U.S. News & World Report just published its yearly national high school rankings, and once again, BASIS Tucson and University High scored very well, 5th and 7th respectively. The question is, what do those rankings mean?
First, they mean that much-maligned TUSD has a high school in the national top ten, earning the district bragging rights. Second, they mean charter schools aren’t better than district schools simply because they’re charters. Half the high schools in Arizona’s top ten are district schools, including, locally, both UHS and Catalina Foothills High.
Third and most important, the rankings mean schools with elite student bodies rank high on the U.S. News & World Report scale. If you have lots of high income high achievers for students, with a smattering of lower income high achievers thrown in, and your staff is reasonably good, your school is likely to look good-to-great in the rankings.
As everyone knows, UHS is highly selective. It only accepts top academic students from TUSD and neighboring districts, so naturally those students are going to be among the best and the brightest in the area. BASIS, on the other hand, claims to be non-selective since it has to take all applicants, and if too many students apply, it holds a random lottery. But that’s deceptive, and the people who run BASIS charters know it. The fact is, BASIS schools have a four step process which ensures that they accept mostly high achieving students, then weed out students who don’t perform at the expected level. A school like Cat Foothills actually takes everyone in its district who walks through the door, but since the district is generally high income, that makes for a very select student body.
The Star article doesn’t go into detail about how the schools are ranked, which creates the mistaken impression that the highly ranked schools are actually doing a better job with their students than lower ranked schools. Worse, the Star article parrots the ranking criteria laid out by U.S. News & World Report without looking at them carefully. I understand, it’s hard to sort through the criteria if you’re not an educator, but a Google search would reveal plenty of people who have examined how the rankings work. There’s no excuse for a journalist not doing the necessary research, or consulting with a local scholar who has.
The only important criterion for picking a top school is how well its seniors do in the school’s AP (Advanced Placement) or IB (International Baccalaureate) program. Schools emphasizing those programs and having high performing students score well in the rankings almost by definition.
A quick look at the criteria makes it seem like they emphasize how well the schools do with their low income and minority students, but a closer look shows that’s not the way it actually works. Schools whose low income/minority students perform worse than the state average are removed from the list, but once that rough sorting process is over, it’s all about the AP and the IB programs. Since any low income/minority students who stay at BASIS are going to be high performing compared to similar students across the state, and since UHS only takes the highest performing students no matter what their income or ethnicity, it’s simple for those schools to make the cut. I imagine a similar dynamic works at Cat Foothills.
There’s a good reason why BASIS schools rank high year after year. Remember, it’s all about the performance of the senior class, so a school with very high achieving seniors is going to receive a high ranking. Well, BASIS schools’ senior classes are generally a third to a quarter the size of the entering fifth grade class. In 2014, for instance, BASIS Tucson has 149 fifth graders and 40 twelfth graders. By the time the students make it to their senior year, the weakest students have been culled from the group, and the high performing few who remain are likely to score ridiculously high on their AP exams, resulting in ridiculously high rankings.
Before BASIS supporters howl that I’m being unfair to the schools, that I hate the charter schools because they’re so successful, let me say, I think BASIS schools accomplish their mission well, but it’s important to understand what that mission is. Their mission is to provide a rigorous education to capable students who are willing to work very hard. The mission is not to provide a world class education to rank-and-file students at all levels of ability and motivation, up and down the economic ladder.
What I hope to hear from BASIS staff and supporters some day is something I never hear from them — basic truth in advertising about what BASIS schools are and what they accomplish. Stop comparing the highly selective charters to non-selective district schools. Stop saying you’ve cracked the education code, that you know how to turn ordinary students into world beaters. It’s simply not true.
Please, if anyone associated with BASIS schools believes I’m being unfair, help me understand the error of my ways, using facts and figures if possible. I’ve been writing about BASIS for years and no one from the schools has challenged the accuracy of what I’ve said, so I have to think I’ve got it right.
This article appears in Apr 17-23, 2014.
So a school with high standard gets a better score.
Who knew?
“BASIS schools accomplish their mission well, but it’s important to understand what that mission is. Their mission is to provide a rigorous education to capable students who are willing to work very hard.”
Translation: We have high expectations and you jolly well better perform. Gee, makes one wonder what would happen if other schools told their students to work hard, do all of the assignments, and come prepared, or else.
There’s nothing mysterious about “turning ordinary students into world beaters”.
