Do parents choose Latin/BASIS over Deal/J-R?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish there were half as much energy around calling out my EOTP DCPS schools as there is around criticizing BASIS. Neither of them is providing a good option for a full range of students, but it's not BASIS which is obligated to do this.

Why isn’t BASIS obligated to provide a good option for a full range of students? BASIS and DCPS are both LEAs. They have the exact same legal obligations.

Some parents at Yu Ying vocally complain that their culture isn’t centered at all times (despite the school bending over backwards for them). I’ll leave who they are to your imagination
Charter schools and certain public schools are allowed to have different academic models because the intent is that students self-select into those schools. You wouldn't go to McKinley Tech and complain about the tech part. Whereas neighborhood public schools are supposed to be able to serve the broad range of students in that neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The picture of success above isn't different from Deal and JR.

It's a stretch to claim that BASIS is an improvement over the best of DCPS.

I don't think any parent, satisfied or not, is claiming this, but I'm curious what you think the best of DCPS is. SWW or Banneker? It ain't JR. BASIS is a superior choice to many DCPS options, depending on the student and family. JR families may not frequently look to BASIS as an alternative because JR has historically been a known, relatively low risk option. They may also want to avoid all this smoke that people talk so much about. You might say BASIS's picture of success isn't different from JR, but I'm pretty sure 100% of kids from BASIS end up going to a 4-year college. Would be pretty shocked if JR can make that claim. No slight against those who choose CC, military service, work, etc. after HS, but if we're going to do something stupid like link a public HS's worth to the number of selective college admits they have, then we should also look at the percentage of kids from that school who go to any college. That is BASIS's primary mission. Colleges know the BASIS network is a grind, and kids see the benefit of that come admissions time, relative to their own abilities, talent, resources, etc.

And the point is that top colleges invariably celebrate the "grind," which justifies it? I don't see that. Where is it written that high achievement in high school only pays off if the journey is a grim slog?

Grads from my Ivy willing to interview applicants must be thin on the ground in Arizona because I've been asked to phone interview several dozen in the final days of interview season almost every year in the last decade. I pitched in an interviewed these applicants. I also interviewed around 10 from BASIS DC. None from AZ or DC was admitted.

One of the question interviewers for my Ivy answer on the interview report form is, "Did you enjoy speaking to the applicant?" With BASIS applicants, my answer has generally been, no. As a general rule, these kids barely have a pulse. They mainly wanted to talk about the AP exams they'd aced. By contrast, I've often enjoyed talking to the Walls, Latin and J-R applicants I've interviewed--overall, they seemed to bring more serious and interesting ECs to the table than the BASIS applicants--but none was admitted either. I have no reason to be biased against BASIS applicants. My children now attend public schools in MoCo, where my ex lives.

This anecdote doesn't really back up the actual college admits at this schools (BASIS has far more Ivy admits and T20 admits than Latin).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re a jerk, PP. The parent above may well have done her due diligence. But it’s not easy for the uninitiated to see through the BASIS hype. From what I’ve observed at BASIS, the UMC seniors who crack MIT, Ivies etc. come from families that pay and hustle like mad to round out their kids’ high school educations. Everybody at BASIS with a super bright and industrious kids can’t swing it. It’s tempting to pretend that a BASIS education alone is enough. It’s not.

Another ignorant response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The picture of success above isn't different from Deal and JR.

It's a stretch to claim that BASIS is an improvement over the best of DCPS.

I don't think any parent, satisfied or not, is claiming this, but I'm curious what you think the best of DCPS is. SWW or Banneker? It ain't JR. BASIS is a superior choice to many DCPS options, depending on the student and family. JR families may not frequently look to BASIS as an alternative because JR has historically been a known, relatively low risk option. They may also want to avoid all this smoke that people talk so much about. You might say BASIS's picture of success isn't different from JR, but I'm pretty sure 100% of kids from BASIS end up going to a 4-year college. Would be pretty shocked if JR can make that claim. No slight against those who choose CC, military service, work, etc. after HS, but if we're going to do something stupid like link a public HS's worth to the number of selective college admits they have, then we should also look at the percentage of kids from that school who go to any college. That is BASIS's primary mission. Colleges know the BASIS network is a grind, and kids see the benefit of that come admissions time, relative to their own abilities, talent, resources, etc.

And the point is that top colleges invariably celebrate the "grind," which justifies it? I don't see that. Where is it written that high achievement in high school only pays off if the journey is a grim slog?

