams and obtain at least a 3 on one exam to graduate. Plus, around 40% of BASIS students are AP Scholars (getting a 3 or higher on at least THREE AP exams), a status that fewer than 10% of students attain. In fact, the only public high schools in the DMV that have a 100% CRI are BASIS DC and TJ in Fairfax, which is considered one of the best public high schools in the US.

Thanks for confirming that Basis requires a 3 on one AP exam to graduate. Basis itself is extremely cagey about this graduation requirement and doesn’t seem to publish it anywhere.

It’s a very elegant system. Require the score to graduate, don’t allow the student to fulfill that graduation requirement as a 12th grader, and voila, your CRI is always 100.

Any school could do it. All you need is the will to force out every student who hasn’t passed an AP by the end of junior year.

You mean other than 11 page PDF titled "BASIS Curriculum Schools Graduation Requirements for Class of 2024"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

An important factor in the US News high school rankings is “CRI,” or the percent of seniors who have passed an AP (or IB) exam during their high school career.

All Basis schools seem to be tied for 100 (first in the nation) on this factor. There are two ways to get to 100%, of course. One of them is to shrink the denominator until it matches the numerator.

If you require kids to pass at least one AP to graduate, and then don’t let seniors take AP courses, you can ensure that the kids who haven’t passed an AP exam by the end of junior year never become seniors, thus maximizing your “CRI” and your ranking in US News.

Come on. How many UMC kids in the DMV haven’t managed to pass a single AP by the end of junior year?? This bar is set so low it’s meaningless. This can’t be the reason at all.

High-performing affluent suburban high schools in the DMV (eg Whitman, Maclean) typically have CRIs around 80.

Every single Basis school has a CRI of 100.

Maybe Basis DC does systematically exclude all poor students (though I’m sure they’d deny it). But even that would not be enough to get their CRI to 90, let alone 100.

There are two elements to CRI, which is just part of the score for USNW&R ranking. One is a participation rate, or the number of 12th grade students who took at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the total number of 12th graders at the school. The other is a quality-adjusted participation rate, defined as the number of 12th grade students who took and earned a qualifying score – which is an AP score of 3 or higher or IB score of 4 or higher – on at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

Quality-adjusted participation was weighted at 75%, and the simple participation rate was weighted at 25% toward CRI. The maximum CRI possible is 100 if every 12th grader at a school took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam by the end of their senior year.

BASIS DC doesn’t discourage students from taking AP exams. In fact, they require AP exams to graduate. As discussed above, in order to graduate, BASIS students must take at least 6 AP exams and obtain at least a 3 on one exam to graduate. Plus, around 40% of BASIS students are AP Scholars (getting a 3 or higher on at least THREE AP exams), a status that fewer than 10% of students attain. In fact, the only public high schools in the DMV that have a 100% CRI are BASIS DC and TJ in Fairfax, which is considered one of the best public high schools in the US.

Because your basic public high school is one size fits all -- so they don't require everyone to pass or even take a single AP exam. People heading toward a vocational career, a career in plumbing, carpentry, etc., aren't going to choose BASIS, but they will probably go to their public high school. BASIS talks about APs endlessly, and if you want to apply to the school, you can send them an email and ask about their AP requirements. Even then, its AP graduation requirements are basement level. All you need is a 3 on a single AP exam. You can get a 1 on every other exam and still graduate. Realistically, how many students in the DMV interested in taking AP exams are going to only take 1 AP, and/or will manage to pass only 1 AP exam???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

An important factor in the US News high school rankings is “CRI,” or the percent of seniors who have passed an AP (or IB) exam during their high school career.

All Basis schools seem to be tied for 100 (first in the nation) on this factor. There are two ways to get to 100%, of course. One of them is to shrink the denominator until it matches the numerator.

If you require kids to pass at least one AP to graduate, and then don’t let seniors take AP courses, you can ensure that the kids who haven’t passed an AP exam by the end of junior year never become seniors, thus maximizing your “CRI” and your ranking in US News.

Come on. How many UMC kids in the DMV haven’t managed to pass a single AP by the end of junior year?? This bar is set so low it’s meaningless. This can’t be the reason at all.

High-performing affluent suburban high schools in the DMV (eg Whitman, Maclean) typically have CRIs around 80.

Every single Basis school has a CRI of 100.

Maybe Basis DC does systematically exclude all poor students (though I’m sure they’d deny it). But even that would not be enough to get their CRI to 90, let alone 100.