It is to set a high bar and, yes, reject those who do not meet it. In other words, by being highly selective.
Students are not like apples, the ‘big’ ones getting in and the ‘small’ ones not. Students respond to challenges, even when they fail to meet them on the first try. Small apples can become big.
So, insisting that the charters stop comparing themselves to non-selective schools is like saying that it’s somehow wrong to set standards and follow through with them. The code that has been cracked is that competition is good. Who would have thunk it…
Jefferey Nadeau, et al. And what becomes of the students that these high performing schools reject? Do they get an education? When you cast them out you make them someone else’s problem. But in the American free market we are allowed to do that.
Having been part of a group that was considering starting a charter school I sat in a meeting with a representative of a state dept. of education. Charter schools are not supposed to utilize qualifying exams, but he explained how you could get around that problem. It is the way Mr. Safier described.
Don’t get me wrong, I wish I had gone to a school like BASIS. I went to an east coast urban high school and it was at times very painful be in class with fellow students that had no interest in education.
Kudos to both BASIS and University High. I did find the Star’s article interesting that it devoted over 8 inches of column space and all of the pictures to BASIS and only 4 and a half inches to University High, and in the second half of the article, after the break, after a good number of readers had already stopped reading.
Fair and Balanced? Watch out Fox News.
“Gee, makes one wonder what would happen if other schools told their students to work hard, do all of the assignments, and come prepared, or else.” you forget Public schools CANNOT kick kids out based on academics. It’s a nice try on your part to defend that practice but it’s illegal and immoral for regular public schools do that.
To Jeff Nadeau et al.
If a doctor required all patients to walk up 5 flights of stairs to get to his office, I imagine his patients would be healthy and live longer. This would have little to do with the doctor’s medical skills or ability to diagnose patients. Would you consider this doctor a good doctor or a shrewd doctor? Would you prefer to go to this doctor or one actually good at diagnosis and care?
The measure of a school should be the difference in cation it makes in a students life. It is not clear that UHS and BASIS do not simply skim the smart hard working kids who have no problems in their lives. Picking these kids makes them lok good but it is unclear that they really represent a delta in their students lives.
Truth. Amen and AMEN!!!
‘What I hope to hear from BASIS staff and supporters some day is something I never hear from them — basic truth in advertising about what BASIS schools are and what they accomplish. Stop comparing the highly selective charters to non-selective district schools. Stop saying you’ve cracked the education code, that you know how to turn ordinary students into world beaters. It’s simply not true.’
You will never hear that from us BASIS supporters because it’s a bunch of nonsense at best and a pack of rhetorical lies in reality. I have a kid in BASIS. He started in TUSD where expectations were low so he performed according to the top level of those expectations. We enrolled him at BASIS Tucson where expectations, the level of teacher competence and the complexity of the material being taught were much higher and boom, his performance rose to the level of expectations, the level of teacher competence and the complexity of the material being taught. By the way there was no entrance exam or demand for his TUSD records before he was admitted. All they wanted were parents and a student who WANTED to be there.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Such is the case with many students and their families across the nation. You can provide the education, but can you make it take hold? No, you can’t! It takes commitment and dedication on the part of students and their families. BASIS provides a service for those who WANT it. Those who don’t want it or do but aren’t willing to work for it go elsewhere for that service and see different results. There is no ‘code’ to crack here. It really is simple. If you want your kids to get a good education, do the work that it takes as a parent and put your kids where expectations, the level of teacher competence and the complexity of the material being taught are at a high level and be prepared to participate (that means commit time and work) in your kids’ education.
The measure of a school should be in a student’s performance AND balance. I cannot speak for UHS, but BASIS does NOT offer balance. Yes, they have extracurricular activities, but in order to excel at BASIS, a student must do 3-4 hours of homework per night. Where is the balance in that? That is more than a full time job between school hours and homework for a 10-11yo. I work in the psychiatry field and a doctor I know reports to me that MANY kids have ended up in therapy due to the stress and rigor of these schools. This is not China – we don’t need to be raising high-achieving robots who have to take anti-anxiety medication.
And to add to that, the school doesn’t want any parent participation AT ALL. In fact, when my daughter was failing a class (still in middle school), absolutely no one from the school contacted me, even though I had reached out to all of her teachers at the beginning of the year due to some challenges I knew she would have. We spent 4 years at BASIS, and I would warn any parent considering it to REALLY consider all the aspects.