Grads from my Ivy willing to interview applicants must be thin on the ground in Arizona because I've been asked to phone interview several dozen in the final days of interview season almost every year in the last decade. I pitched in an interviewed these applicants. I also interviewed around 10 from BASIS DC. None from AZ or DC was admitted.

One of the question interviewers for my Ivy answer on the interview report form is, "Did you enjoy speaking to the applicant?" With BASIS applicants, my answer has generally been, no. As a general rule, these kids barely have a pulse. They mainly wanted to talk about the AP exams they'd aced. By contrast, I've often enjoyed talking to the Walls, Latin and J-R applicants I've interviewed--overall, they seemed to bring more serious and interesting ECs to the table than the BASIS applicants--but none was admitted either. I have no reason to be biased against BASIS applicants. My children now attend public schools in MoCo, where my ex lives.

This is useless unless we know what Ivy.

You live in AZ but have interviewed 10 kids from a small charter school in DC? That makes no sense. What Ivy does that?

For comparison, I have interviewed for an Ivy in DC for years and have interviewed almost no Basis DC seniors.

Fact is that 13% of the current very small senior class has already been accepted to an Ivy. So, these actual results belie your rather implausible subjective experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The picture of success above isn't different from Deal and JR.

It's a stretch to claim that BASIS is an improvement over the best of DCPS.

I don't think any parent, satisfied or not, is claiming this, but I'm curious what you think the best of DCPS is. SWW or Banneker? It ain't JR. BASIS is a superior choice to many DCPS options, depending on the student and family. JR families may not frequently look to BASIS as an alternative because JR has historically been a known, relatively low risk option. They may also want to avoid all this smoke that people talk so much about. You might say BASIS's picture of success isn't different from JR, but I'm pretty sure 100% of kids from BASIS end up going to a 4-year college. Would be pretty shocked if JR can make that claim. No slight against those who choose CC, military service, work, etc. after HS, but if we're going to do something stupid like link a public HS's worth to the number of selective college admits they have, then we should also look at the percentage of kids from that school who go to any college. That is BASIS's primary mission. Colleges know the BASIS network is a grind, and kids see the benefit of that come admissions time, relative to their own abilities, talent, resources, etc.

And the point is that top colleges invariably celebrate the "grind," which justifies it? I don't see that. Where is it written that high achievement in high school only pays off if the journey is a grim slog?

Grads from my Ivy willing to interview applicants must be thin on the ground in Arizona because I've been asked to phone interview several dozen in the final days of interview season almost every year in the last decade. I pitched in an interviewed these applicants. I also interviewed around 10 from BASIS DC. None from AZ or DC was admitted.

One of the question interviewers for my Ivy answer on the interview report form is, "Did you enjoy speaking to the applicant?" With BASIS applicants, my answer has generally been, no. As a general rule, these kids barely have a pulse. They mainly wanted to talk about the AP exams they'd aced. By contrast, I've often enjoyed talking to the Walls, Latin and J-R applicants I've interviewed--overall, they seemed to bring more serious and interesting ECs to the table than the BASIS applicants--but none was admitted either. I have no reason to be biased against BASIS applicants. My children now attend public schools in MoCo, where my ex lives.

This is useless unless we know what Ivy.

You live in AZ but have interviewed 10 kids from a small charter school in DC? That makes no sense. What Ivy does that?

For comparison, I have interviewed for an Ivy in DC for years and have interviewed almost no Basis DC seniors.

Fact is that 13% of the current very small senior class has already been accepted to an Ivy. So, these actual results belie your rather implausible subjective experience.

+1.

And it is still super early in the admissions cycle.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in 10th grade now. We were inbounds for Deal/J-R, and older kid had gone to Deal. We decided to just try for Latin - it seemed like it would be a better fit for our particular kid. Lotteried in and it was better in a lot of ways for this particular kid (who needed stronger academic rigor), but ultimately we went private for high school.

[Anonymous]

We are IB for Deal and lotteried for Latin in ES, got in, decided to stay with friends for MS. Ultimately went private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The picture of success above isn't different from Deal and JR.

It's a stretch to claim that BASIS is an improvement over the best of DCPS.

