<p>“A new academic model is coming to Silicon Valley with the opening of the first BASIS Independent School in California.The schools are consistently in the annual top 10 “Best High School Rankings” of both U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek, and in 2012 the Washington Post ranked BASIS Tucson as No.1 and BASIS Scottsdale No.5 in their rankings.”</p>
<p>We are in very good public school district. But now I need to decide which school is good for my son.
I checked BASIS has a very advanced academic schedule on STEM:
Finish at least 8 AP courses before 11th grade
8th grade: Algebra 2, 9th: pre-calc or even faster paces
5-7th grade: concurrent physics, chemistry and biology (each has 3 hours/week). 8-12th: all AP physics, chemistry and biology
very focus on Standardized tests. </p>
<p>This school is very academical from my viewpoint. But school is small(one building only) and almost no space for gym and sports. I don’t know if push my kids too much on academic.
Cost: $24K/yr</p>
<p>Do you think it is good for us to send my kids to this school? Do you have same experience?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t send anyone to a school that was focused on standardized tests. I am looking for a more well-rounded education for my kids. Even my STEM kid had friends who did music and arts. While I am not a big enemy of AP tests - at least they provide a standardized curriculum that is better than what the average high school would provide otherwise - if I were looking at private schools I’d be looking at schools that provided better education that the APs. </p>
<p>Things I care about. Vibrant art opportunities. Small class sizes. Emphasis on writing lot of papers in English. Plenty of research papers in history class. Opportunities for kids to get ahead in math and science, but not lockstep for everyone.</p>
<p>In any case, if the school selects for students capable of taking advanced courses, or students self-select for that capability, then it should not be surprising that the school’s students do well in typical high school rankings criteria (test scores, AP tests taken, college matriculation).</p>
<p>The math curriculum also looks odd. It is highly accelerated, but once it gets to calculus, it takes two years to cover AP calculus AB and BC, even though top-end students in math who will reach calculus by 11th grade (two years ahead of normal, but the slowest track listed at this school) should be capable of handling all of BC (including AB) in one year after completing precalculus (the normal college frosh expectation for students entering college having completed precalculus in high school).</p>
<p>The BASIS schools in Arizona are free—charter schools rather than private. I agree with mathmom. We considered one for our son a couple years ago but opted against it. He stayed in public school. A well balanced curriculum which includes the arts, humanities, and STEM is more important than getting that far ahead in everything. </p>
<p>I think the question is: Is your son right for that type of school? If you think about AP classes, they are supposed to be the equivelent of college classes. Will your son be ready for college classes in 9th and 10th grade? If he finishes pre-calc in 9th grade, then what? Calculus as a freshman? What is he doing as a senior? Then what will he do in college?</p>
<p>Does he want to have a typical high school experience with football and cheerleaders and studying and student council and chess club and spanish club?
Or is he only focused on academics and is bored in 8th grade?</p>
<p>If he is not super crazy smart, then I would think that this would be too restrictive.</p>
<p>Why do you think they are focused on standardized tests? </p>
<p>The fact that calculus takes 2 years there suggests that maybe they are teaching it differently (i.e., more theoretical.) But that is just a guess.</p>
<p>I agree with others. It’s probably a bad idea to send him there unless he obviously is head-and-shoulders above his classmates right now, is not being challenged, and really wants to go to this place.</p>
<p>He is in 7th grade. SAT for John Hopkins Talent Search is reading 570/ math 660/ wr 500 (7essay). But he only finished pre-algebra this year. He is good on STEM </p>
<p>…
Other critics take issue with BASIS’s accelerated curriculum and general educational philosophy. They argue that BASIS focuses too much on standardized testing. Critics have also claimed that BASIS has high attrition rates, and argue that BASIS’s success depends upon “weeding out” underperforming students.[18]</p>
<p>That’s a great score, especially since he hasn’t taken any algebra yet. He sounds like he is at the level that would be appropriate for such a school. </p>
<p>You might ask the school whether someone who only finished prealgebra in the 7th grade should apply and how they handle that.<br>
And what does your son think about this school? </p>
<p>They will give a placement test and I think he may be able to skip algebra 1 and geometry. But i don’t think it is a good. Their campus building is not ready before this August. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t suggest skipping algebra and geometry. I guess he could take algebra in the summer at a community college if he wanted to. I don’t know if algebra at community college would be watered down. </p>
<p>I took calc I at community college so that I could take all my school’s advanced math classes, and the rigor was ok. I don’t know if it’s the same for algebra.</p>
<p>What does your kid think about this school? Is he excited or lukewarm? </p>
<p>You say you are in a “very good public school district”. Then why the need for the change? What happens if YOU kid ends up being more interested in the humanities, or the arts, or sports? </p>
<p>I personally think that a narrow curriculum like this is not in the better interest of developing broad learning options.</p>
<p>It’s one of the reasons why we supported a college with a strong core course requirement rather than an engineering college for our STEM daughter. </p>
<p>I don’t think he is excited since he almost has no idea about it. So far we still prefer to go to public school. But I hope he can reach the same level as BASIS students can achieve. So we try extra works in summer or weekend: he is studying programming and will study high school physics in a private school in this summer. He will finish algebra1 + geometry(private school) in grade 8. Hope this model (public+private summer school) will work. </p>
<p>It’s not all about academics, you know. American colleges like to see other activities in the summer. Sometimes the academic program makes sense, but sometimes a kid would be much better served, but a volunteer activity, or a job.</p>
<p>Somehow, I doubt that a high school is teaching calculus like real analysis the way Caltech and Harvey Mudd do (and both of those schools expect entering frosh to have seen regular high school or college calculus before jumping into their calculus courses).</p>
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<p>Seems like he is good, but not so advanced that he will run out of opportunities and challenges at a good regular school. He is one year ahead in math, which is fine and commonly catered to in good regular schools, but is below the lowest math track of the BASIS curriculum that you linked to.</p>
<p>High school physics this summer does not seem like a good idea, as it is normally taken in high school after the student has completed algebra and geometry.</p>
<p>Strategically, your son will be MUCH better off to be at the TOP of his graduating class at a larger excellent public HS, especially in SV, than be in the middle of the class at a highly academic, new ,small HS. This company is trying to take advantage of the hysteria in SV over where children end up going to college. Dont buy into it.
There is no need to spend $$ on HS when you have a great public school
. Save it for college, where it is likely to cost you $ 80,000/ year by the time he graduates! </p>
<p>Yes, you are right. He need more activity. We hope he can finish his academics early and left more room for activities: club, sport and social service.</p>