Patriot 1, I think we’re mainly in agreement. We’re both saying that BASIS is for motivated, hard working students — and I would add, students who are reasonably capable intellectually. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. i just want BASIS to own up to its mission.
If you follow the conservative “education reform” movement, you hear BASIS used as an example of what’s wrong with most public schools. They say, “This shows what’s wrong with ‘government schools.’ BASIS shows what ‘school choice’ can accomplish.” And my response is, BASIS hasn’t provided an answer to what works in education for the vast majority of students. If it has, it should open schools in less affluent areas of town, take students with low AIMS scores, and show us all how it’s done.
By the way, Patriot 1, you say there is no entrance exam, which I know is correct. But once a child is accepted, does he/she take a placement exam?
I think the gist of this article should not be missed: Test scores and family income are related. In fact, the best predictor of student test scores has always been and remains. family wealth.
Poverty and low student test scores use to exist in Finland. They addressed the problem by first eliminating childhood poverty. They then got in to elevating the teaching profession to a status near or above that of a doctor or lawyer. Now, they are the envy of the world as student test scores are concerned.
Perhaps if we addressed the gross and growing income and wealth disparity in the U.S., we too would see student test scores rise.
so glad to see the U.S. News & World Report rating system explained! thanks, dave.
Last year at Basis Tucson there was about 125 8th graders and this year the 9th grade class has about 80 kids now give or take a few. Parents pull their kids out of Basis and put them in a more traditional high school so that they can have that experience. Basis kids have enough credits to graduate at the 11th grade, not all stick around for their senior year. Maybe you need to look at the 10th grade having 70 students and in 11th there are around 70 as well (give or take a few). There are numerous ways to receive tutoring provided by their peers. All students from 9-12 take the AP tests so by the 12th grade these kids have taken these test and have had the opportunity to do their best because they are prepared.
There is a difference between “opportunity” and “requirement”. These kids are forced to take AP level classes and tests. The scoring of the school is based on percentage of kids passing AP tests. When you weed the kids down from 125 to 40, you raise the chances they will pass the tests. And when they are required to take them, that also raises the chances of them passing. BASIS stacks the deck and needs to admit it.
Actually David is correct on the selection thing. Although there is no formal entrance exam at BASIS, the school does weed out the not-so-able by suggesting either that the school is not for them, or telling them they have to do more work on certain subjects before the school year starts. That, to me, is a ‘streaming’ of sorts. As a BASIS parent – about to be an ex-BASIS parent – I would suggest parents look at their kids’ work ethics and personalities. Much as I wanted my kid to rise to the challenge, as Patriot1’s kid did, mine did the opposite and rebelled. Result? Low scores, disinterest, and – I fear – a reduced love of learning. That’s why we’re going back to a public school.
Gillian, I would love to know more about your experience at BASIS. If you’re interested in talking, contact me at mailbag@tucsonweekly.com, and it will be forwarded to me.
I have always said that the real glory in the teaching profession is teaching those who are reluctant to learn or have difficulty learning. To teach those who are privileged, successful in learning, and motivated does not require the creativity and teacher persistence that the first group described requires. The same is true for schools. Chop off those at the bottom and of course the scores will rise. And apparently in today’s world the scores are all that matter.
“Gillian, I would love to know more about your experience at BASIS. If you’re interested in talking, contact me at mailbag@tucsonweekly.com, and it will be forwarded to me.”
Is this a hatchet job in the making? I notice you are not asking Patriot1 for further illumination.
Or maybe you know the Patriot1 story intimately already, but call me suspicious.
Very interesting, very much to the point, very clear, and very worth reading — like all Dave’s columns.
However, it’s always wise to consult a representative array of “native informants” — both dissatisfied former members of a community and those who are currently enrolled and positively impressed. When you talk with students who thrive at UHS and Basis, you’ll repeatedly hear variants on this same remark: “I can be myself here, and I’m accepted.” Many of them experience this feeling of acceptance as a huge relief and a stark contrast to what they’ve felt in other academic settings. They no longer have to disguise their enthusiasm for learning in order to protect themselves from social aggression, and they don’t suffer from the kinds of dysfunctions high ability students can develop in classrooms where they are not challenged, dysfunctions well documented in the body of research that supports gifted education programs. When considering how these schools produce such high scores, consider the energy the students get from their peer group — and from a faculty that understands how to work with this population (not an easy population to teach). The unique climate these schools create fuels better class discussions and drives a deeper engagement with course content. The increased engagement produces better writing about content and a more thorough exploration of the course material, and this gets reflected in AP exam scores.