I don't think any parent, satisfied or not, is claiming this, but I'm curious what you think the best of DCPS is. SWW or Banneker? It ain't JR. BASIS is a superior choice to many DCPS options, depending on the student and family. JR families may not frequently look to BASIS as an alternative because JR has historically been a known, relatively low risk option. They may also want to avoid all this smoke that people talk so much about. You might say BASIS's picture of success isn't different from JR, but I'm pretty sure 100% of kids from BASIS end up going to a 4-year college. Would be pretty shocked if JR can make that claim. No slight against those who choose CC, military service, work, etc. after HS, but if we're going to do something stupid like link a public HS's worth to the number of selective college admits they have, then we should also look at the percentage of kids from that school who go to any college. That is BASIS's primary mission. Colleges know the BASIS network is a grind, and kids see the benefit of that come admissions time, relative to their own abilities, talent, resources, etc.

And the point is that top colleges invariably celebrate the "grind," which justifies it? I don't see that. Where is it written that high achievement in high school only pays off if the journey is a grim slog?

Grads from my Ivy willing to interview applicants must be thin on the ground in Arizona because I've been asked to phone interview several dozen in the final days of interview season almost every year in the last decade. I pitched in an interviewed these applicants. I also interviewed around 10 from BASIS DC. None from AZ or DC was admitted.

One of the question interviewers for my Ivy answer on the interview report form is, "Did you enjoy speaking to the applicant?" With BASIS applicants, my answer has generally been, no. As a general rule, these kids barely have a pulse. They mainly wanted to talk about the AP exams they'd aced. By contrast, I've often enjoyed talking to the Walls, Latin and J-R applicants I've interviewed--overall, they seemed to bring more serious and interesting ECs to the table than the BASIS applicants--but none was admitted either. I have no reason to be biased against BASIS applicants. My children now attend public schools in MoCo, where my ex lives.

This anecdote doesn't really back up the actual college admits at this schools (BASIS has far more Ivy admits and T20 admits than Latin).

You call anecdote; I call valid point. The Ivy interviewer isn't wrong that BASIS franchise applicants face an uphill battle in shining on ECs, which can make all the difference in college acceptances. This is a key reason that a good many top BASIS DC middle school students don't stay for high school, including mine. The focus of the BASIS experience is AP exam results, nothing more. Right, Latin gets doesn't get as many Ivy or T20 admits true, but it gets some. Our neighbors' daughter got into Princeton from Latin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The picture of success above isn't different from Deal and JR.

It's a stretch to claim that BASIS is an improvement over the best of DCPS.

I don't think any parent, satisfied or not, is claiming this, but I'm curious what you think the best of DCPS is. SWW or Banneker? It ain't JR. BASIS is a superior choice to many DCPS options, depending on the student and family. JR families may not frequently look to BASIS as an alternative because JR has historically been a known, relatively low risk option. They may also want to avoid all this smoke that people talk so much about. You might say BASIS's picture of success isn't different from JR, but I'm pretty sure 100% of kids from BASIS end up going to a 4-year college. Would be pretty shocked if JR can make that claim. No slight against those who choose CC, military service, work, etc. after HS, but if we're going to do something stupid like link a public HS's worth to the number of selective college admits they have, then we should also look at the percentage of kids from that school who go to any college. That is BASIS's primary mission. Colleges know the BASIS network is a grind, and kids see the benefit of that come admissions time, relative to their own abilities, talent, resources, etc.

And the point is that top colleges invariably celebrate the "grind," which justifies it? I don't see that. Where is it written that high achievement in high school only pays off if the journey is a grim slog?

Grads from my Ivy willing to interview applicants must be thin on the ground in Arizona because I've been asked to phone interview several dozen in the final days of interview season almost every year in the last decade. I pitched in an interviewed these applicants. I also interviewed around 10 from BASIS DC. None from AZ or DC was admitted.

One of the question interviewers for my Ivy answer on the interview report form is, "Did you enjoy speaking to the applicant?" With BASIS applicants, my answer has generally been, no. As a general rule, these kids barely have a pulse. They mainly wanted to talk about the AP exams they'd aced. By contrast, I've often enjoyed talking to the Walls, Latin and J-R applicants I've interviewed--overall, they seemed to bring more serious and interesting ECs to the table than the BASIS applicants--but none was admitted either. I have no reason to be biased against BASIS applicants. My children now attend public schools in MoCo, where my ex lives.

This is useless unless we know what Ivy.

You live in AZ but have interviewed 10 kids from a small charter school in DC? That makes no sense. What Ivy does that?

For comparison, I have interviewed for an Ivy in DC for years and have interviewed almost no Basis DC seniors.

