This comment appeared on the blog, written by a parent who knows the BASIS charter schools well and whose son is doing very well. BASIS charters are regularly recognized as among the very best high schools in the United States because of the number of students who take and pass AP exams. There are many things this parent likes about the school. But she is taking her son out. She explains why here.
BASIS Mesa opened for the 2013-2014 school year. My son started there as a 5th grader. He is a straight A student at BASIS and has been since he started. Why are we thinking of moving him to the Chandler School District when he is obviously doing so well? We believe that there is more to school than teaching for AP exams. Our son has many outside interest that he no longer has time for. It’s a rush every night to get home, eat quickly and start working. All those after school clubs…well it’s great if you can afford them. Also, so many times, he has so much work, that staying until 4:45 when the club ends means he’ll be up late finishing homework and studying.
His classes consist of taking notes and then spitting them out on exams. There is no time in any of his core classes for any meaningful discussions about the subject matter. It’s a race to copy the notes and then study the notes to then take the weekly exams given in all core subjects. Two February’s have passed and not one teacher has made mention of Black History Month. Recently we had our very own Arizona astronaut launch into space; again no mention of this. His Language Arts class consists of weekly packets that are not gone over in class yet the kids are expected to complete them on their own at home and then take the unit exam at the end of the week.
What we have found at BASIS is that only the strongest survive. The kids who leave behind all their extra curricular activities and focus solely on their academics. Very smart kids are leaving the school so that they may have a better balance of school and life outside of school. We also have found that the BASIS kids have no idea of current affairs, what’s going on in the world now. They also do little to no community service.
Why are we thinking of taking our son out even though he is a top performer? Because life is short and there is more to life than studying 24/7. We want him to be well rounded. To understand about the world he is growing up in and to care enough about it to grow into a person who wants to make it a better place. It was great for him to go there for 5th and 6th grade because his other charter school could’t keep up with his level of advancement from year to year. He needed the advanced math and sciences. Now that he is going into the 7th grade the Chandler School District can accommodate his educational needs. He’ll be able to be in advanced, honors and AP classes. Even better, he will have a choice of what subjects he will take his AP’s in instead of being forced to take AP exams that are mandated by BASIS. If he stays on the path is on he will still graduate with as many AP classes as the students at BASIS but it will be in subjects he is interested in and at a pace that will allow him to also grow into a responsible person who understands that life is more about what you scored on a exam.
BASIS schools are a good idea in theory but I think they are leaving out the human touch. They have many dedicated teachers and administrators who truly care about the students, but whose hands are tied by the sheer volume of information they need to cover in a particular year. It’s the inch deep, mile wide approach to education that may look great on a transcript but may leave your child with great deficits in other aspects of their lives. Also, since many of the teachers have no actual teaching experience or background they lack what it takes to engage and motivate students and are not the best choice for teaching such advanced material.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Smart mother!
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She also points out the flaws in public schools at the lower levels — they bury their heads in the sand thinking that all students can acheive at the same level. I believe all students can learn, but they aren’t all going to acheive the same amount. We’ve run so far away from grouping children by ability because of a few bad apples who used it improperly and forced students in particular placements that we teach all students in a heterogenous classroom and tell our already overworked teachers to “differentiate.” It’s not until they get into the upper middle school grades and high school that we start accommodating the gifted learners with honors and AP classes — and then those classes get watered down, too, because by then our students are used to being spoon-fed. That in a nutshell is what is lowering our overall national achievement levels. We are watering down lower grade curriculum to the lowest common denominator so more children can pass the bar, and that lowered bar ends up matriculating, even to higher level classes later. We need to go back to ability level grouping for reading and math at the elementary level and let students really achieve!
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“We” don’t stick our head in the sand – “We” do what we are mandated to do. “We” don’t like it any better than the parents, but “we” have no control over the matter.
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I think it’s great she had a public school to return to, but I’m not sure people should continue to take the existing public system for granted. It’s not an unchanging back-up standing at the ready. That isn’t how systems work. The time for taking public schools as a given because we all grew up with them is over. They can’t be considered just a back-stop to the “choice” schools. They won’t survive, and more than they they have value apart from that role.
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“What we have found at BASIS is that only the strongest survive.”
Or the most obedient. The most obsessed. The best Trivial Pursuit players. Not really the “strongest”. The strongest are the ones who can look at that school, realize it is not education in any real sense, and get the heck out.
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Is this not what happens at public schools also? The high school dropout rates are atrocious as well.
