Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basis way works well for my child. I totally get how it wouldn’t for most. But we could have gone almost anywhere for high school (private, accepted at walls, inbound JR, and actually would have been an easy move to a “great” school district). But the kid was thriving and has a great cohort, so I wasn’t moving her. I haven’t regretted the decision for a moment.

Pp from this post. I was responding to recent posts. But I forgot to be on topic. I’m opposed to the Basis expansion to elementary. I’m very happy we had a different experience for elementary. It helped create a more balanced person.

You are happy with your choice. Why do you want to deny other parents a different choice?

Because the consequence of allowing that choice renders the choice I made unavailable. If the elementary school is formed, it will be the only (or majority) path to the middle school. I’m happy with basis for my high schooler, as I was for my middle schooler, but I’m so glad I had a chance to get to know my child educationally first. As everyone knows, basis isn’t right for all children, and I wouldn’t have sent mine if I didn’t think it would be a good fit. I certainly wouldn’t have known that answer when she started elementary school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basis way works well for my child. I totally get how it wouldn’t for most. But we could have gone almost anywhere for high school (private, accepted at walls, inbound JR, and actually would have been an easy move to a “great” school district). But the kid was thriving and has a great cohort, so I wasn’t moving her. I haven’t regretted the decision for a moment.

Pp from this post. I was responding to recent posts. But I forgot to be on topic. I’m opposed to the Basis expansion to elementary. I’m very happy we had a different experience for elementary. It helped create a more balanced person.

You are happy with your choice. Why do you want to deny other parents a different choice?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread was supposed to be about the status of the BASIS expansion. Why can't PPs stick to the topic? Please start your own thread about how thrilled you are when any parent who criticizes BASIS for whatever reason leaves the school.

No one cares if someone criticizes the school but a lot of posts here are by disaffected parents whose kids washed out years ago and are lying and exaggerating about the school. Not surprising that current parents with happy kids at the school want to correct the record.

Anonymous wrote:This thread was supposed to be about the status of the BASIS expansion. Why can't PPs stick to the topic? Please start your own thread about how thrilled you are when any parent who criticizes BASIS for whatever reason leaves the school.

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Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Right, Latin's a walk in the park through and through, explaining why our neighbor's kid was admitted to Princeton from Latin two years ago. That same spring, zero BASIS students were admitted to Ivies.

You're painting with much too broad a brush, PP.

Our BASIS student was bored in humanities and language classes in middle school. We didn't stay for high school. Don't buy the hype about high octane BASIS academics. It's not a GT program.

NP Here. I'm a BASIS parent with two DCs in high school. I am FAR from a BASIS booster, but two things you can't really quibble with are the rigor of its curriculum and student outcomes. It's not a GT program because it's an open enrollment/lottery school. But the school asks a lot of every student, regardless of that student's strengths. Is it a bit of a sink or swim environment? Yes. But I would put high achieving BASIS students up against the best public and private school students in the area. And you're simply wrong that zero students were admitted to Ivies two years ago. In 2022 BASIS DC had Yale, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Penn, and Cornell admits in addition to many Ivy+ and selective SLAC admits. Unlike you, I have actual receipts. If you control for the fact that BASIS is not an application school and the SES of the student student population (contrary to popular belief, the school is not comprised completely of wealthy Hill families), its outcomes are extraordinary. Is BASIS one size fits all? Of course not. Does it provide an excellent option for many DC families? Yes. The same can be said of many other local schools, public and private.

I have those 2022 receipts as well. The list you're talking about is the acceptance list. The final matriculation list that year was this:

Barnard College

Bangor University (UK)

Beloit College

Brown University (*)

Clemson University

College of William & Mary (*)

Drexel University (*)

Duke University

Fordham University

George Mason University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia State University

Haverford College

Howard University

Indiana University

Macalester College

Mary Baldwin University

Michigan State University (*)

Morehouse College

Northwestern University

Oberlin College

Pennsylvania State University (*)

Purdue University (*)

Radford University

Sarah Lawrence College

St. John's College

Syracuse University

Temple University (*)

University of Chicago

University of the District of Columbia

University of Maryland, College Park

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

University of North Carolina, Wilmington

University of Vermont (*)

University of Virginia

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (*)

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Xavier University of Louisiana

Yale University (*)


(*) indicates that more than one student will attend this college.

Looks good to me.

Plus, not everyone wants to go to or can afford an Ivy.

For example, a full ride to Duke beats paying for Cornell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Denying what you want only works so well. BASIS never hires greenhorns who can’t cope, got it. We will be sure to try to convince a new batch of young families of that when they try for spots at the elementary school that might not materialize.

I think you just proved PP’s point.

lol

Yes. This same person with this sarcastic style ("exaggerated positive statement about BASIS and then "sure" or "got it") is almost certainly not even a BASIS parent and never has been.

This BASIS parent thinks you need a life, or at least a new hobby. Got it?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're the one who should let it go.

Fact is, most DC BASIS families still leave before the terminal grade. I used to teach at NCS (um, no need to ask friends). Hardly anybody leaves NCS. I overestimate nothing. BASIS did work for my family by your definition, worked well in fact. Kid had nice friends, kid performed at "an extremely high level," kid got a 5 on BC Calc in 10th grade. But he certainly wasn't able to shine as he could have done at a school where students were encouraged to run with their particular interests and strengths, and where the faculty was stable. Thank goodness we had the means to go.

You should probably pipe down about how terrific BASIS. Tolerable for somewhere between 40 and 50% of the families to the bitter end, I'll grant you that.

Spare us a factory BASIS elementary school.

This is so funny. I hate that your vitriol makes me feel obligated to defend the school when i have plenty of bad things to say about it, but I am compelled. Of course families don't leave NCS. If you taught there then you are obviously familiar with the overwhelming sense of prestige and superiority that courses through the school. Families wear it like a badge of honor. There are huge societal pressures in some communities in this city to be a part of that world and to be perceived as thriving. My point was that if you think places like NCS are some Xanadu where every child is happy, met on their own terms, and all their needs met I think you're kidding yourself. I suspect you know that though. Plenty of kids there aren't able to "shine" with their particular interests, especially if you are an athlete, for example. I never said BASIS was perfect. It works for many. You seem intent on speaking on behalf of a community you were unhappy with and decided to leave. I'm simply suggesting you are in no position to speak for us now and you should probably keep our names out of your mouth. I think one thing we can agree on though is that thank goodness you had the means to go. Good luck to your kid at his highly selective college! I'm glad you found something that worked for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Denying what you want only works so well. BASIS never hires greenhorns who can’t cope, got it. We will be sure to try to convince a new batch of young families of that when they try for spots at the elementary school that might not materialize.

I think you just proved PP’s point.

lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Denying what you want only works so well. BASIS never hires greenhorns who can’t cope, got it. We will be sure to try to convince a new batch of young families of that when they try for spots at the elementary school that might not materialize.

I think you just proved PP’s point.

lol

Yes. This same person with this sarcastic style ("exaggerated positive statement about BASIS and then "sure" or "got it") is almost certainly not even a BASIS parent and never has been.