Fact is that 13% of the current very small senior class has already been accepted to an Ivy. So, these actual results belie your rather implausible subjective experience.

NP: It's useless even if you know which Ivy. These colleges accept fewer than 10% of applicants. A sample of 10 from one "pitch in" interviewer means less than nothing. And NO ONE should be choosing a high school based on college admissions chances. It makes no sense at all. Your kid's chances are about your kid, not the high school they attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The picture of success above isn't different from Deal and JR.

It's a stretch to claim that BASIS is an improvement over the best of DCPS.

I don't think any parent, satisfied or not, is claiming this, but I'm curious what you think the best of DCPS is. SWW or Banneker? It ain't JR. BASIS is a superior choice to many DCPS options, depending on the student and family. JR families may not frequently look to BASIS as an alternative because JR has historically been a known, relatively low risk option. They may also want to avoid all this smoke that people talk so much about. You might say BASIS's picture of success isn't different from JR, but I'm pretty sure 100% of kids from BASIS end up going to a 4-year college. Would be pretty shocked if JR can make that claim. No slight against those who choose CC, military service, work, etc. after HS, but if we're going to do something stupid like link a public HS's worth to the number of selective college admits they have, then we should also look at the percentage of kids from that school who go to any college. That is BASIS's primary mission. Colleges know the BASIS network is a grind, and kids see the benefit of that come admissions time, relative to their own abilities, talent, resources, etc.

And the point is that top colleges invariably celebrate the "grind," which justifies it? I don't see that. Where is it written that high achievement in high school only pays off if the journey is a grim slog?

Grads from my Ivy willing to interview applicants must be thin on the ground in Arizona because I've been asked to phone interview several dozen in the final days of interview season almost every year in the last decade. I pitched in an interviewed these applicants. I also interviewed around 10 from BASIS DC. None from AZ or DC was admitted.

One of the question interviewers for my Ivy answer on the interview report form is, "Did you enjoy speaking to the applicant?" With BASIS applicants, my answer has generally been, no. As a general rule, these kids barely have a pulse. They mainly wanted to talk about the AP exams they'd aced. By contrast, I've often enjoyed talking to the Walls, Latin and J-R applicants I've interviewed--overall, they seemed to bring more serious and interesting ECs to the table than the BASIS applicants--but none was admitted either. I have no reason to be biased against BASIS applicants. My children now attend public schools in MoCo, where my ex lives.

This is useless unless we know what Ivy.

You live in AZ but have interviewed 10 kids from a small charter school in DC? That makes no sense. What Ivy does that?

For comparison, I have interviewed for an Ivy in DC for years and have interviewed almost no Basis DC seniors.

Fact is that 13% of the current very small senior class has already been accepted to an Ivy. So, these actual results belie your rather implausible subjective experience.

You're not reading closely.

What happens with BASIS Arizona Ivy applicants is that the Ivies who rely on alum interviewers wind up asking alums who don't live in the state to interview most of them, on the phone. This happens because there aren't nearly enough Ivy grads willing to interview on the ground in Arizona to do the job. I've been asked to interview BASIS applicants in Arizona on the phone for Columbia, and my spouse has for Yale, half a dozen times in the last 15 years.

Columbia has also given me BASIS DC applicants to interview over the years, around one a winter. I've heard similar stories from DC friends who graduated from Harvard and Brown who volunteer to interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The picture of success above isn't different from Deal and JR.

It's a stretch to claim that BASIS is an improvement over the best of DCPS.

I don't think any parent, satisfied or not, is claiming this, but I'm curious what you think the best of DCPS is. SWW or Banneker? It ain't JR. BASIS is a superior choice to many DCPS options, depending on the student and family. JR families may not frequently look to BASIS as an alternative because JR has historically been a known, relatively low risk option. They may also want to avoid all this smoke that people talk so much about. You might say BASIS's picture of success isn't different from JR, but I'm pretty sure 100% of kids from BASIS end up going to a 4-year college. Would be pretty shocked if JR can make that claim. No slight against those who choose CC, military service, work, etc. after HS, but if we're going to do something stupid like link a public HS's worth to the number of selective college admits they have, then we should also look at the percentage of kids from that school who go to any college. That is BASIS's primary mission. Colleges know the BASIS network is a grind, and kids see the benefit of that come admissions time, relative to their own abilities, talent, resources, etc.

