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[quote=Anonymous]Let's be honest here - the vast majority of DC schools and charters are NOT college-preparatory in the first place, let alone preparing students for "highly selective" universities.

Of all of DC's schools, only a handful have any meaningful college preparatory curriculum, and only a handful have Honors/AP coursework opportunities.  And even among the better ones that do, like Latin, they are typically still weak on STEM.

BASIS as a new school adds to that too-small pool of college-preparatory options in DC, and bolsters it with a strong STEM focus.  Yes, it's challenging, yes, it's a lot of work, but no, it's not at all about creating robotic automatons who can just spew data but are incapable of thinking.

I have been  impressed with how well the individual classes connect, complement and build upon each other at BASIS, both from class to class within grade, and with logical sequencing from grade to grade to connect there as well.  BASIS is not about rote memorization - it's about learning foundational elements and building upon them.  It's a refreshing break from the traditional paradigm of disconnected, un-coordinated coursework where it's the luck of the draw what you might get from class to class and from grade to grade.  Additionally, BASIS has put an excellent focus on the HOW and WHY - not just facts but theory and deeper, critical understanding of the content, along with a focus on organizational skills, study skills, writing skills, time management, and the lifelong skills that any professional would need to succeed in the world.

While some posters seem to be stuck in the weeds of "holy cow, that much math homework" and "holy cow, they are memorizing the periodic table in 5th grade", they may not see that as what they had in mind, maybe their background is liberal arts or other fields - but for us - who ARE actually from hard science and engineering backgrounds, and who are planning on college, and likely graduate school and a potential career in innovative tech or science for DC, the "big picture" view of BASIS is fantastic.[/quote]

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