May weather, harbinger of a sweet spring after a tough winter, is also when many future 6th graders celebrate the sweet victory of placement into the middle school of their choice… while many more others suffer the sting of rejection. Let us suggest an alternative: Parents may want to consider BASIS Independent Brooklyn as an opportunity for entrepreneurial and creative students to be pioneers in an exciting new school with deep roots in academic excellence.
To assure a Founding Student cohort that will be academically ambitious and self-challenging, BASIS Independent Brooklyn has advanced its Merit-based Scholarship program to this first year for students entering grades 6-8. Find out more here. BASIS Independent Brooklyn continues to accept applications for grades K-8 on a rolling basis, it is not too late to apply or attend an upcoming informational event.
BASIS knows students can do more than schools typically expect in the middle school years. By introducing high-level content standards in middle school and exposing students to high level thinking early, they build strong foundations for any academic pursuit.
Look at mathematics, the essential instrument for understanding the world around us. BASIS Independent uses Saxon math, but with a twist: fifth grade students are brought up to Saxon Math 6, 7, or 8, depending on their skills. Algebra-1 is taught in seventh grade, but three fifth graders are currently taking it in a BASIS school: Even with a rigorous curriculum, if we find students who are not being challenged we develop meaningful enrichment programs. BASIS Independent students tend to see math as an exciting set of puzzles to solve, not as drudgery. That’s why a 15-year old BASIS freshman could make a perfect score on last year’s college AP Calculus exam, joined by only ten others worldwide.
Science is taught in a distinctively BASIS approach: by 6th grade, students are taking Biology, Chemistry and Physics as separate, discrete subjects. This profoundly advances students’ recognition of the forces that affect us and their intricate balance. It also allows earlier opportunities to discover interests that may have remained dormant in a student for years in a typical science program.
Similarly, in the humanities, students in BASIS middle school are pursuing a deeper approach. By seventh grade students are taking both English and Logic, pairing the ability to think with the means of expressing thoughts. Music, fine art, foreign language, social sciences, history, classics and performing arts are all programmatically interrelated so as to develop the “whole child.” Students are given elective options as early as the seventh grade.
Aside from an unparalleled academic opportunity, the curriculum is designed to help students develop academic, organizational, and personal skills that will prepare them to fulfill their future ambitions in whatever field they choose. If you know a family frustrated by the New York City school situation, let them know about BASIS Independent Brooklyn, the new school in town with the oldest heritage of national and international preeminence. With a new Merit Scholarship Program covering up to 95% tuition, May’s lemons can become the summer’s sweet lemonade!
