The truth about Basis School DC

[Anonymous]

I wonder when this forum will have an honest conversation about Basis Charter School in DC. I’ve read through the threads, and I don’t see a lot of clear dialogue about exactly what’s happening over there. We have a 6th grader there who is drowning under the homework. Sometimes it takes him 3-4 hours a night. And he is not the only one. Anecdotally, other parents have expressed similar concerns.

The homework load is significantly heavier in 6th grade than it was in 5th. The school has not set clear parameters with the teachers around homework volume, and it seems they are not in conversation with one another. My opinion is that the teachers need better training on how to effectively teach this challenging curriculum. In theory, the school appealed to us since our son was academically unchallenged in his DCPS school. But now we are having second thoughts.

Any other Basis parents out there with concerns?

[Anonymous]

Have you discussed the fact that homework is for completion, not perfection, with your child? Is you student spending the entire 3-4 hours doing only homework, I.e., not also wasting time on phone or internet?

Have you expressed this concern about load with Mrs. G?

[Anonymous]

Have you reached out to the school admin?

There is a significant jump from 5th to 6th, but they do not want teachers assigning as much homework as you describe.

I would email Mrs. Garrett today with your concerns.

[Anonymous]

^^ not trying to blame anyone, just wondering about all the facts. Have an US there and in the bad old days they didn’t atttempt to coordinate homework. Thoughts things had changed. . .

[Anonymous]

Yes, I’m in conversation with Mrs. Garrett about these issues. I brought them up to Ms. Cozelle, and she told me that the math should take the bulk of the time and each other subject should be 10-15 minutes. That has not been our experience at all. There are some new 6th grade teachers this year, and I wonder if they’re aware of the homework load and if they are communicating with each other.

No, he is actually working (with a few bathroom/water/rest breaks, of course). Just completing the assignments takes a while. When I look at the CJ, it’s like: okay you have homework in 5 subjects tonight. Time to get started.

One parent said she has to force her kid to go to bed and just stop. Is that normal to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ not trying to blame anyone, just wondering about all the facts. Have an US there and in the bad old days they didn’t atttempt to coordinate homework. Thoughts things had changed. . .

At Mrs. G's talk a few weeks ago, she said that they have a large number of new teachers this year largely because the school is 40 students bigger than it has been before.

Back in the bad old days, the new teachers were the worst because they literally had no conception of how long it would take students to complete some assignments.

Speak up. Email Mrs. G, email Mr. Rose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I’m in conversation with Mrs. Garrett about these issues. I brought them up to Ms. Cozelle, and she told me that the math should take the bulk of the time and each other subject should be 10-15 minutes. That has not been our experience at all. There are some new 6th grade teachers this year, and I wonder if they’re aware of the homework load and if they are communicating with each other.

No, he is actually working (with a few bathroom/water/rest breaks, of course). Just completing the assignments takes a while. When I look at the CJ, it’s like: okay you have homework in 5 subjects tonight. Time to get started.

One parent said she has to force her kid to go to bed and just stop. Is that normal to you?

Document it.

this assignment took 42 minutes tonight, not 15 etc. Do this for a few days and send a summary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I’m in conversation with Mrs. Garrett about these issues. I brought them up to Ms. Cozelle, and she told me that the math should take the bulk of the time and each other subject should be 10-15 minutes. That has not been our experience at all. There are some new 6th grade teachers this year, and I wonder if they’re aware of the homework load and if they are communicating with each other.

No, he is actually working (with a few bathroom/water/rest breaks, of course). Just completing the assignments takes a while. When I look at the CJ, it’s like: okay you have homework in 5 subjects tonight. Time to get started.

One parent said she has to force her kid to go to bed and just stop. Is that normal to you?

No - not normal. US parent here and my student doesn’t have close to that amount of homework and is taking multiple APs. Any chance there is an undiagnosed LD? This is the age where the bright kids who could skate by often get diagnosed. Are your child’s peers having the same struggles?

[Anonymous]

Before moving to DC, my kids attended a Basis charter school in Arizona. In fact, one of our favorite administrators left for Basis DC. Anyhow, my understanding is that the curriculum is the same across the Basis charters, but feel free to ignore me if that’s not the case.

