Anonymous
07/11/2025 12:08
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansiond i
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.
If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators.
Yawn. Bitter much?
Your kid washed out years ago and now you bash the school?
Per capita, Basis DC has the best college admissions results of any public school in DC.
You really can’t do better for an academically motivated kid in DC unless you want to pay $60,000/year at one of the Big 3 privates.
I really hate the way Basis boosters seem to feel the need to sneer at absolutely everyone else.
Seriously. BASIS is a mid school and if you like it, fine. But there's no need for the nastiness, defensiveness, and constant obsession with the ratings that BASIS openly games. BASIS boosters are annoying and that's why people get like this about it.
How does BASIS “game the ratings?” Do you mean that kids who can’t keep up with the work are counseled out or leave of their own accord? How is that different than the private schools that BASIS detractors seem to think are the reasonable alternative for all. Does SWW game the ratings by requiring testing for applicants? As a
Long time BASIS parent, I have plenty of criticisms of the school. To the extent that I get “boosterish” is when recalcitrant former families or people with a strong anti-BASIS network bias attack the school as wholly unworthy. Like it shouldn’t exist or families only stay there if they literally have no other options. And that’s obviously just not a reasonable take, so parents lash out. You say BASIS is mid, compared to what? Sidwell? SWW, Banneker, & JR all have their warts too. They’re just not charters.
Mid compared to the claims of its boosters. And mid compared to how it would score if it has to take by-right enrollment like J-R does.
Gaming the ratings does include retention and counseling out, but also things like what CAPE test they have the kids take.
SWW and Banneker are explicitly selective schools. BASIS is functionally running a lottery 5th grade and then a selective 7-12 by not letting kids matriculate upwards if they are below grade level, while pretending it is lottery and nothing but lottery. Jeff will probably delete this post as misleading but I don't know how much clearer I can be.
It seems like you’re fixated on the question of how much institutional credit BASIS deserves, especially in comparison to schools like JR, Reed, or others that serve by-right populations. And sure, from a school-rating or policy-analysis perspective, that’s a fair question. But from the vantage point of a family evaluating what’s best for their child, it’s largely irrelevant.
If a family believes their child can thrive in BASIS’s rigorous environment—whether entering at 5th grade or later—then the fact that BASIS ends up with a more curated, academically oriented student body is actually a point in its favor, not a strike against it. The peer environment matters. So if the selectivity or attrition that happens along the way results in a cohort that’s better aligned for certain kinds of academic engagement, many parents will see that as a plus.
Now, I totally get that some people object to BASIS’s model on policy grounds—particularly the publicly funded nature of the school, the attrition rates, and the lack of backfilling. That’s a legitimate debate to have at the systems level. But those very features that raise red flags for some are seen as benefits by many families trying to navigate a landscape where middle school options in D.C. are often limited or uneven. In other words, what’s framed as a systemic flaw from one angle can be a practical advantage from another.
So yes, it’s true that BASIS benefits in some ways from the fact that not everyone stays, and that it doesn’t face the same structural burdens as some DCPS schools. But the real-world question for most families isn’t whether BASIS is getting “too much credit”—it’s whether their own child would benefit from being there. And for plenty of families, the answer is yes.
Well, for me those things are connected. It's not just policy grounds, it's what it says about BASIS and the quality of the experience there. BASIS loves to tout their stats and ratings, but if I believe those things are the result of attrition and class curation and external factors that don't benefit my kid, rather than the result of quality teaching, that's unappealing. And personally I think the small senior class is a con rather than a pro, but not everyone thinks that I guess.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 11:36
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansiond i
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.
If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators.
Yawn. Bitter much?
Your kid washed out years ago and now you bash the school?
Per capita, Basis DC has the best college admissions results of any public school in DC.
You really can’t do better for an academically motivated kid in DC unless you want to pay $60,000/year at one of the Big 3 privates.
I really hate the way Basis boosters seem to feel the need to sneer at absolutely everyone else.