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All valid points that correspond to the lack or absence of electives and PE in many charter schools. That’s a really bad omission since kids need activities outside of academics that they enjoy. The things that previously United the student body like sports, music, dance are missing from this charter model. Everything now is individual achievement and self advancement. It’s rather cold and destructive of school culture and unity.
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My son attends BASIS in Goodyear and he has 40 minutes of PE every day. He also has a specials area every day. Music, Art, Theater, Connections, and Engineering. Plus, he has Mandarin and sports are also available, so I don’t understand why the author didn’t discuss these things?
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Please see my comment below. I didn’t discuss these because once your child reaches the upper school grades they cannot take all those classes. Please check the BASIS curriculum in the handbook. Starting in 5th grade they only have a 25 minute lunch. Also, staring in grade 7 they can only take two electives, one is a language which is required and the other is either band, art, orchestra, theatre, or PE.
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Yeah well both of you are wrong. Students get to sit at their desks for the entire day from dawn till dusk, and you don’t get a “few” hours of homework. That is absolute nonsense, You only get one elective now days yet art teachers/music teachers are treated like minimum wage workers. You life will SUCK at this school. Let’s end the lie that the admin. cares. They don’t “care”. If they did care, then they would give us more time with friends, more electives. If they “care”, then why would they take over 50% of club funding. I will say this one time and one time only, your child will suffer at the hands of BASIS. For your child’s mental health I beg you not to support such nonsense.
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BTW, this: “All those after school clubs…well it’s great if you can afford them.”
Is it standard practice for public schools (or allegedly “public” schools like BASIS) to charge for extra-curriculars? I mean beyond things like uniforms and travel costs?
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Pay to play is pretty common. We have a sliding scale fee here. One school board member fought it hard because he thought it would harm lower income students, but he lost. He did get the concession on the sliding scale though. The other option was “donations” but they didn’t want a public program perceived as charity for some students.
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Interesting: “…they didn’t want a public program perceived as charity for some students.”
But it’s okay for this “public” program to be only for those who can afford it. I understand the need for fee based programs, but refusing donations because they didn’t want the program perceived as a charity?! Is that warped or what?
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At BASIS we had to pay $50 for the Leadership club that met once a week for 20 minutes. We paid $55 for Yearbook club and still had to pay full price for the yearbook. We paid around $60 for a steam club, the list goes on and on. I believe the high cost of clubs was to pay for the teachers who oversaw them. At the end of the school year the kids had to do a one week project. This was after finals and AP’s. Each student had to pay a fee for this project. We paid, I believe, a $60 fee for our student to watch Harry Potter movies. Some of these projects cost up to $200. Every child was mandated to choice a project and pay they fee. We were told if they did not do it they could not pass. Now that my son is in a public school he has a much wider choice of clubs including Model UN, Programming, Jazz Band, so many more than what was ever offered at BASIS. Not one club cost over $5 and many meet during the common hour so students do not need to stay after school to belong to a club.
I could go on and on about what happened to us over the pass two years. The amount of stress put on these students was ridiculous. In my post I didn’t mention how every marking period my sons grades were incorrect. He was always a straight A, top 5% student yet no one thought to flag his report card when they saw a low grade? It was up to us to fight every marking period and produce every piece of paper showing what his grade actually was. I had to keep a grade book at home to ensure he was given the grades he earned. Many times he would miss the ‘awards ceremony” because they couldn’t fix his report card in time. The school made such a bid deal out of these ceremonies telling the kids “this is what you should strive to be” parading around the top performers, yet do little to help the kids who are struggling. Also, who knows how many other kids had incorrect grades? It wasn’t until I started telling other parents to watch out for incorrect grades did more people realize their kids weren’t doing as poorly as they believed.
BASIS expects only the best from their students, excellence always but they do not give them the necessary tools to succeed. You have to be a self learner because your kids are teaching themselves so much of the material at home. Also, BASIS does not require excellence from their teachers. I’ll have to write another post giving details on all the teachers. There were some amazing ones but unfortunately the unqualified and non-english speaking teachers were the norm, not the exception.
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“His Language Arts class consists of weekly packets that are not gone over in class yet the kids are expected to complete them on their own at home and then take the unit exam at the end of the week.”
Why would anyone consider a program excellent that handed out packets for self teaching? This school sounds like it has turned test prep into an art form.
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That’s odd because as soon as my son’s grade dropped below a 70% I was notified via email right away by the Dean of Students, and he was put in “student hours” after school.