And the point is that top colleges invariably celebrate the "grind," which justifies it? I don't see that. Where is it written that high achievement in high school only pays off if the journey is a grim slog?

Grads from my Ivy willing to interview applicants must be thin on the ground in Arizona because I've been asked to phone interview several dozen in the final days of interview season almost every year in the last decade. I pitched in an interviewed these applicants. I also interviewed around 10 from BASIS DC. None from AZ or DC was admitted.

One of the question interviewers for my Ivy answer on the interview report form is, "Did you enjoy speaking to the applicant?" With BASIS applicants, my answer has generally been, no. As a general rule, these kids barely have a pulse. They mainly wanted to talk about the AP exams they'd aced. By contrast, I've often enjoyed talking to the Walls, Latin and J-R applicants I've interviewed--overall, they seemed to bring more serious and interesting ECs to the table than the BASIS applicants--but none was admitted either. I have no reason to be biased against BASIS applicants. My children now attend public schools in MoCo, where my ex lives.

This is useless unless we know what Ivy.

You live in AZ but have interviewed 10 kids from a small charter school in DC? That makes no sense. What Ivy does that?

For comparison, I have interviewed for an Ivy in DC for years and have interviewed almost no Basis DC seniors.

Fact is that 13% of the current very small senior class has already been accepted to an Ivy. So, these actual results belie your rather implausible subjective experience.

NP: It's useless even if you know which Ivy. These colleges accept fewer than 10% of applicants. A sample of 10 from one "pitch in" interviewer means less than nothing. And NO ONE should be choosing a high school based on college admissions chances. It makes no sense at all. Your kid's chances are about your kid, not the high school they attend.

Yes, and your kid's chances don't revolve around standardized test scores generated by the end of junior year alone.

We know a few BASIS families who bailed for privates after 9th and 10th grade mainly out of concern that the kid didn't have enough time to build a competitive EC profile, with four years of high school essentially shoved into three. Some of these kids simply wanted an experience not readily available at BASIS: to do serious ECs with classmates, versus running around town on their own to pursue them. They wanted to sing in good choirs with classmates, play in good orchestras and bands, row on good crew teams, sing, act and dance in good school musicals, work on strong student newspapers etc. etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The picture of success above isn't different from Deal and JR.

It's a stretch to claim that BASIS is an improvement over the best of DCPS.

I don't think any parent, satisfied or not, is claiming this, but I'm curious what you think the best of DCPS is. SWW or Banneker? It ain't JR. BASIS is a superior choice to many DCPS options, depending on the student and family. JR families may not frequently look to BASIS as an alternative because JR has historically been a known, relatively low risk option. They may also want to avoid all this smoke that people talk so much about. You might say BASIS's picture of success isn't different from JR, but I'm pretty sure 100% of kids from BASIS end up going to a 4-year college. Would be pretty shocked if JR can make that claim. No slight against those who choose CC, military service, work, etc. after HS, but if we're going to do something stupid like link a public HS's worth to the number of selective college admits they have, then we should also look at the percentage of kids from that school who go to any college. That is BASIS's primary mission. Colleges know the BASIS network is a grind, and kids see the benefit of that come admissions time, relative to their own abilities, talent, resources, etc.

And the point is that top colleges invariably celebrate the "grind," which justifies it? I don't see that. Where is it written that high achievement in high school only pays off if the journey is a grim slog?

Grads from my Ivy willing to interview applicants must be thin on the ground in Arizona because I've been asked to phone interview several dozen in the final days of interview season almost every year in the last decade. I pitched in an interviewed these applicants. I also interviewed around 10 from BASIS DC. None from AZ or DC was admitted.

One of the question interviewers for my Ivy answer on the interview report form is, "Did you enjoy speaking to the applicant?" With BASIS applicants, my answer has generally been, no. As a general rule, these kids barely have a pulse. They mainly wanted to talk about the AP exams they'd aced. By contrast, I've often enjoyed talking to the Walls, Latin and J-R applicants I've interviewed--overall, they seemed to bring more serious and interesting ECs to the table than the BASIS applicants--but none was admitted either. I have no reason to be biased against BASIS applicants. My children now attend public schools in MoCo, where my ex lives.

This is useless unless we know what Ivy.

You live in AZ but have interviewed 10 kids from a small charter school in DC? That makes no sense. What Ivy does that?

For comparison, I have interviewed for an Ivy in DC for years and have interviewed almost no Basis DC seniors.