I’ve seen the effect UHS has had on my own son: it has been remarkable and transformative. He was not working at this level — either in terms of time invested or in terms of his excitement about academic content — in the schools he attended prior to enrolling in UHS. When his AP exam scores come back, I will be saying “thank you” to UHS faculty and UHS / TUSD administration — the faculty’s hard work in the classroom and the administration’s decisions about how to structure the school’s admissions processes and curriculum will have been significant contributors to raising my son’s scores from what they would have been in other settings to what they are at UHS.
ERW, that’s a fine endorsement of the value of accelerated programs for capable and motivated students, both in separate schools and in separate programs within more heterogeneous schools. UHS and Basis are both examples of schools with the mission you describe.
UHS is very clear that it’s a selective school. Because it makes no bones about the fact that it begins with the best possible student body academically and offers the students a challenging curriculum in a stimulating intellectual atmosphere, you don’t hear people saying, “All schools should be more like UHS.”
Basis is less clear about its selection process, which is different from that at UHS but no less selective. That’s why Basis is used, unfairly and inaccurately, as a weapon against other, non-selective schools whose students don’t perform at the same level. Basis can be compared reasonably to similar schools, like UHS, not to take-all-comers schools.
Dave – agreed on all points in your response. Basis should not be compared to schools with non-selective admissions. You did a great job highlighting that in your article.
However, I do think people need to be aware that there is “value added” in these schools. The scores are not just a product of the kind of students these schools serve, nor are these kids “easy to teach,” as one of the comments in this thread seemed to imply.
That said, I would love to see more coverage in the press of the differences between UHS and Basis — the differences are significant and deserve greater attention.
I am actually a graduating senior at BASIS this year and yes, it’s completely true that my class started off a lot bigger than it is now. That isn’t due to any kind of selection process though. When I entered BASIS I took placement exams, but that was all. The reason that the class size falls from year to year is because it is a lot of work and that just isn’t right for everyone. Personally, and this isn’t everyone, I was able to have a part time job, enjoy many extracurricular activities, hang out with friends, and have plenty of downtime for binge watching my favorite tv shows. Luckily, I am a good studier because my homework load was never more than an hour and a half, and that was a bad night. Now, I know lots of people who did a lot more studying and then did have better grades and test scores than me, but the difference in grades was minimal when they did a lot more work than I did. I loved BASIS, the teachers were awesome because I must say, English is not my subject but BASIS made me love to read. What I found really amazing was this year, senior year. It was really low-key because I had already finished all my credits. The last half of the year, I had to go in once a week and had no school work. With AP exams, you are required to take one of each subject; one math, one English, one science, and one history, but you don’t have to pass them, you just have to take at least one. There were high expectations, but they weren’t all that hard to meet if you like to learn and can put up with some annoying late nights. I think that it was worth it and I wouldn’t choose another school if I had the chance again. I met some amazing friends who were just as passionate about learning as I am but I also have some great friends who wanted to challenge themselves and despite getting some D’s, still loved BASIS and what it had to offer. Hmmm anything else I didn’t address? Feel free to comment and ask me anything because I am more than willing to answer any questions (:
Rachelaadelle I think some readers are saying that the fact that BASIS *IS* a lot of work IS a selection process. It’s like law school. The freshman class is usually three times the size of the graduating class, and even though the freshman are not flunking some kind of placement test, it is a selection process nonetheless.
I don’t have kids but there are three things I would love to see in public education: Teachers getting paid a living wage and not having to spend their own money on resources. Parents taking a MUCH more active role in their kids’ educations. And as someone mentioned… figuring out a way to engage the high risk kids. Staying in school, at least through high school, has SUCH a profound effect on a person’s later opportunities.
I get the impression that some of you think there is something wrong with ‘casting out’ lower achievers. I suppose if there is nothing to catch them, you’d be right. And somehow, the belief is that we want to ‘discard’ these kids.
Not true.
In baseball everyone (with very few exceptions) starts out in the farm system. If they don’t make their way up, they eventually figure that they just don’t ‘have what it takes’. And in fact they may not.
