Basis Schools

The first BASIS Curriculum School, BASIS Tucson, was founded in Tucson in 1998 by Michael Block and Olga Block, intending to educate students at an internationally competitive level.

In 2003, BASIS Scottsdale was opened. In 2010, BASIS Oro Valley was founded. A year later, BASIS opened three schools at once in Chandler, Peoria, and Flagstaff.[4] BASIS continued its expansion by opening another school in Tucson and one in Phoenix proper in fall 2012, along with their first non-Arizona school, located in Washington, D.C. In 2013, BASIS opened its tenth and eleventh Arizona campuses in Ahwatukee and Mesa, and the second non-Arizona campus was added in San Antonio, Texas. BASIS also began its primary (K-4) program at the original BASIS Tucson site. In 2014, BASIS opened in Prescott, AZ. In 2015, BASIS opened its sixteenth Arizona school in Goodyear, AZ.[5] In the following year, BASIS Independent McLean opened in McLean, VA.

BASIS was featured in the documentary film 2 Million Minutes: A 21st Century Solution, which examined differences between charter schools' curricula and conventional public schools.[6] In response to the documentary, Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton visited a BASIS campus to deliver speeches on the importance of education in America.[7][8][9][10] They opened BASIS Independent Bellevue in Washington for the 2022-2023 school year.[11]

There are currently 59 BASIS Curriculum schools. 43 of these are public charter schools found in Arizona, Louisiana, Texas and Washington, D.C. Six of these are private BASIS Independent Schools found in New York City, Northern Virginia, Silicon Valley, California and Bellevue, Washington State. Ten are privately owned international schools found in China, Bangkok, Thailand and the Czech Republic. There are plans to open more international schools for the 2023-2024 school year in the Nanshan District and Wuhan, China.[12]

BASIS schools have regularly topped U.S. national school rankings, earning the top five spots and more among the U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools 2017 rankings,[13] and earning the number one spot on the list of America's Most Challenging High Schools published by The Washington Post.

Both BASIS schools and their parent organization have been criticized and controversial. Critics contend that Basis fails to provide adequate financial transparency and accountability as it uses for-profit management companies.[14] Another investigative article in 2010 questioned the founders' salary compared to the teachers and other public school administrators.[15]

Other critics take issue with BASIS's accelerated curriculum and general educational philosophy. Some argue that BASIS focuses too much on standardized testing.[16] Critics also point out that BASIS's performance in national ranking systems like the U.S. News & World Report is largely a function of Basis's singular focus on mandatory Advanced Placement (AP) testing, as these ranking systems give great weight to the percentage of students at a school that take the AP tests.[17] Critics also take issue with BASIS's attrition rates (senior classes are typically a third to a quarter of the size of the fifth-grade class) and argue that BASIS achieves good test scores in part by weeding out under-performing students.[18][19][20] In 2013, the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board rejected a request from BASIS DC to expand, citing concerns about the high number of students who had withdrawn from the school since it opened.[21]

Arizona BASIS schools solicit contributions from parents, an unusual practice for publicly funded schools. BASIS Scottsdale asks $1,500 per student. BASIS teachers make less than the average public school teachers in the state, although BASIS.ed contends that bonuses make teacher compensation competitive. Teachers typically receive bonuses for students' scores on Advanced Placement exams.[22]