There are two elements to CRI, which is just part of the score for USNW&R ranking. One is a participation rate, or the number of 12th grade students who took at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the total number of 12th graders at the school. The other is a quality-adjusted participation rate, defined as the number of 12th grade students who took and earned a qualifying score – which is an AP score of 3 or higher or IB score of 4 or higher – on at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

Quality-adjusted participation was weighted at 75%, and the simple participation rate was weighted at 25% toward CRI. The maximum CRI possible is 100 if every 12th grader at a school took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam by the end of their senior year.

BASIS DC doesn’t discourage students from taking AP exams. In fact, they require AP exams to graduate. As discussed above, in order to graduate, BASIS students must take at least 6 AP exams and obtain at least a 3 on one exam to graduate. Plus, around 40% of BASIS students are AP Scholars (getting a 3 or higher on at least THREE AP exams), a status that fewer than 10% of students attain. In fact, the only public high schools in the DMV that have a 100% CRI are BASIS DC and TJ in Fairfax, which is considered one of the best public high schools in the US.

Thanks for confirming that Basis requires a 3 on one AP exam to graduate. Basis itself is extremely cagey about this graduation requirement and doesn’t seem to publish it anywhere.

It’s a very elegant system. Require the score to graduate, don’t allow the student to fulfill that graduation requirement as a 12th grader, and voila, your CRI is always 100.

Any school could do it. All you need is the will to force out every student who hasn’t passed an AP by the end of junior year.

You mean other than 11 page PDF titled "BASIS Curriculum Schools Graduation Requirements for Class of 2024"?

Perhaps they mean the 9-page PDF on Grade Promotion Policies?

Or the 58-page Parent-Student Handbook?

Or links to the numerous town halls that address this topic?

BASIS is many things; cagey it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of cramming high school into 3 years. What am I missing?

An important factor in the US News high school rankings is “CRI,” or the percent of seniors who have passed an AP (or IB) exam during their high school career.

All Basis schools seem to be tied for 100 (first in the nation) on this factor. There are two ways to get to 100%, of course. One of them is to shrink the denominator until it matches the numerator.

If you require kids to pass at least one AP to graduate, and then don’t let seniors take AP courses, you can ensure that the kids who haven’t passed an AP exam by the end of junior year never become seniors, thus maximizing your “CRI” and your ranking in US News.

Come on. How many UMC kids in the DMV haven’t managed to pass a single AP by the end of junior year?? This bar is set so low it’s meaningless. This can’t be the reason at all.

High-performing affluent suburban high schools in the DMV (eg Whitman, Maclean) typically have CRIs around 80.

Every single Basis school has a CRI of 100.

Maybe Basis DC does systematically exclude all poor students (though I’m sure they’d deny it). But even that would not be enough to get their CRI to 90, let alone 100.

There are two elements to CRI, which is just part of the score for USNW&R ranking. One is a participation rate, or the number of 12th grade students who took at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the total number of 12th graders at the school. The other is a quality-adjusted participation rate, defined as the number of 12th grade students who took and earned a qualifying score – which is an AP score of 3 or higher or IB score of 4 or higher – on at least one AP or IB test by the end of their senior year, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

Quality-adjusted participation was weighted at 75%, and the simple participation rate was weighted at 25% toward CRI. The maximum CRI possible is 100 if every 12th grader at a school took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam by the end of their senior year.

BASIS DC doesn’t discourage students from taking AP exams. In fact, they require AP exams to graduate. As discussed above, in order to graduate, BASIS students must take at least 6 AP exams and obtain at least a 3 on one exam to graduate. Plus, around 40% of BASIS students are AP Scholars (getting a 3 or higher on at least THREE AP exams), a status that fewer than 10% of students attain. In fact, the only public high schools in the DMV that have a 100% CRI are BASIS DC and TJ in Fairfax, which is considered one of the best public high schools in the US.

Thanks for confirming that Basis requires a 3 on one AP exam to graduate. Basis itself is extremely cagey about this graduation requirement and doesn’t seem to publish it anywhere.

It’s a very elegant system. Require the score to graduate, don’t allow the student to fulfill that graduation requirement as a 12th grader, and voila, your CRI is always 100.

Any school could do it. All you need is the will to force out every student who hasn’t passed an AP by the end of junior year.

You mean other than 11 page PDF titled "BASIS Curriculum Schools Graduation Requirements for Class of 2024"?

Perhaps they mean the 9-page PDF on Grade Promotion Policies?

Or the 58-page Parent-Student Handbook?

Or links to the numerous town halls that address this topic?

BASIS is many things; cagey it is not.

I don't know if there are public links to any of these documents. But if they aren't, just email the school and ask for them.