Inside the best public school in America — a charter school that feeds prodigies into the Ivy League
Melia Robinson/Business Insider
BASIS Scottsdale, a charter school in Arizona, is the best public high school in America.
Its founding dates back nearly 20 years, when two economists struggled to find a school that could provide a rigorous education for their daughter. They started a charter school in Tucson with the belief that the goal of a great education should be to provide students with limitless opportunities. A second high school opened in the affluent suburb of Scottsdale in 2003.
In 2017, four out of the top five public schools — according to a ranking from US News & World Report — are all run by BASIS Educational Group LLC, a for-profit corporation.
Charter schools are public schools that are privately run, either for-profit or not. Their supporters see the schools as providing a leg up for underserved students who lack access to a personalized education, while critics claim that charter schools snatch away limited resources from other public schools.
Polarizing as they may be, charter schools have a track record of success. Business Insider spent the day at BASIS Scottsdale to see what makes it the best in the nation.
There are nearly 7,000 charter schools in the US, and most are mission-driven. Some target gifted or high-risk kids.
Melia Robinson/Business Insider
Source: Education Week
The mission of BASIS charter schools is to produce top students who graduate with some of the highest test scores in the nation and go on to best ranked colleges and universities.
Melia Robinson/Business Insider
And BASIS Scottsdale does it better than any public high school in America.
Melia Robinson/Business Insider
In 2017, US News & World Report named BASIS Scottsdale the best public school in the US. The annual ranking is based on the number of Advanced Placement tests taken as well as performance on those tests for graduating seniors, and other criteria. Critics argue that this type of list doesn't use enough measures of success and gives charter schools an unfair edge.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider