Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel this particular issue is discussed ad nauseam but here we go. Classes get smaller and smaller at BASIS because there is attrition and no backfilling. People leave the school in particular and DC in general for various reasons and cannot be replaced with new students. BASIS is not for everyone or becomes a bad fit as the intensity increases or is a great option for middle school but students want or need a different high school experience for various reasons (different/more extra curriculars, different learning environment that’s less test focused, etc.). It’s not a traditional school and just like any other school has its pros and cons. It seems a family has to really value the things it does very well (test prep, college admissions) to justify foregoing a more traditional high school experience.

I don't believe that most BASIS middle school parents who leave are in fact looking for a "more traditional high school experience." No, this euphemism just doesn't cover the gamut of reasons explaining the exodus.

From what I've observed, many BASIS 8th grade parents are looking for more inspired and reliably good teaching, better facilities (particularly resources for good tech), above all, a happier school with more competent and open-minded administrators.

If your student(s) aren't part of the BASIS Brahmin group, mostly comprised of kids can handle college math by 9th or 10th grades, the BASIS HS experience isn't necessarily a positive one overall. To some of us, test prep alone isn't a fine education. We'd be OK without a "traditional HS experience" if the education on offer was more interesting and, frankly, fun.

The BASIS HS experience works off a one-size-fits-all model to a lesser extent that the MS experience, but march-in-step-to-blue-chip-colleges is still the suffocating premise. Corny as it sounds, many families of the strongest middle school students leave yearning to breathe freer. By 9th grade, parents are tired of being slapped down by tin ear admins who've insinuate that they're the problem, vs. addressing the actual problem.

Pure pablum by the same poster. Stop pontificating. You don’t even have a kid at the school.

NP who definitely has a kid at the school and finds this comment baffling. I have no idea was a “Basis Brahmin” might be but otherwise generally agree with the quoted poster.

Basis discussions on this forum get so weird, but it seems to be because a few people are all-in on one position or the other and are falsely confident that they speak for everyone else. In my experience in real life, most kids’ experience and most parents’ opinions are a mixed bag. For our family, we were thrilled to get into Basis because our assigned options were bad (I won’t attempt to rate schools we don’t go to, but they’re a very bad fit for our particular kid) and because we liked that Basis promised a challenging education with a learning-focused peer group. After a few years, we still appreciate some aspects of the education but have concerns about other aspects. It’s far from the education I would design if I was able to design a school. In fact, it’s far from the education I would even pick if we had any real choice. But the thing is, we didn’t have any real choice, and between Basis and our assigned school, I still think Basis was the better option.

We will apply to Walls for high school because it would be a better fit for our kid for multiple reasons, but there’s no guarantee and even if DC gets in we’re not sure about the commute or about switching from a known to an unknown. Plus we’re crossing our fingers that Basis high school will in fact be more analysis-focused and less of a memorization grind than in MS. Whichever path we end up following, I’m sure there will be mixed feelings either way.

Yeah, the enrollment is what is interesting and what is changing the school culture a bit. A few years ago, the 5th grade waitlist would clear by October.
Now it doesn't.
A few years ago, there was more of a rush to leave before 9th.
Now there isn't.
I'm a parent of a HS kid who chose to stay because the friends all chose to stay. That might not have happened before.

the best school for math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS enthusiasts have been claiming that the HS is poised for strong growth for years and years. It never does. At least they’ve piped down lately.

It has been growing exponentially because there was a leading year issue. Full growth should be seen by next year. I don’t get your point.

Growing exponentially? I'm not seeing that. Data to support this claim?

I remember admins telling us that the BASIS HS would soon enroll more than 200 at an open house. That was pre-Covid. Hasn't happened.

If you look at the audited student totals for the upper school at Basis for the four year period from 2017-2021, the growth rate was 32%. My impression is that the 9th grade at Basis this year is significantly higher than last year. So, the 5-year growth rate for the HS, including this year, is even higher. As a result, it does seem like the HS is growing exponentially.

That's no surprise. Every year, Basis attracts a relatively stronger group of students (even though it is 100% lottery, parents that don't think that their kids will handle the Basis rigor go to Latin, DCI, etc.) and by the time high school rolls around more and more stay.

At some point, Basis will need to start limiting seats in 5th grade because of space constraints in the school's building.

OK, but every student who enrolls in 9th grade doesn't stay through 12th and parents who know their kids will handle BASIS rigor don't always get spots. We know strong 6th grade math students who wound up at other charters because they never got off the 5th grade BASIS WL. These kids are much better math students than some of their classmates from our DCPS ES who landed at BASIS. It stinks that the best math students can't necessarily attend the public middle and high school for math.

We have a BASIS MS student and my sense is that the stress and anxiety students may feel in MS prepares them to be more prepared and “chill” for high school. I think a smaller, tight knit high school community would be ideal for us. The fear is that our student’s closest friends could leave which could happen anywhere but it is possibly more likely to happen in a transient city like DC especially at a non-traditional school like BASIS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chill to cram four years of HS classes into three? Right.

It actually is pretty chill, believe it or not. I have had two kids in HS at BASIS. It's very comfortable and kids are support one another because they've been together so long.

PP here with the first "chill" comment - what I meant is that all of the drama I see in my niece's fancy suburban high school is missing. Generally friend groups are established, no "mean girls", no fights, threats, gangs, drug/pill/booze culture. Not overly materialistic and the competition has dialed down from middle school. Having the non-AP senior year enables them to not freak out about college applications. Junior year is kind of intense, but the students aren't nervous and overly worried about APs since they are used to them and the SAT isn't scary.

