BASIS launching private school in McLean

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a child with ADHD at BASIS DC? How is he/she doing?

I do. He's ADHD Inattentive type and is doing well at BASIS. Structure really helps him as do frequent check ins with teachers who are very accessible. Homework does take a long time some nights and that's rough, but he is excited about what he's learning and wants to be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The peer group should be strong for 25K. St. Anselm's, an excellent boys parochial school in Brookland with lovely grounds, charges that.

Because a for profit start up is just like Benedictine Monks who've been educated for, oh, 70 years.

,

Yes, St Anslem's is the or one of the best catholic boys schools in the country, and the grounds and facilities are exceptional. Do not compare it to a for profit start up Basis Independent in Tysons!

[Anonymous]

The schools will be in the same price range, which is to say much cheaper than Sidwell, St. Albans etc. charging close to 40K for high school.

[Anonymous]

It seems to me if a child can't pass the same grade with a 60% *several* times after hearing the same material repeated over and over, then that child must have some kind of learning disability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems to me if a child can't pass the same grade with a 60% *several* times after hearing the same material repeated over and over, then that child must have some kind of learning disability.

Our family is suffering tremendously because of BASIS and the way the grades are being manipulated.

What would you think if your kids get pretty decent grades all year long and all of a sudden, at the end of the year fail several subjects?

What if there is absolutely no indication of any problem. with the famous CJ containing reasonably good grades in June. Then arrives the report card and the finall grades seem to have suffered a free fall? You email the teacher but there is no answer.

My child is totally convinced the grades on the report card are different from the grades the teacher has submitted. I also find it quite strange when students receive much lower grades on their regular subjects (with all the mastery defenses to help them boost the grade) than on the precomps and comps, exams supposedly being submitted from Arizona.

Recently, a parent showed me her children's report cards ... the math grades for both children were in the low 70's given by the teacher for the trimester. The comps however was almost 20% higher -- same with the finals in other subjects.

Needless to say we will no longer continue at BASIS. In the meantime, my very hardworking child is attending therapy to get out of this sudden and very uncharacteristic depression.

This said, BASIS McLean will be different as it will be a private institution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy is a great middle school option, with a lot less work for kids who are challenged at every level.

....and now a brief message from our sponsors....

PP here. Actually, my DC is at BASIS, but we are in the Hardy district and plan to send more humanities-minded DC2 there. I suggested it because there is usually not a waiting list and it is a solid school where it is easier to succeed, and where they do not hold you back for failing a class.

However there is a waiting list for all grades at Hardy for fall 2015. I think the only DCPS middle school (not EC) without a wait list is Brookland.

There are lots of DCPS middle schools with essentially no wait lists, at least after Round 1. Summing up all the grades 6-8 for schools where those were the only grades, the number of kids on the WL were:

0: Kramer, Sousa
1: Eliot-Hine, Hart, Johnson
2: Jefferson, Brookland
6: Kelly Miller
66: Hardy
139: Stuart-Hobson
299: Deal

There are really only 3 stand-alone DCPS middle schools that are at all hard to get into from OOB, and given that Hardy offered 100 OOB seats (S-H offered 9 and Deal offered none) I might even reduce that down to 2.

Does anyone know why SH would be more desirable than Hardy? Doesn't Hardy have better scores? It's hard to understand from this distance (not on the Hill) considering that Watkins feeds into SH but Brent does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy is a great middle school option, with a lot less work for kids who are challenged at every level.

....and now a brief message from our sponsors....

PP here. Actually, my DC is at BASIS, but we are in the Hardy district and plan to send more humanities-minded DC2 there. I suggested it because there is usually not a waiting list and it is a solid school where it is easier to succeed, and where they do not hold you back for failing a class.

However there is a waiting list for all grades at Hardy for fall 2015. I think the only DCPS middle school (not EC) without a wait list is Brookland.

There are lots of DCPS middle schools with essentially no wait lists, at least after Round 1. Summing up all the grades 6-8 for schools where those were the only grades, the number of kids on the WL were:

0: Kramer, Sousa
1: Eliot-Hine, Hart, Johnson
2: Jefferson, Brookland
6: Kelly Miller
66: Hardy
139: Stuart-Hobson
299: Deal

There are really only 3 stand-alone DCPS middle schools that are at all hard to get into from OOB, and given that Hardy offered 100 OOB seats (S-H offered 9 and Deal offered none) I might even reduce that down to 2.