In Germany, Korea, Japan, selectivity starts very early. Kids who do not ‘make the grade’ do not move up. Is this bad? If so, why are performance levels from these countries so much higher than here in the US? Because of selectivity. And challenging kids to reach higher than they think they can.
When I was a kid, I recall a test given where the teacher told us to ignore question number 20. It was too ‘hard’ and he would not grade based on that question. Most of the kids followed his instructions. I didn’t. That’s the one I wanted to attempt. But I knew I had to get all the other ones done first.
The ‘code’ is to have challenges for everyone at every level. An integrated system all the way down with BASIC at the top of that chain. This should make BASIC something to strive for, not something to curse.
They are simply suggesting that we do what they are doing all the way down. Kids will go where their abilities and effort take them as long as we provide the stepping stones. And it’s OK to slip up or not get to the very top of the mountain. Even Indiana Jones mistakenly stepped on the J instead of the I. But thank goodness he recovered. Perhaps he should have studied a little harder.
The only issue I feel compelled to address with these critiques is the ‘it’s located in an upper class area’ comments.
Alrighty. So yes, the BASIS Tucson North school is currently located in an upper middle class community. But you’re forgetting that it moved there only two years ago. Up until then the location of the high school was at Broadway and Alvernon, across the street from El Con and the middle school was (and a portion of it still is) located at Alvernon and Speedway. So every graduating class up until 2016 would have started at BASIS, at the latest, in the eighth grade before the school moved to the Foothills. So let’s not attribute the current location of the school to the performance of the graduating classes of previous years, okay? I’m not denying that the location is going to affect later graduating classes. But the school’s performance up until this point isn’t because it’s in the Foothills.
A number of years ago I checked into BASIS’ admission policy and discovered a process of weeding out students. Students were required to enter BASIS at the grade level they tested at…not based on the grade level they had most recently passed at their public school. So, if you were under-performing, you repeated the last grades even if you had “passed” that grade. So, I would imagine that most student and parents in that situation would probably not attend. This would mean that any class of students at BASIS would all begin working at grade level, not always the case in public schools.
I do not know if this policy is still in place.
>>>In Germany, Korea, Japan, selectivity starts very early. Kids who do not ‘make the grade’ do not move up. Is this bad?
It is not correct information. In China, e.g Shanghai, the average test score is much higher than others. The key is not how to select students. But students do spend more time in classroom with teachers and homeworks to exercise what they learn.
The “weeding-out” procedure occurs with the comprehensive exams that are given starting in 6th grade. These are final exams, similar to those given in high school or college. If a student fails even a single exam, they are required to repeat the entire grade, not just the subject that they failed. A student can have a high grade in the class, fail the comprehensive exam (but not the class), and still not be eligible for promotion to the next grade.
Those who criticize BASIS are missing one important point. Up until this year, BASIS did not enroll students up until the fifth grade. By this time any student who is the product of a bad public school system, like TUSD, will be so far behind that the student is unlikely to succeed at BASIS unless the student was already identified as a high-performer and put on an accelerated track.
Those who are so upset that low-achieving students are not enrolling or lasting in BASIS need to realize how those students became low-achievers. Those students got that way by attending poor public schools. BASIS is not responsible for the prior five years of bad education that makes some students unable to meet expectations, and BASIS has neither the time nor the resources to give remedial training to students like Pima Community College does to those high school “graduates” that cannot meet the basic reading and math standards that are required for college. Why direct hostility at BASIS when the real culprits are the public schools that are failing Tucson’s children?
However, BASIS has shown it is willing to meet the challenge of those who think it is “weeding out” low-achievers to enhance its rankings. This past school year BASIS opened its first K-4 school, which like all its schools is open to everyone. So save your judgments until 5-10 years from now when this BASIS’ K-4 school starts feeding students into BASIS’ high schools. These students will have had the more rigorous BASIS curriculum and methodology from the start of their schooling. Until then, be happy that BASIS chose Tucson for some of its schools.
I’ve been reading all the pros and cons about BASIS because we’re at a cross road, before the fall semster starts.
Before I start saying anything about our experience, let me add one or two things. The first is transportation and donations. As full time working parents, transportation is always an issue for us, and the after school program is very expensive at BASIS, $15 a day for the school our boys attend, and it only lasts until 5:30 pm.
The second is donations. Every year, BASIS have annual teachers fund event, the suggested amount is ever rising, and kids would come home tell you that their teachers don’t get paid much and really rely on this fund. But again, they’re probably right and the teachers do put in a lot of effort and their own time too. The teachers there are mostly very passionate about the subjects they teach.