Seriously. BASIS is a mid school and if you like it, fine. But there's no need for the nastiness, defensiveness, and constant obsession with the ratings that BASIS openly games. BASIS boosters are annoying and that's why people get like this about it.
How does BASIS “game the ratings?” Do you mean that kids who can’t keep up with the work are counseled out or leave of their own accord? How is that different than the private schools that BASIS detractors seem to think are the reasonable alternative for all. Does SWW game the ratings by requiring testing for applicants? As a
Long time BASIS parent, I have plenty of criticisms of the school. To the extent that I get “boosterish” is when recalcitrant former families or people with a strong anti-BASIS network bias attack the school as wholly unworthy. Like it shouldn’t exist or families only stay there if they literally have no other options. And that’s obviously just not a reasonable take, so parents lash out. You say BASIS is mid, compared to what? Sidwell? SWW, Banneker, & JR all have their warts too. They’re just not charters.
Mid compared to the claims of its boosters. And mid compared to how it would score if it has to take by-right enrollment like J-R does.
Gaming the ratings does include retention and counseling out, but also things like what CAPE test they have the kids take.
SWW and Banneker are explicitly selective schools. BASIS is functionally running a lottery 5th grade and then a selective 7-12 by not letting kids matriculate upwards if they are below grade level, while pretending it is lottery and nothing but lottery. Jeff will probably delete this post as misleading but I don't know how much clearer I can be.
It seems like you’re fixated on the question of how much institutional credit BASIS deserves, especially in comparison to schools like JR, Reed, or others that serve by-right populations. And sure, from a school-rating or policy-analysis perspective, that’s a fair question. But from the vantage point of a family evaluating what’s best for their child, it’s largely irrelevant.
If a family believes their child can thrive in BASIS’s rigorous environment—whether entering at 5th grade or later—then the fact that BASIS ends up with a more curated, academically oriented student body is actually a point in its favor, not a strike against it. The peer environment matters. So if the selectivity or attrition that happens along the way results in a cohort that’s better aligned for certain kinds of academic engagement, many parents will see that as a plus.
Now, I totally get that some people object to BASIS’s model on policy grounds—particularly the publicly funded nature of the school, the attrition rates, and the lack of backfilling. That’s a legitimate debate to have at the systems level. But those very features that raise red flags for some are seen as benefits by many families trying to navigate a landscape where middle school options in D.C. are often limited or uneven. In other words, what’s framed as a systemic flaw from one angle can be a practical advantage from another.
So yes, it’s true that BASIS benefits in some ways from the fact that not everyone stays, and that it doesn’t face the same structural burdens as some DCPS schools. But the real-world question for most families isn’t whether BASIS is getting “too much credit”—it’s whether their own child would benefit from being there. And for plenty of families, the answer is yes.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 10:34
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansiond i
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.
If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators.
Yawn. Bitter much?
Your kid washed out years ago and now you bash the school?
Per capita, Basis DC has the best college admissions results of any public school in DC.
You really can’t do better for an academically motivated kid in DC unless you want to pay $60,000/year at one of the Big 3 privates.
I really hate the way Basis boosters seem to feel the need to sneer at absolutely everyone else.
Seriously. BASIS is a mid school and if you like it, fine. But there's no need for the nastiness, defensiveness, and constant obsession with the ratings that BASIS openly games. BASIS boosters are annoying and that's why people get like this about it.
How does BASIS “game the ratings?” Do you mean that kids who can’t keep up with the work are counseled out or leave of their own accord? How is that different than the private schools that BASIS detractors seem to think are the reasonable alternative for all. Does SWW game the ratings by requiring testing for applicants? As a
Long time BASIS parent, I have plenty of criticisms of the school. To the extent that I get “boosterish” is when recalcitrant former families or people with a strong anti-BASIS network bias attack the school as wholly unworthy. Like it shouldn’t exist or families only stay there if they literally have no other options. And that’s obviously just not a reasonable take, so parents lash out. You say BASIS is mid, compared to what? Sidwell? SWW, Banneker, & JR all have their warts too. They’re just not charters.
Mid compared to the claims of its boosters. And mid compared to how it would score if it has to take by-right enrollment like J-R does.
Gaming the ratings does include retention and counseling out, but also things like what CAPE test they have the kids take.
SWW and Banneker are explicitly selective schools. BASIS is functionally running a lottery 5th grade and then a selective 7-12 by not letting kids matriculate upwards if they are below grade level, while pretending it is lottery and nothing but lottery. Jeff will probably delete this post as misleading but I don't know how much clearer I can be.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 10:26
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansiond i
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.
If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators.
Yawn. Bitter much?
Your kid washed out years ago and now you bash the school?
Per capita, Basis DC has the best college admissions results of any public school in DC.
You really can’t do better for an academically motivated kid in DC unless you want to pay $60,000/year at one of the Big 3 privates.
I really hate the way Basis boosters seem to feel the need to sneer at absolutely everyone else.
Seriously. BASIS is a mid school and if you like it, fine. But there's no need for the nastiness, defensiveness, and constant obsession with the ratings that BASIS openly games. BASIS boosters are annoying and that's why people get like this about it.
How does BASIS “game the ratings?” Do you mean that kids who can’t keep up with the work are counseled out or leave of their own accord? How is that different than the private schools that BASIS detractors seem to think are the reasonable alternative for all. Does SWW game the ratings by requiring testing for applicants? As a
Long time BASIS parent, I have plenty of criticisms of the school. To the extent that I get “boosterish” is when recalcitrant former families or people with a strong anti-BASIS network bias attack the school as wholly unworthy. Like it shouldn’t exist or families only stay there if they literally have no other options. And that’s obviously just not a reasonable take, so parents lash out. You say BASIS is mid, compared to what? Sidwell? SWW, Banneker, & JR all have their warts too. They’re just not charters.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 09:39
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion
Education is broken. Grade inflation and test optional policies have made it very hard for college admission officers to decide if a student would be a good fit/academically prepared. Heard about remedial college classes? At least BASIS students get to show, via APs that they do not have to pay for or go out of their way to take, that they are academically prepared for higher education. Leaving high school with 10+ APs with scores over 3 hurts no student in college admissions.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 09:21
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.
If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators.
PP here. Think this pretty much illustrates my point. This parent was very unhappy with BASIS. It didn’t “work” for them so they left for a private. Not sure how this makes BASIS any different than any other public school, but no one froths at the mouth like this about Coolidge or Roosevelt SHSs. And if you want to quibble about the college admissions, I would encourage you to look at BASIS’s college acceptance insta page. Lots of “blue chips” and strong from top to bottom. I can also tell you about many of the schools that got turned down. The results are even more impressive with that data. This is not the hill you want to die on.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 09:19
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansiond i
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.
If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators.
Yawn. Bitter much?
Your kid washed out years ago and now you bash the school?
Per capita, Basis DC has the best college admissions results of any public school in DC.
You really can’t do better for an academically motivated kid in DC unless you want to pay $60,000/year at one of the Big 3 privates.
I really hate the way Basis boosters seem to feel the need to sneer at absolutely everyone else.
Seriously. BASIS is a mid school and if you like it, fine. But there's no need for the nastiness, defensiveness, and constant obsession with the ratings that BASIS openly games. BASIS boosters are annoying and that's why people get like this about it.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 09:16
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansiond i
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.
If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators.
Yawn. Bitter much?
Your kid washed out years ago and now you bash the school?
Per capita, Basis DC has the best college admissions results of any public school in DC.
You really can’t do better for an academically motivated kid in DC unless you want to pay $60,000/year at one of the Big 3 privates.
I really hate the way Basis boosters seem to feel the need to sneer at absolutely everyone else.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 07:41
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansiond i
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.
If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators.
Yawn. Bitter much?
Your kid washed out years ago and now you bash the school?
Per capita, Basis DC has the best college admissions results of any public school in DC.
