Anonymous wrote:If your kid is academically advanced, it will be fine.

If not, you will know by the end of 6th grade.

Not our experience. Our eldest's grades were excellent at BASIS in 5th, 6th and 7th grades. Even so, he disliked the program more with each passing grade. By the fall of 7th he was begging to leave. He wanted to attend a school where he could do his favorite ECs (playing wind instrument, ceramics and high-quality theater) with classmates. And he didn't want to have to take a beginner's class in a language we speak at home in 8th grade to get on track for AP work in that language. Our younger child, in the year behind the eldest, was more OK with BASIS, although his grades weren't as high. But we burned out on schlepping him to serious sports practices and games around the Metro area. We left for a public middle school in VA, renting there. We're back in DC now for a private parochial HS for both.

I think it's a question of what your options are for 6th-- like what are you willing to accept if you have a bad number.

People leave BASIS in 6th just because they thought it was fine but like something else better. An good-not-great number gets you into BASIS but it takes a really good number for Latin and DCI. So their 6th grade pick might be what they preferred all along.

Anonymous wrote:It took us until 7th grade before we pulled the plug. It's not that it "didn't work out" - kids was academically advanced and the top of the class. But it wasn't the environment we wanted him in long term. We moved out of the city.

Where did you move?

It took us until 7th grade before we pulled the plug. It's not that it "didn't work out" - kids was academically advanced and the top of the class. But it wasn't the environment we wanted him in long term. We moved out of the city.

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is academically advanced, it will be fine.

If not, you will know by the end of 6th grade.

I think it’s probably more about the type of kid. My kid is not academically advanced per se but he adjusts really well to expectations, so I think he could have done OK. I didn’t really realize this about him in 4th so we didn’t try for Badie.

My kid started Basis in the pandemic year which was probably not a great year to judge but definitely by mid-6th grade we knew it was not right. At the time, it was clear DCPS was not going to repoen and we thought at least Basis would keep them busy. Is that the way to make an educational decision? Maybe not. But I also know that my kid flourished in his public middle school and now is doing very well in a private high school. The Basis approach was not for us and I don't know that we would have picked it if not for the pandemic.

I have seen such kids switch to ITDS, Latin, and Eliot-Hine and Stuart-Hobson.

Pp- and these kids love multiple choice but fall apart on essay questions.

I have had very smart kids every other year (at least) come to deal in 7th after basis.

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is academically advanced, it will be fine.

If not, you will know by the end of 6th grade.

Ya. You will know this already by their 3rd grade CAPE scores.

Not that every advanced kid will like it -- some don't, and I'm sure they will chime in. But if they aren't not, say, 90th percentile+, they will almost certainly find it really stressful.

If your kid is academically advanced, it will be fine.

If not, you will know by the end of 6th grade.

Anonymous wrote:I think this is going to vary a lot based on whether people have an anchor baby still at the charter. But I think you'd know well in advance of the lottery deadline, certainly before enrollment deadline in May.

Bahahaha. Kudos to the PP for a hilarious turn of phrase.

6th grade is when the homework ramps up and comprehensive exams start

I think this is going to vary a lot based on whether people have an anchor baby still at the charter. But I think you'd know well in advance of the lottery deadline, certainly before enrollment deadline in May.

From this forum, the shadow day, and anecdotal evidence, it is clear BASIS is not for everyone.
I still wonder if it's worth a try if we match on the lottery. But, we also don't want to lose a spot at our charter. Our IB elementary isn't stellar.
We could try it for 5th and lottery again in 6th if it didn't work out. When did your child know it wasn't the right fit?