About the “weeding” process, I agree with Patriot above. I don’t blame BASIS, IT IS a school for self-pushing, hard working, intellectually capable kids. The school doesn’t force you out, in fact, the faculty do offer help, especially if the parents are also actively involved in their kids studies. You stay or leave at your own choice.
Now our story. Our two boys, 13 (turning 14) and 11 have been attending BASIS Chandler for 2 years. The younger one started at 5th Grade and the older one 7th, both were in our mediocre Gilbert District home elementary schools before they got into BASIS. The younger one got admitted through lottery process first, then the older one because of the sibling advantage.
Our older one resisted so hard (he knew at 7th grade he would be very behind) before we persuaded and encouraged him, and/or, let me be frank, by executing our parental authority. And being a kid with soft personality, he yielded and agreed to try at least for a year.
5th grade wasn’t hard at BASIS, since it was the starting grade, and relatively easy, no comprehensive exams.
7th grade was very very hard for someone transferred in. Our older boy went to daily tutoring sessions in both before and after hours. For this I have to praise the teachers for their work ethics. They helped a lot, and we met the lower school director regularly to discuss the kids study plan.
As parents, we put in a LOT OF HOURS in the evenings, especially for my then 7th grader. BASIS starts the Physics, Chemistry, Biology subjects in 6th grade, compared to 10-11th grade in district high schools. Luckily, my own engineering and rigorous secondary education (in mainland China) background served well in this case, I tutored my older one in all the math and science subjects, at least an hour daily in weekday evenings. It’s for sure a LOT OF EFFORTS from both the student AND the parents.
Being a cooperative and responsible kid, my older one survived 7th grade , and his grade has been in the upward trend. We didn’t need and he didn’t want us to tutor him nearly that much last year in his 8th grade study. They already had their first AP Exam in World History.
However as the younger one enters the 6th grade, there’s a different nightmare. He simply doesn’t want to study! He couldn’t sit still for more than 10 minutes, and wouldn’t really concentrate when you try to tutor him. He would cry during prolonged work. He doesn’t care about his grades. He’s a bright and happy kid who loves to do a lot of fun things but nothing related to school work! So BASIS is just NOT FOR HIS TYPE of immature kids. We are transferring him out and back to District Junior high, and he is very happy about that.
We are struggling with the decision of our older one’s 9th grade school. The kid himself can go either way. At least half of his classmates wiil be gone, mostly to a very good Chandler district high school, for attaining better GPAs. According to my son, only two types of kids remain in BASIS for 9th grade and above, the very hard working top achievers, and the ones at the bottom (remember, they got in by lottery) whose parents didn’t really think much of those complex college entrance equations.
We’re losing our transportation means next year. And our older son’s GPA so far is not that shining, however improving. We’re debating on whether to transfer him to our mediocre district high school, take some honor classes if possible. Meanwhile, the district high does offer so much more interesting electives across the board, as compared to BASIS’s straight forward one path curriculum.
Still debating…
By the way, about the amount of homeworks. My kids never exceeded 2 hours homework time. In 8th grade, my older was able to finish most of his homework before dinner, which left him plenty of time playing on-line video games in the evenings, unless he needs to prepare for the upcoming quiz/tests, which is a lot too.
I am a student of BASIS tucson north and I would like to speak for myself. I came in the 8th grade two months late. I came from a school where standards were low, and I was a bit rebellious because of the influences around me but I had a love for learning. My family has very low income. The first month at BASIS was extremely challenging but for my love of learning i over came it. I didnt get a single D or F in any of my classes. Ive never taken any of the sciences, and i skipped algebra 1 and they put me in an algebra 2 class. Ive never heard of many English terms. But i catched up. I worked hard, with only less than 2 hours of homework after 2 months of catching up. I procrastinate alot so it seemed like i study alot but i dont. I did very well and ended up getting an award. I am continuing into basis for 9th grade and I am excited. The teachers offer extra help but they dont hold your hand throughout the whole school years. They teach you to be independent but to ask for help when you need it. Basis is a school for kids who love to learn
I am happy this article starte people commenting.
I am a Basis parent and a medical professional also. What I have to say is that Basis is not for everyone and is the parent’s job to know their child and choose wisely. No 10 year old or 8 year old will say I want to learn hard and have a lot of homework. Some children do their homework in 1-2 hours while other take 5 hours. If the parents’ pressure and expectations are higher the what the child can than depression is common. I advise these parents to seek other options as the child will either rebel or need to take medication.