For 6th grade, we were told to expect 1-1.5 hours of homework per night. However, the kids had a study hall period, and my DS did most of his homework then. Other than studying for the pre-comps and the comps, he never had more than 30ish minutes of homework per night. He did have classmates whose homework took them hours, but they were usually either struggling or real perfectionists. If the whole grade or element is spending 3-4 hours per night, someone (everyone) should talk to the administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I’m in conversation with Mrs. Garrett about these issues. I brought them up to Ms. Cozelle, and she told me that the math should take the bulk of the time and each other subject should be 10-15 minutes. That has not been our experience at all. There are some new 6th grade teachers this year, and I wonder if they’re aware of the homework load and if they are communicating with each other.

No, he is actually working (with a few bathroom/water/rest breaks, of course). Just completing the assignments takes a while. When I look at the CJ, it’s like: okay you have homework in 5 subjects tonight. Time to get started.

One parent said she has to force her kid to go to bed and just stop. Is that normal to you?

No - not normal. US parent here and my student doesn’t have close to that amount of homework and is taking multiple APs. Any chance there is an undiagnosed LD? This is the age where the bright kids who could skate by often get diagnosed. Are your child’s peers having the same struggles?

+1. Consider undiagnosed LD or inattentive ADHD. My kid did fine at BASIS in 6th but got overwhelmed in 7th. We had an evaluation and found high IQ and undetected ADHD.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yes, I am hearing the same rumblings from other 6th grade parents. When I look at the assignments it’s clear the volume is high. Someone said the teachers should be indicating in the CJ how long the assignment should take, but they aren’t.

How long do you think it would take you to study for a unit test, complete a 30-problem math problem set, write a 4-page essay, finish 3 pages in your packet, and write a short story in one night? I appreciate the LD feedback, but I honestly don’t think that’s the issue. I think it’s an issue of volume.

Thanks to others for suggesting I raise it with the admins. Your responses make me think your experiences with them have been positive and helpful. I was also just trying to get a gauge of other experiences here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

For 6th grade, we were told to expect 1-1.5 hours of homework per night. However, the kids had a study hall period, and my DS did most of his homework then.

This is an interesting point. I just spoke with a friend at Basis in Brooklyn and she said her son does most of his homework in study hall, too. Basis DC only has a 25-minute AE period and 2 out of the 3 days, they spend that time having “restorative justice” conversations. I think they should let the kids use it for actual studying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Yes, I am hearing the same rumblings from other 6th grade parents. When I look at the assignments it’s clear the volume is high. Someone said the teachers should be indicating in the CJ how long the assignment should take, but they aren’t.

How long do you think it would take you to study for a unit test, complete a 30-problem math problem set, write a 4-page essay, finish 3 pages in your packet, and write a short story in one night? I appreciate the LD feedback, but I honestly don’t think that’s the issue. I think it’s an issue of volume.

Thanks to others for suggesting I raise it with the admins. Your responses make me think your experiences with them have been positive and helpful. I was also just trying to get a gauge of other experiences here.

Problem set - yes 30 per night.

But I've had 2 kids at BASIS DC since it opened and neither ever had a 4-page essay or a short story that was assigned on one day and due the next, much less 2. I actually think there were too few writing assignments, but when they had them they were always something that the students worked on for several days in class and finish up at home or over a weekend. One kid used his time in class well, the other didn't and wound up trying to cram it in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

For 6th grade, we were told to expect 1-1.5 hours of homework per night. However, the kids had a study hall period, and my DS did most of his homework then.

This is an interesting point. I just spoke with a friend at Basis in Brooklyn and she said her son does most of his homework in study hall, too. Basis DC only has a 25-minute AE period and 2 out of the 3 days, they spend that time having “restorative justice” conversations. I think they should let the kids use it for actual studying.

I think they actually do need time to work on social-emotional stuff at BASIS. Getting the balance right is the trick though. AE has been hit or miss and neither of my kids ever used it effectively for homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you discussed the fact that homework is for completion, not perfection, with your child? Is you student spending the entire 3-4 hours doing only homework, I.e., not also wasting time on phone or internet?

Have you expressed this concern about load with Mrs. G?

Wow, that's a pretty bad teaching method! So just drown the kids in homework without being concerned that they do it well or correctly?