BASIS DC precomps and comps

[Anonymous]

NP. I'm not under the impression that they are. True that many high school parents are fed up with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't what you're alluding to. Please explain.

I can tell you that there's growing concern in the hs parent community about inter-connected issues: inadequate teacher pay, what looks like a higher drop off rate to Walls than in the past, unimpressive hs ecs as compared to ms ecs and this year's somewhat disappointing admissions results.

In the last few years, hs parents grew accustomed to seeing ivy admits, mainly for Yale, Harvard and Princeton. It's not lost on us that Walls and JR had ivy successes this year, and not just for low SES minority applicants or recruited athletes (mostly from the JR crew team).

We wouldn't be as concerned if the head of school didn't blow off our concerns as a general rule. Some of us, particularly those with hs students with ms sibs, are hoping that he leaves. He's much more interested in the ms than the hs, which has become a problem.

This is an interesting perspective. We are a middle school family. How is he more focused on the middle school? If this is true, I'm guessing it's to reduce attrition between 6th and 7th and 8th and 9th (which he has talked about as the biggest years when BASIS DC loses kids). From what we've heard, the middle school years are much more of a grind than high school (and we see this - middle school at BASIS (beyond 5th grade mind you) is a GRIND).

All that said, I do commend the parents of the hs that are organizing efforts to make things better. It's unfortunate that you have to fight for better teacher retention and basic ec programming.

[Anonymous]

He's more focused on almost everything about the ms, retention, teaching, curriculum, well-being of students, ecs, you name it. He's got a vision for the BASIS hs 5 years hence, not for the next school year or two. There are obvious problems with the way the hs and college counseling works that aren't being addressed. Surprise, surprise, Ivy admissions are down.

The franchise's obsession with students taking their AP exams by jr, year, pushed by the head, hurts ecs and the college process for most students. If this approach was smart, Sidwell, GDS, NCS etc. would've embraced it. I find it interesting that a few hs families have quietly rebelled by signing kids up for cambridge intl A-levels given in Nov at the DC British school. We know parents whose seniors took Spanish there in Nov after summer immersion study vs. taking AP spanish at BASIS in May as advised (w/out a good shot of scoring a 5). Students' capstone projects aren't well supported or funded unless families with the resources and connections do the legwork and pay up. The new dual enrollment program for enrolling in college classes for free has been poorly advertised and supported. Senior year just isn't used v. well at BASIS, not even close, but concerned parents have no voice in challenging.

From where I sit, it's almost impossible for parents to influence any BASIS policy without a PTA or PO. We don't have established parent leadership admins need to listen to. The 6th, 7th, 8th grade families aren't the only ones who leave. Parents with money sometimes leave the hs for privates, particularly after sophomore year.

[Anonymous]

Ivy League admissions aren't down, they're gone, at least for now.

[Anonymous]

The college counseling has been a mess - BASIS higher ups and the parents may care about the Ivy admits, but the counselors seem to care most about hose much scholarship money comes in - these things are often at odds with each other, since Ivies don't have "scholarships" and many "middle class" DC families aren't going to receive that much in financial aid.

The problem with the high school is that it's really small and there often aren't the numbers for ECs. It would be very smart of the administration to figure out a way to use the system to partner with other small charters in order to field teams (and get fields). This is not something parents can do on their own.

[Anonymous]

Good post. This 9th grade parent doesn't understand why BASIS doesn't partner with a variety of organizations to beef up HS ECs not just other DC charters. Admins don't seem to have the bandwidth, drive or resources at their disposal to improve matters. Our family is wearying of paying through the nose and charging around town to burnish our teen's EC CV on a basic level. At this rate, we may not stay the course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. More would leave from BASIS for Walls if they could. Walls has better facilities, a more stable teaching force, more AP classes, much stronger ECs, dual enrollment option with GW to take college classes, four years of learning in four years of HS etc. Why wouldn't most who could leave want to?

Most Basis students accepted at Walls turn it down.

Walls has a much bigger high school but facilities are crappy. For example, they don't have gym, cafeteria, stage, studio space, or any sport fields. I guess GW isn't so generous with sharing their facilities.