This sounds great! My 8th grader is leaning towards staying ….Walls would be other option (if kid gets in of course) but their online open house was pretty unimpressive. Right now kid’s lean (and mine) is to stay at BASIS. Kid is very smart and hardworking and has plenty of outside extracurricular activities so not worried about any lack of such things at BASIS. Sure, a shame not to have a beautiful campus, but on the bright side my kid absolutely loves cruising to the portrait gallery or library with friends for off campus lunch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chill to cram four years of HS classes into three? Right.

It actually is pretty chill, believe it or not. I have had two kids in HS at BASIS. It's very comfortable and kids are support one another because they've been together so long.

PP here with the first "chill" comment - what I meant is that all of the drama I see in my niece's fancy suburban high school is missing. Generally friend groups are established, no "mean girls", no fights, threats, gangs, drug/pill/booze culture. Not overly materialistic and the competition has dialed down from middle school. Having the non-AP senior year enables them to not freak out about college applications. Junior year is kind of intense, but the students aren't nervous and overly worried about APs since they are used to them and the SAT isn't scary.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS enthusiasts have been claiming that the HS is poised for strong growth for years and years. It never does. At least they’ve piped down lately.

It has been growing exponentially because there was a leading year issue. Full growth should be seen by next year. I don’t get your point.

Growing exponentially? I'm not seeing that. Data to support this claim?

I remember admins telling us that the BASIS HS would soon enroll more than 200 at an open house. That was pre-Covid. Hasn't happened.

If you look at the audited student totals for the upper school at Basis for the four year period from 2017-2021, the growth rate was 32%. My impression is that the 9th grade at Basis this year is significantly higher than last year. So, the 5-year growth rate for the HS, including this year, is even higher. As a result, it does seem like the HS is growing exponentially.

That's no surprise. Every year, Basis attracts a relatively stronger group of students (even though it is 100% lottery, parents that don't think that their kids will handle the Basis rigor go to Latin, DCI, etc.) and by the time high school rolls around more and more stay.

At some point, Basis will need to start limiting seats in 5th grade because of space constraints in the school's building.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS enthusiasts have been claiming that the HS is poised for strong growth for years and years. It never does. At least they’ve piped down lately.

It has been growing exponentially because there was a leading year issue. Full growth should be seen by next year. I don’t get your point.

Growing exponentially? I'm not seeing that. Data to support this claim?

I remember admins telling us that the BASIS HS would soon enroll more than 200 at an open house. That was pre-Covid. Hasn't happened.

Anonymous wrote:Chill to cram four years of HS classes into three? Right.

It actually is pretty chill, believe it or not. I have had two kids in HS at BASIS. It's very comfortable and kids are support one another because they've been together so long.

Anonymous wrote:BASIS enthusiasts have been claiming that the HS is poised for strong growth for years and years. It never does. At least they’ve piped down lately.

It has been growing exponentially because there was a leading year issue. Full growth should be seen by next year. I don’t get your point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather have my children in a school where two-thirds of the families don't vote with their feet between the entry year and the terminal year.

Attrition is not voting with your feet.

People leave Basis for different reasons. And there is no social promotion or backfill.

I would rather have my kids at a school where they are challenged and taught above grade level.

Yes. BASIS DC is the only public school in DC that doesn’t socially promote and backfill. So, of course, the upper grades are much smaller than the lower grades. Not sure how that is a bad thing for a 100% lottery school.

100% lottery school is a misleading descriptor that's been bandied about on DCUM for more than a decade. Fact is, BASIS DC overwhelmingly attracts families whose children can easily handle both the middle and high school curricula. What this means is that no more than 3% of 6th-8th graders being asked to repeat a grade to remain in the program annually (down from around 15% in the first few years). Claims that most families leave in the face of unstainable rigor is a tired canard.

In fact, families leave mainly because the facility is lousy and crowded, teacher turnover is high and pay inadequate, too many teachers are inexperienced, most families want more than AP prep in a high school curriculum, DC public offers slightly better choices for HS than MS EotP, and BASIS leadership and high school extra-curriculars are weak.

This thread has been better than other recent BASIS threads because more parents of HS students are admitting to key problems than usual!

Beating a dead horse again? Your rigorous attacks on BASIS DC are truly "unstainable."

LOL.

Among DC public schools, BASIS DC upper school has the best average SAT scores, best AP exam results, and best college admissions per capita.

BASIS enthusiasts have been claiming that the HS is poised for strong growth for years and years. It never does. At least they’ve piped down lately.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather have my children in a school where two-thirds of the families don't vote with their feet between the entry year and the terminal year.

Attrition is not voting with your feet.

People leave Basis for different reasons. And there is no social promotion or backfill.

I would rather have my kids at a school where they are challenged and taught above grade level.

Yes. BASIS DC is the only public school in DC that doesn’t socially promote and backfill. So, of course, the upper grades are much smaller than the lower grades. Not sure how that is a bad thing for a 100% lottery school.

100% lottery school is a misleading descriptor that's been bandied about on DCUM for more than a decade. Fact is, BASIS DC overwhelmingly attracts families whose children can easily handle both the middle and high school curricula. What this means is that no more than 3% of 6th-8th graders being asked to repeat a grade to remain in the program annually (down from around 15% in the first few years). Claims that most families leave in the face of unstainable rigor is a tired canard.

In fact, families leave mainly because the facility is lousy and crowded, teacher turnover is high and pay inadequate, too many teachers are inexperienced, most families want more than AP prep in a high school curriculum, DC public offers slightly better choices for HS than MS EotP, and BASIS leadership and high school extra-curriculars are weak.

This thread has been better than other recent BASIS threads because more parents of HS students are admitting to key problems than usual!