Both Walls and J-R get more grads to Ivies each year than BASIS does.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I'm gathering from all this information is that BASIS middle school has the most challenging curriculum in DC, but the high school curriculum is limited, and that Walls and JR give students the opportunity to advance farther in the subjects that they accel in. Useful to know. I'm very happy to send our kid there for 5-8, and we can make another decision/lottery/apply in 4 years. Curious what Banneker and McKinley will offer then, too.

Don't believe everything you read. Lots of the posts above are by people who know nothing about BASIS and/or have a chip on their shoulder and/or are focusing on trivial curriculum issues.

The high school curriculum is very challenging--just like the middle school curriculum. And a lot more than Walls or J-R.

For example, just look at all the threads from BASIS parents whose kids went to Walls or J-R for high school and found the curriculum at those schools much less rigorous. And take a look at PARCC scores as well. BASIS has the highest 9th and 10th grade PARCC scores in DC.

Anonymous wrote:Your kid is is in 9th grade at Walls? Don’t despair. No shortage of rigor up the chain. They teach far more APs than BASIS, encourage dual enrollment at GW and don’t enroll academic stragglers.

Anonymous wrote:What I'm gathering from all this information is that BASIS middle school has the most challenging curriculum in DC, but the high school curriculum is limited, and that Walls and JR give students the opportunity to advance farther in the subjects that they accel in. Useful to know. I'm very happy to send our kid there for 5-8, and we can make another decision/lottery/apply in 4 years. Curious what Banneker and McKinley will offer then, too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious if/how BASIS (as a national network since it’s not decided in DC) justifies its curriculum decisions? It’s fine that they don’t prioritize foreign language just as it’s fine schools that privatize foreign language don’t priority math and science like BASIS does. Families know that when they make their choice to attend BASIS. But I’m curious how they defend their math curriculum decisions since that clearly is a subject that they do prioritize. And I’m curious about the “why” behind the foreign language set up. I think families would be more okay with the network’s decisions if they were better explained (or explained at all).

Maybe BASIS thinks linguistics helps students ultimately do better on the verbal section of the SAT? Maybe they think dividing up AB and BC calculus ensures more kids score higher on the AB part (which which reflects better on the school) or maybe it’s because they don’t know if enough students in the grade could handle calculus ABC all at once to make it worth having a class or a teacher qualified to handle that combined calculus class. I know the school doesn’t necessarily have to justify its decisions but having that insight could help people appreciate the decision or better appreciate what they are trading off. Has anyone ever had meaningful discussion about this with the BASIS powers that be?

If you are actually interested, this is pretty informative.

https://d2i2zd9axwkr7h.cloudfront.net/company/sites/142182/BASISedCurriculumDiploma.pdf

Anonymous wrote:What I'm gathering from all this information is that BASIS middle school has the most challenging curriculum in DC, but the high school curriculum is limited, and that Walls and JR give students the opportunity to advance farther in the subjects that they accel in. Useful to know. I'm very happy to send our kid there for 5-8, and we can make another decision/lottery/apply in 4 years. Curious what Banneker and McKinley will offer then, too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the observations and analysis above. There are more opportunities for advancement at Walls and J-R, particularly via dual enrollment at GW (almost never done from BASIS). BASIS doesn’t offer opportunities for language past AP either and doesn’t produce many AP language 5s. I used to teach at one of the NYC STEM HS magnets, where kids either did BC Calc or AB. That’s still the case in NYC. Teaching both calcs both to the same students is ridiculous. I’ll add that BASIS’ weak facilities and shoestring budget cut seniors off from the sort if STEM research opportunities (team research included) that are common in better funded high-performing high schools. Granted, that’s the story in DC public, period.

I am curious how you know dual enrollment stats for DC high schools and how many AP language AP scores BASIS has...

1) You can do dual enrollment at BASIS if you want. So, there is an "opportunity" for that. However, few students feel the need to avail themselves of this opportunity.

2) BASIS doesn't focus much on languages but you do have to take 5 years of a single foreign language (including senior year) and the AP language scores at BASIS DC are well above the national average.

3) You don't have to take both Calc AB and BC at BASIS BC if you don't want. Only Calc AB is required.

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious if/how BASIS (as a national network since it’s not decided in DC) justifies its curriculum decisions? It’s fine that they don’t prioritize foreign language just as it’s fine schools that privatize foreign language don’t priority math and science like BASIS does. Families know that when they make their choice to attend BASIS. But I’m curious how they defend their math curriculum decisions since that clearly is a subject that they do prioritize. And I’m curious about the “why” behind the foreign language set up. I think families would be more okay with the network’s decisions if they were better explained (or explained at all).

Maybe BASIS thinks linguistics helps students ultimately do better on the verbal section of the SAT? Maybe they think dividing up AB and BC calculus ensures more kids score higher on the AB part (which which reflects better on the school) or maybe it’s because they don’t know if enough students in the grade could handle calculus ABC all at once to make it worth having a class or a teacher qualified to handle that combined calculus class. I know the school doesn’t necessarily have to justify its decisions but having that insight could help people appreciate the decision or better appreciate what they are trading off. Has anyone ever had meaningful discussion about this with the BASIS powers that be?

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious if/how BASIS (as a national network since it’s not decided in DC) justifies its curriculum decisions? It’s fine that they don’t prioritize foreign language just as it’s fine schools that privatize foreign language don’t priority math and science like BASIS does. Families know that when they make their choice to attend BASIS. But I’m curious how they defend their math curriculum decisions since that clearly is a subject that they do prioritize. And I’m curious about the “why” behind the foreign language set up. I think families would be more okay with the network’s decisions if they were better explained (or explained at all).

Maybe BASIS thinks linguistics helps students ultimately do better on the verbal section of the SAT? Maybe they think dividing up AB and BC calculus ensures more kids score higher on the AB part (which which reflects better on the school) or maybe it’s because they don’t know if enough students in the grade could handle calculus ABC all at once to make it worth having a class or a teacher qualified to handle that combined calculus class. I know the school doesn’t necessarily have to justify its decisions but having that insight could help people appreciate the decision or better appreciate what they are trading off. Has anyone ever had meaningful discussion about this with the BASIS powers that be?