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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Second year parent with DC in 6th who is fairly happy and does very well. No group work, very few projects. Do not send a non STEM kid there. Teachers are generally very good, admin not so much...[/quote]ou

have to second the "do not send a non STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) kid there.  And they cannot be a jock, either....

They are much more oriented towards the European system, and believe in acceleration where your child can handle it.  Do not be upset by the shadow day, especially if you are coming from a private school.  Lush playing fields etc are not all that, and I believe that the academic offerings here for MS are unparalleled for kids who are motivated, willing to work hard, be responsible, and like (and are good at) maths and science.

The BASIS chain (look up the founding schools in Arizona) have done incredibly well, and every year they do PISA )sp?) the European measurement of achievement accomplished by randomly selected students from 9th or 10th grade at all schools internationally......  We are beating all the ballyhooed school systems - Shanghai, Finland, etc.

You are right about the European influence - the founders, Michael and Olga Block, are an Arizona economics professor and his wife from the Czech Republic.  That is why we have no uniforms - because she grew up under communism and could not have her kids wearing uniforms because to her it reminded her of Prague.  The oldest schools are regularly in the top 5 best US high schools in US News and World Reports.

We are also as of last year (our second year of existence in DC) second only to Deal (the most sought after public middle school), in our DC CAS scores (the public school standardised test that measures all the schools in DC in terms of academic achievements).

The population is a bit rough and tumble if you are coming from private - majority minority, and over 40% of our students qualify for free and reduced meals (FARMS).  At Deal the number is more like 20%, and the school is majority white and majority wealthy, and the scores BASIS has achieved in just two years has made it much more difficult for people to say that the only way to have a successful public school with high test scores is to have the kids come from affluent educated families.  BASIS DC has taken the wind out of their sails on that one, as someone should have long ago.

Come in 5th, and here is my advice on the biggest favor you can do your child - get them into the LEAP math program, which means doing Algebra I in 5th grade.  I understand this may seem a bit daunting, but it will automatically mean (unfairly in my book) that your child is recognized as one of the "smart" ones, and this year there were enough of them - 13 or 14 - so that they are almost half of a section, which means those kids set the tone and a lot of the disruptive students my older child had to deal with when there were very few kids in the LEAP math program just are not an issue for our second.

So make sure your child does well on the placement test for maths (study up on basic mutidigit addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and decimals, and teach them pre-algebra over the summer (you can use Khan Academy on the computer)) so that they are ready to study advanced math and be one of the LEAP kids.  It will make a huge difference if your child can handle it.

If they cannot, it does not mean they will not have a wonderful time and learn more than any other 5th graders in the DC metro area, in public and private schools.  And in 7th grade children (regardless of their math level) get to apply to the LEAP science program - you have to get a rec from your teacher, and the teacher who will be teaching it must accept you, and then this year they were all put in the same 8th grade section, and not all of them are taking AP Calc either.  But what it does mean is that they will all take AP Chem together next year.

So do what you can in terms of the maths, but do realize that if your child cannot advance fast enough it will not be the end of the world.  Two years ago there were only 4 kids in LEAP math, and this year there are only 13 or 14.

Finally, the other way they resemble the European system is they have precomprehensive and comprehensive exams.  The Comps are worth half your grade for the year, the precomps are half of your grade for GP3.  If you fail a Comp in anything but math, you have the opportunity to take it again before school starts and if you fail again, you have a choice - repeat the grade or leave the school.  And many have chosen to repeat because children come sometimes with such abysmal educational backgrounds and skills due to their failing schools.  But this is a weeding out process, no question.  And while it may sound brutal, private schools counsel kids out every year, and it is a promise from BASIS DC to us that there will be no social promotion - that everyone who makes it to the next grade has earned it, and that is also incredibly important in a system that is just moving all the kids up and out without educating them.

Finally, Olga Block calls 8th grade "the year of decision."  The usual attrition rate is about 40%, because as she said to us in her talk before the school opened, if you want to be a mechanic, or a star football player, or a concert pianist, this is not the school for you (the latter just because there is not enough time to really be a BASIS DC student).  Finally, in AP courses, if you take the AP and get a great number, you cannot get less than an A- in the class.  Olga explained that this was a way to eliminate arbitrariness if a student and teacher don't click.  And for me those were magic words because of course in high school, especially in 11th grade, every class counts.

Please come join us.  We have kids from several private schools, including GDS, the British School, and others, whose parents have come to the same decision that you have - that their math and science oriented children are not being challenged where they are.  We can guarantee that your child will be challenged.

And you will always be able to get back into a private school from BASIS DC assuming your child is doing well academically, and you will be saving a lot of money in the meantime.

If you really[/quote]

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