Fact is that 13% of the current very small senior class has already been accepted to an Ivy. So, these actual results belie your rather implausible subjective experience.

NP: It's useless even if you know which Ivy. These colleges accept fewer than 10% of applicants. A sample of 10 from one "pitch in" interviewer means less than nothing. And NO ONE should be choosing a high school based on college admissions chances. It makes no sense at all. Your kid's chances are about your kid, not the high school they attend.

Yes, and your kid's chances don't revolve around standardized test scores generated by the end of junior year alone.

We know a few BASIS families who bailed for privates after 9th and 10th grade mainly out of concern that the kid didn't have enough time to build a competitive EC profile, with four years of high school essentially shoved into three. Some of these kids simply wanted an experience not readily available at BASIS: to do serious ECs with classmates, versus running around town on their own to pursue them. They wanted to sing in good choirs with classmates, play in good orchestras and bands, row on good crew teams, sing, act and dance in good school musicals, work on strong student newspapers etc. etc.

Very valid reason to leave BASIS -- if you want a really robust EC experience with classmates, that doesn't happen there.

If we are talking about college, I'll say one of the main reasons that we continue to stick with it is that BASIS really does prepare kids well for college -- they are prepared for the workload and executive functioning. Parents with kids who have been through the whole system have told me that even when the kids kind of hate it and graduate with a terrible GPA, they end up doing well in college. So, that is something.

[Anonymous]

Right, something. But why run a school as an unhappy exam prep academy...by design? I never got the point when we were at BASIS, before we moved to NW. The message from admins was always "our way or the highway" even when the ask in question would have been easy to accommodate, at no expense to the school, and would have helped the kid excel at this or that.

Plenty of high-performing kids enjoy public high schools and end up doing well in college. Believe it or not, things have been much better for us at J-R. No, the STEM isn't as advanced, but the kid is much happier and, I suspect, en route to a highly competitive college as a result. He cheerfully gets up at 5 AM to row crew. We used to have to drag him out of bed at 7. So, that is something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right, something. But why run a school as an unhappy exam prep academy...by design? I never got the point when we were at BASIS, before we moved to NW. The message from admins was always "our way or the highway" even when the ask in question would have been easy to accommodate, at no expense to the school, and would have helped the kid excel at this or that.

Plenty of high-performing kids enjoy public high schools and end up doing well in college. Believe it or not, things have been much better for us at J-R. No, the STEM isn't as advanced, but the kid is much happier and, I suspect, en route to a highly competitive college as a result. He cheerfully gets up at 5 AM to row crew. We used to have to drag him out of bed at 7. So, that is something.

I concede that there are some BASIS boosters who think this is the superior model for all kids, but most people wouldn’t say that. It works really well for some kids.

I think there’s a far larger proportion of parents who are frustrated that JR caters to the bottom decile kid at the expense of the median kid. This is a fundamental problem for all DCPS. Some begrudgingly end up at BASIS, some tough it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, something. But why run a school as an unhappy exam prep academy...by design? I never got the point when we were at BASIS, before we moved to NW. The message from admins was always "our way or the highway" even when the ask in question would have been easy to accommodate, at no expense to the school, and would have helped the kid excel at this or that.

Plenty of high-performing kids enjoy public high schools and end up doing well in college. Believe it or not, things have been much better for us at J-R. No, the STEM isn't as advanced, but the kid is much happier and, I suspect, en route to a highly competitive college as a result. He cheerfully gets up at 5 AM to row crew. We used to have to drag him out of bed at 7. So, that is something.

I concede that there are some BASIS boosters who think this is the superior model for all kids, but most people wouldn’t say that. It works really well for some kids.

I think there’s a far larger proportion of parents who are frustrated that JR caters to the bottom decile kid at the expense of the median kid. This is a fundamental problem for all DCPS. Some begrudgingly end up at BASIS, some tough it out.

I don't really understand this comment. I realize that honors for all is a crock and grade level classes are barely grade level...but JR offers 29 AP classes (open to anyone), so Sophomore year you have kids taking 2, Junior year the sky's the limit and senior year the sky's the limit (take 0, or 1 or 6 per year if you want)...and you can take DE classes at GW, Georgetown, etc. if you want.

There are some great AP teachers...and a minority that aren't so great...but most teachers run fairly good AP classes and at least my kid has done well on the tests (80% 5s and 20% 4s).

I would say Deal is probably more along what you are talking about, since you can only really separate on the advanced Math track.