You really can’t do better for an academically motivated kid in DC unless you want to pay $60,000/year at one of the Big 3 privates.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 07:37
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Thank you for this, this is how we feel, too. The gap-year esque senior year is a plus for us, and our kid loves and needs the challenging curriculum.
I think everything that needs to be said about BASIS has been said on all of these threads. Parents know the pros and cons. There are those of us who go, are well aware of the cons, and stay because the pros are worth it.
Anonymous
07/11/2025 06:42
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Don't buy this take, folks. PP is whitewashing structural problems with their BS loathe to enter the fray. I say this as the parent of a student who left after 10th grade for a private where extra curriculars, community and liberal learning are celebrated as much as exam and college results. Senior year at BASIS is a largely wasted. The focus isn't on learning or enjoying the year, it's on pushy, time-wasting forced college counseling. The AP capstone courses mentioned are poorly thought through, taught and resourced and the optional senior project is lonely, supported minimally and dramatically under-funded. No, the college results don't speak for themselves, not across the board. Fewer BASIS DC grads crack blue chip colleges than you might think. More would if they could bring serious extra-curricular accomplishments and, frankly, more time to absorb subject content, to the table. They neither have the time nor support for them in a curriculum where four years of high school is needlessly jammed into three, enrichment is paltry, parents are marginalized, respect for individual backgrounds, learning styles and interests is weak, and intellectuality is seldom promoted.
If you can afford to leave for greener pastures, you do that. Hint: The BASIS wasn't founded by, and isn't run by, educators.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 22:36
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
+1
If Basis serves a critical mass of families well what’s the complaint? No one is forced to attend and its eyes wide open as this point.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 22:27
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion
Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
Parent of graduating BASIS senior here. I’m loathe to enter this fray because the BASIS detractors are so emotional, but this statement just isn’t true. My kid took 12 AP exams (I guess one was a submission for 2D Art as a freshman) by the end of junior year. Several of their academic peers took 12+ AP exams by the end of junior year. No BASIS seniors take APs unless they failed to satisfy one of the AP graduation requirements for a BASIS diploma. BASIS students technically satisfy DC high school grad requirements by the end of junior year, so that is a feature, not a bug. Senior year is reserved for post AP capstone courses the first two trimesters, and an optional senior project consisting of an internship, research, and presentation. Detractors can feel free to harp on the charter management, lack of space, perceived weaknesses in curriculum, etc. but the college results this speak for themselves. BASIS is not for every kid, but if it does work for your family, the outcomes
will be there when it is time to apply to colleges.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 19:03
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion
Anonymous wrote:Want an "option available" if you're not happy with your DC public HS options and can't afford a private? Move a few miles to MoCo or Arlington for a high-performing neighborhood HS with fine AP choices, a stable faculty and possibly IB Diploma choices. You get more good facilities, electives and ECs than you know what to do with. I have yet to meet a DC family that regrets moving to MoCo or Arlington for HS and I've lived in Ward 6 for more than 30 years. Some of our oldest friends from DC are renting in VA for HS, planning to return to their DC homes afterwards. A couple of the families are doing this after exiting BASIS.
I mean, moving to arlington would make me hang myself. MoCo might be manageable.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 19:03
Subject: Does anyone know the status of the Proposed BASIS Expansion
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Give us a break, it's the rare BASIS junior who's taken a dozen AP courses and exams. Few BASIS seniors bother with more APs.
PP above obviously meant anywhere where many AP or IB Diploma classes are taught to a high standard to a high-achieving cohort.
But the point is that there are very few places like that in DC! JR (which you have to be in bounds for), Walls and Banneker (which you have to apply to, with no guarantee of admission), a couple of charters (again, no guarantee), and then privates (expensive and no guarantee). As I and many other Basis parents have said, it's not perfect, just that it's the best of the options available, and overall a pretty decent option for many kids.
So, the rest of us have to pay for the fact that you didn't want to live in-boundary or send your kid to private?
Also, if your kid is taking 12 APs, they're going to get money to go to a private.