Does anyone know why SH would be more desirable than Hardy? Doesn't Hardy have better scores? It's hard to understand from this distance (not on the Hill) considering that Watkins feeds into SH but Brent does not.

The main reason SH has a longer waitlist is that it offered 7 OOB seats in the Round 1 lottery and Hardy offered 100 OOB seats. It's not an indication of how many people applied to each school in the lottery or where they ranked them. With that said, for families on the Hill and east of the river the commute to SH is way better than to Hardy. If you're not worried about high school (ie, you're willing to move or go private, or you think your kid can get into Banneker/McKinley Tech/SWW/Ellington) then the Wilson feed you get from Hardy is less of a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems to me if a child can't pass the same grade with a 60% *several* times after hearing the same material repeated over and over, then that child must have some kind of learning disability.

Our family is suffering tremendously because of BASIS and the way the grades are being manipulated.

What would you think if your kids get pretty decent grades all year long and all of a sudden, at the end of the year fail several subjects?

What if there is absolutely no indication of any problem. with the famous CJ containing reasonably good grades in June. Then arrives the report card and the finall grades seem to have suffered a free fall? You email the teacher but there is no answer.

My child is totally convinced the grades on the report card are different from the grades the teacher has submitted. I also find it quite strange when students receive much lower grades on their regular subjects (with all the mastery defenses to help them boost the grade) than on the precomps and comps, exams supposedly being submitted from Arizona.

Recently, a parent showed me her children's report cards ... the math grades for both children were in the low 70's given by the teacher for the trimester. The comps however was almost 20% higher -- same with the finals in other subjects.

Needless to say we will no longer continue at BASIS. In the meantime, my very hardworking child is attending therapy to get out of this sudden and very uncharacteristic depression.

This said, BASIS McLean will be different as it will be a private institution.

Late or missing homework brings down grades substantially, especially in Math where class participation and homework, while not worth a lot individually per se, caps your ability to get a higher grade, so that if you get As on all your tests and only turn in your homework and corrections 80% of the time, you will receive an 80%, but if you get a perfect homework and test corrections turn in rate (worth 5-10% of your face tops) and only get B's on your tests and MD, you will get a B for the term.
The grades are weighted in all subjects, so sometimes it is not as straightforward looking, but just make a meeting with Kate Reynolds to go over your child's grades-we have challenged grades that seemed incorrect before.

[Anonymous]

I am shocked that you emailed a teacher about grades and she/he just never responded. Unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

11:12, sounds like they are trying to get rid of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am shocked that you emailed a teacher about grades and she/he just never responded. Unacceptable.

If I am not mistaken teachers are on a much deserved vacation by the time report cards are sent out. However, the administration including the dean of academics are available to respond to these issues except during the 2 week shutdown of the school in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am shocked that you emailed a teacher about grades and she/he just never responded. Unacceptable.

If I am not mistaken teachers are on a much deserved vacation by the time report cards are sent out. However, the administration including the dean of academics are available to respond to these issues except during the 2 week shutdown of the school in the summer.

Some teachers left not to return, so getting hold of them is impossible, since you are now emailing a dead email address. Call Kathleen Reynolds when the summer shutdown is over in a few days.

[Anonymous]

Even when the teacher is returning and the email works, the IT person may hold the emails the for summer and not forward them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11:12, sounds like they are trying to get rid of you.

Looks like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even when the teacher is returning and the email works, the IT person may hold the emails the for summer and not forward them.

Really? On what authority do you have this suggestion, because it sounds like one of the stupidest IT policies ever. IT guys might not be cool, but they pride themselves on looking down their noses at the rest of the idiots in the workplace. (Let's try to imagine the "Keep these emails for later in the summer" folder that "the IT person" may be holding on to.) Without substantiation, this just sounds like a desperate attempt to dispel blame.

There should be a prize for the dumbest post of the week on DCUM, and if there were, you would be in the running.