Teaching at Walls doesn't seem that great. Bad teachers refuse to leave and they take months to replace teachers that depart. Stability isn't so great when you can't get rid of poor teachers and bring new teachers in rapidly.

More AP classes? Not per capita; Basis offers way more AP classes per student. Walls doesn't even offer AP bio every year, which is a pretty basic AP.

Walls is bigger and thus obviously offers more extracurriculars. But so what? Basis kids have plenty of options, both in school and out.

Basis can do the college dual enrollment option as well but since the Basis curriculum is already so rigorous most don't bother. It doesn't sound like most Walls students take advantage of dual enrollment program at GW, and most of those who take classes at GW are stuck with bad ones that GW students don't want.

Basis students are so advanced, they finish high school requirements by junior year and can do capstones their senior year. Sounds like a good thing.

A lot of students at Basis don't go to Walls because they don't want to be stuck repeating material that they already learned at Basis in middle school.

Since Walls scrapped the entrance exam, quality of the students has decreased. Grade inflation is so rampant that almost everyone is graduating with the highest honors, leaving students less prepared for college. Unfortunately, the school has really gone downhill in the last few years.

Don't buy this hyperbolic BS. As far as we can tell in 8th grade, roughly 3/4 of those admitted to Walls go. If BASIS students were so advanced, they'd be admitted to Ivies, Stanford, MIT. None were this year. The average AP language grade at BASIS isn't a 5. Agree that Walls is going downhill. BASIS is also going downhill.

I can see many scenarios in which I consider my child (who is doing quite well in Basis HS) to have succeeded without going to an Ivy, Stanford, or MIT.

Grand. It's the BASIS franchise that's obsessed with colleges admitting in the single digits. Since you've been at BASIS all these years, you know as well as I do that admins and teachers start preaching the gospel of Ivy League and MIT admissions to the 5th graders. They boast and boast about Ivy and MIT admissions at open houses, parent nights, you name it. Whoops, no Ivy or MIT admissions this year. Something's rotten in the state of BASIS DC, er philosophically and programmatically.

As virtually every sane Basis parent has said, it's a good school, but it's not a perfect school. One of the aspects that I don't like is the excessive focus on college and the application process. Some of that is fine, but I'd prefer that they use some of that time for actual learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good post. This 9th grade parent doesn't understand why BASIS doesn't partner with a variety of organizations to beef up HS ECs not just other DC charters. Admins don't seem to have the bandwidth, drive or resources at their disposal to improve matters. Our family is wearying of paying through the nose and charging around town to burnish our teen's EC CV on a basic level. At this rate, we may not stay the course.

"..burnish our teen's EC CV" makes it sound like you are doing some activities not because your child enjoys them or you think it will provide real benefits, but just to list on a CV. For your child's sake, I hope that's not what you really meant.

[Anonymous]

Along with actual achievement outside the classroom. The kids aren't encouraged to pursue high octane extra-curriculars, a flaw in the model. Outside of robotic competitions, families mostly find their own serious ECs and pay for them. The sports and clubs are pretty basic. Their working assumption seems to be that a slew of high AP scores will do the trick at the most highly competitive colleges, especially those doling out generous merit aid. Not necessarily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good post. This 9th grade parent doesn't understand why BASIS doesn't partner with a variety of organizations to beef up HS ECs not just other DC charters. Admins don't seem to have the bandwidth, drive or resources at their disposal to improve matters. Our family is wearying of paying through the nose and charging around town to burnish our teen's EC CV on a basic level. At this rate, we may not stay the course.

"..burnish our teen's EC CV" makes it sound like you are doing some activities not because your child enjoys them or you think it will provide real benefits, but just to list on a CV. For your child's sake, I hope that's not what you really meant.

Not what I meant. The inconvenient truth is that an UMC kid needs far more serious ECs than BASIS offers to aim high in college admissions with a good shot of being admitted to schools admitting in the single digits and teens. You have to find them, pay for them, support them on your own. The process gets exhausting and can be lonely for the kid.

