Reply to BASIS attrition after middle school- why?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Because BASIS isn't actually that great. High teacher turnover, inexperienced teachers, few sports and activities, and way too much time devoted to testing rather than learning. 5th and 6th are big shuffle years in the system, 7th and 8h aren't, and by 9th when people have other options, a lot of families have figured out that BASIS is a school they are happy to exit.[/quote]

This x100, especially on the teaching quality.  We are a current middle school family, where our child has gotten straight As for all the years they have been enrolled.  But while there are a couple of great teachers, most have been just ok and several have been absolutely appalling.  In fact, the 6th and 7th grade physics teacher just got fired after months of parent complaints and the administration acknowledging he was failing in both instruction and classroom management.  The head of school had tried to tell the parents that we shouldn’t worry because he was being mentored by other teachers in the BASIS network, but whatever mentoring he was getting wasn’t doing anything.  Now they have a bunch of teachers trying to cover his classes — the kids were already behind on the curriculum (which gets tested in the mid year pre comps and end of year comp exams) and this will only make it worse.

Similarly, they had to hire a 5th grade math teacher last minute last year - and they picked one who didn’t seem to have any educational experience and wasn’t a good teacher.   shocking no one, this year the 6th grade class was evaluated to be behind on math (leading to a bunch of extra homework assignments as the administration apparently feels that will magically fix the problem of a year’s worth of subpar instruction).

Those are just the most egregious examples.  But overall the teaching quality is not up to par, especially for a school that talks such a big game about the quality and rigor of its academics.  We will not be returning next year.

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Don’t forget the 6th grade math teacher last year who was repeatedly late coming back from lunch leaving the kids locked out of their classroom. The 7th grade kids are way behind in math this year too.

That said BASIS is better than our other choices. Our family is not wealthy and doesn’t have funds to move or pay for private.  [/quote]

My 7th grader isn't behind in math. She used Khan Academy to catch up on what was missed in 6th grade, the same way she's done since 3rd grade when the pandemic messed everything up. Unfortunately, this generation of kids needs to take learning in their own hands because teaching is messed up everywhere and kids are either years behind or have giant gaps because of the pandemic. [/quote]

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