Reply to Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.

PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.  [/quote]

Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges. [/quote]

Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.

If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators. [/quote]

PP here. Think this pretty much illustrates my point. This parent was very unhappy with BASIS. It didn’t “work” for them so they left for a private. Not sure how this makes BASIS any different than any other public school, but no one froths at the mouth like this about Coolidge or Roosevelt SHSs. And if you want to quibble about the college admissions, I would encourage you to look at BASIS’s college acceptance insta page. Lots of “blue chips” and strong from top to bottom. I can also tell you about many of the schools that got turned down. The results are even more impressive with that data. This is not the hill you want to die on. [/quote]

NP. Don't tell us which hills to fight or die on.

What PP above is pointing out is well known in the BASIS high school community. Many of us dislike the way senior year is handled. Can we do anything about it, influencing outcomes at the school? Of course not. But we aren't without our ways of challenging on a personal level. My kid is spreading subject work into senior year by taking a couple-line IB Diploma classes senior year while at BASIS (yes, on-line IBD classes are now a thing, just not for many subjects) as well as at least one Cambridge A-Level exam in November.

I'm not bitter although I'd have left for a private long ago if I had the option (never got good enough fi aid). Even so, I'm counting the months until I can divorce the place. A franchise not run by educators is correct.

Speak for yourself when you come at the disgruntled parents of kids who "washed out." The many kids we know who've left haven't fit the bill and we've been at BASIS for 7 years. [/quote]

NP. We chose BASIS because we like the way senior year is handled, and turned down Walls because it doesn’t do senior year that way (among other reasons).[/quote]

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