[Anonymous]

Simple. If you want a good range of high school extra curriculars don't enroll at BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He's more focused on almost everything about the ms, retention, teaching, curriculum, well-being of students, ecs, you name it. He's got a vision for the BASIS hs 5 years hence, not for the next school year or two. There are obvious problems with the way the hs and college counseling works that aren't being addressed. Surprise, surprise, Ivy admissions are down.

The franchise's obsession with students taking their AP exams by jr, year, pushed by the head, hurts ecs and the college process for most students. If this approach was smart, Sidwell, GDS, NCS etc. would've embraced it. I find it interesting that a few hs families have quietly rebelled by signing kids up for cambridge intl A-levels given in Nov at the DC British school. We know parents whose seniors took Spanish there in Nov after summer immersion study vs. taking AP spanish at BASIS in May as advised (w/out a good shot of scoring a 5). Students' capstone projects aren't well supported or funded unless families with the resources and connections do the legwork and pay up. The new dual enrollment program for enrolling in college classes for free has been poorly advertised and supported. Senior year just isn't used v. well at BASIS, not even close, but concerned parents have no voice in challenging.

From where I sit, it's almost impossible for parents to influence any BASIS policy without a PTA or PO.We don't have established parent leadership admins need to listen to. The 6th, 7th, 8th grade families aren't the only ones who leave. Parents with money sometimes leave the hs for privates, particularly after sophomore year.

Here's what I don't understand (as a 5th grade parent): why don't students just start a PTO? BASIS can't stop them from creating something like "friends of BASIS" and collecting money that could be given to the school with strings attached, and I would much rather donate to a PTO than to BASIS itself, because they piss me off on the regular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He's more focused on almost everything about the ms, retention, teaching, curriculum, well-being of students, ecs, you name it. He's got a vision for the BASIS hs 5 years hence, not for the next school year or two. There are obvious problems with the way the hs and college counseling works that aren't being addressed. Surprise, surprise, Ivy admissions are down.

The franchise's obsession with students taking their AP exams by jr, year, pushed by the head, hurts ecs and the college process for most students. If this approach was smart, Sidwell, GDS, NCS etc. would've embraced it. I find it interesting that a few hs families have quietly rebelled by signing kids up for cambridge intl A-levels given in Nov at the DC British school. We know parents whose seniors took Spanish there in Nov after summer immersion study vs. taking AP spanish at BASIS in May as advised (w/out a good shot of scoring a 5). Students' capstone projects aren't well supported or funded unless families with the resources and connections do the legwork and pay up. The new dual enrollment program for enrolling in college classes for free has been poorly advertised and supported. Senior year just isn't used v. well at BASIS, not even close, but concerned parents have no voice in challenging.

From where I sit, it's almost impossible for parents to influence any BASIS policy without a PTA or PO.We don't have established parent leadership admins need to listen to. The 6th, 7th, 8th grade families aren't the only ones who leave. Parents with money sometimes leave the hs for privates, particularly after sophomore year.

Here's what I don't understand (as a 5th grade parent): why don't students just start a PTO? BASIS can't stop them from creating something like "friends of BASIS" and collecting money that could be given to the school with strings attached, and I would much rather donate to a PTO than to BASIS itself, because they piss me off on the regular.

Sorry "students" should be "parents" - why don't the parents just start the organization (not ask permission - just do it).

[Anonymous]

Basis Crew and Fencing is top notch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Here's what I don't understand (as a 5th grade parent): why don't students just start a PTO? BASIS can't stop them from creating something like "friends of BASIS" and collecting money that could be given to the school with strings attached, and I would much rather donate to a PTO than to BASIS itself, because they piss me off on the regular.

Sorry "students" should be "parents" - why don't the parents just start the organization (not ask permission - just do it).

Serious question? You can't have served as a PTA official. PTAs or POs need to be incorporated as non-profits with school support to raise money legally. The BASIS franchise doesn't permit PTAs or POs. They permit "Booster Clubs" that raise money for the school and hand it off to admins. At BASIS DC, the funds are used to boost teachers' salaries.