I find nothing wrong in teachers setting a high bar. Who can reach it good for them; who can’t, thank God there are plenty other options in this country.
I would rather see my son studying for history than finishing homework in 30 min and than playing on the computer for 2 hours. Smart kids need stimulation too, and in a public school he would be content that he is one of the best, his homework is finished so he could do whatever he wants. In Basis is very hard to be the best so you learn to be humble.
I see a lot of immigrants sending their children to Basis as in most countries being successful in life equals having a good education.
The selection process is mostly auto selection as it happens in real life – the more adapted species survive.
In the end I find nothing wrong to have high achieving kids – they need a place too there they can succeed if the are not good at sports, and their parents can’t afford to take them to a ton of extra curricular activities. Basis does a good job for the motivated children.
Ex Basis-student here. I left right before Junior year, right when everyone warned me about how important it is. Yes, they do weed you out. If you don’t have a certain GPA, they will tell you to graduate early. My college counselor told me this to me face: “We recommend that you graduate next year, because senior year wouldn’t be useful to you.” In case you don’t know, half of senior year is a research project that looks great on college applications. I wasn’t some kid getting Fs and Ds and Cs. I got Bs and As and a few Cs here and there. They told me this at the end of 10th grade, and expected me to graduate in 11th. Mind you, no one prepared me for this. I wasn’t warned ahead of time so that I could take my SATs or prepare an art portfolio. They wouldn’t care if I was left in the dirt once I graduated.
The teachers admit that they are afraid of the parents and would rather not communicate with them. On top of that, there is a load of work that the students are put through. I wasn’t doing well in my history class in 10th, and the teacher barely helped me.
In summary, don’t go to this school unless you want to be pushed out or stressed to the point of no return.
While it did put me ahead of my peers at my new school, I don’t think it would have benefitted me at all in the long run to be in such a rigorous school. People at that school are also not nearly as friendly as the people at the school I now go to.
I am a freshman at Basis Tucson North. Contrary to what has been written earlier, most of the time it is the student that decides to stay or leave the school. I was thrust into 5th grade here, dreadfully behind, but was able to catch up by the end of the semester. I seriously considered UHS for 9th grade, but ultimately decided to stay because of high school credits, the social atmosphere, and a smaller environment. The homework levels wildly fluctuate; sometimes (like today) I have about 10 minutes, and sometimes, it is over 5 hours. Both of those are very extreme. I would say 3 hrs of work is assigned on average, and 90 minutes of those 3 hrs is done in class. I do not get outstanding grades (lots of B’s), but study 4x less than the 4.0 students. Although less than other schools, BASIS has many extracurricular activities, and each year I have to pick and choose my top 2 or 3.
I think it does not matter where you start; as long as you have that motivation and passion, you will succeed here.
123 Grow, I am curious to know what you chose. We are in the same boat with our 8th grade Basis son. He really wants to leave for a public school and his GPA is only about a 3.0. He is very bright (A’s on most tests), but not very detail oriented as much of his homework doesn’t make it to the teacher on time. I weigh the risk that he will drift even more at the huge public school vs the worry that he will not step up to the work load of juggling 4-5 AP classes/year.
BASIS isn’t selective based on academic scores coming into the school. There are plenty of kids who didn’t well in public schools who have come to BASIS and succeeded.
I don’t understand the criticism that BASIS is weeding out children. Kids do leave, don’t get me wrong. They start dropping like flies as soon as they reach the 8th grade. But the suggestion that BASIS forces children to leave is complete nonsense. They do everything they can to help underperforming kids, like increasing academic support and one on one teacher time, helping them with scheduling their homework and teaching them time management skills, etc. Then if the child is still having a hard time (i.e. failing multiple classes or the comprehensive exams) they suggest that a public school might be a better fit. But they don’t force them– the child and their parents are free to retake the grade as many times as they want, it’s up to them.
I do agree that BASIS is for kids who would do well naturally and for kids who are willing to work hard. BASIS isn’t doing anything special to teach kids who aren’t already inclined to put in the work, just providing opportunities for the ones who are.
Just wanted to note: you can fail one or more of the comprehensive exams and still pass to the next grade at BASIS if you retake them over the summer.