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My son just got accepted in Basis Mesa. He is in 3rd grade. I am,still confused about whether he goes to that school or not? Please give me your honest opinion about it. How was your experience? Do they get too much home work in 3rd grade? How are the teacher Over there? I heard mix comments so please help me out?
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“Pay-to-play” fees for sports and clubs is not allowed in NYS schools.
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What’s happened in my public school is more subtle but it’s just as bad. They cut funding for “extras” (like music) and that means my youngest is getting much less time with a music teacher than his three older sibs did. Since the remaining teacher can’t possibly (IMO) handle all those kids, and I want him to actually learn the instrument since he’s spending time on it, I (like many parents) added private lessons. Since we have 50% lower income in his school, that of course means that the kids who can afford the private lessons get the best slots in band. They progress faster.
This stuff ripples. Every time they move a piece in a complex system a bunch of other pieces also move and the idea that they will all magically move in a win/win direction is delusional.
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Nancy Davis: heartfelt thanks for an insider’s look at a charter school.
You bring up so many critical points. I touch, briefly and less skillfully than you, on just a few.
1), I much appreciate you stating explicitly that there are “many dedicated teachers and administrators who truly care about the students, but whose hands are tied by the sheer volume of information they need to cover in a particular year.” In other words, the entire set-up is guaranteed to produce (as Anthony Cody put it in his 2014 book) “efficiency without excellence” or as you put it, a learning experience that is an inch deep and a mile wide.
2), Riffing off my first point, your sober account reveals another fundamental aspect of the entire rheephorm approach to teaching and learning: it’s about serving the interests of a few adults at the expense of the vast majority of those involved, students & parents and school staff. Look at it from this angle: in order to ensure $tudent $ucce$$ for the few, the entire system must produce the “outputs” that guarantee ROI [whether openly in a for-profit or masked as in a non-profit] even when it is obvious that the students are getting what I (my words, not yours) would argue starts to become a caricature of a well-rounded and enriched education.
3), Again, a form of educational triage that turns the whole notion of service to children and communities upside down: use limited resources to ensure the survival of the ‘already fittest’ and shed those pesky ‘test score suppressors’ [Michael J Petrill’s “non-strivers” and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “uneducables”) so that the adults in charge can parade around their “successes” at public events. I stop here because my feelings about those adults would be inappropriate for this blog and would violate it’s very sensible Rules of the Road.
Again, thank you for your comments.
😎
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Our 3 grandkids are in Chandler schools, 5th, 8th and h.s. The schools are excellent. One thing that may be overlooked re charters: my wife and I drove out way east in the East Valley. Huge charter schools are springing up all over. I would suggest the religious element is part of that growth and that would raise the question of what is going on in charters, receiving public money, that so attracts people looking for a religious environment. I taught for 5 years in a Catholic school with a similar drive, but most of the students came from middle class homes and had gone to Catholic grade schools and so were prepared for the grind. In many chats with the students, many expressed dissatisfaction with the pace and content and some teachers even complained to me, “I thought we were supposed to be a Christian school.” OTOH, the school offered the things that the BASIS parent complains are lacking.
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A mile wide and an inch deep describes the rheeformers.
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Well, it’s kind of ironic because that’s their own selling point for Common Core – it’s supposed to allow students to explore subject matter deeply and meaningfully, rather than a mile long and an inch deep. Supposed to.
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Many California public school teachers were required to teach like that before Common Core – particularly when the NCLB standards first arrived 18 years ago and we had to push the kids up to whatever the “Advanced” level might be. The standards changed constantly, sometimes three times a year in various subjects until it all settled down.
Our District required us to hang posters of the standards for all the subjects on our walls. I had to check mark the standards as we met them and put up student work as evidence. I had a line of yarn that connected the evidence to the standard. An administrator was supposed to be able to come in at any time and check our progress. At 10 pm, after all I had to do, I’d be up on a stepladder stretching the yarn to the paper, wishing I were home.
We just loved it when a new poster would arrive in our teacher mailbox, reflecting new changes to the standards. Now we had to readjust everything for that subject again.
It was impossible to meet all of them the first few years, but we sure tried. We had to teach up a storm – and it was all counterproductive. Only the top 20% of the class really benefitted.
The best thing about Common Core is that the standards are far less specific than the standards we were expected to follow in California. We are allowed to meet the standard as we best see fit and we can have fun getting there. Good teaching wins.
I think the strict adherence to standards may have started the whole Charter movement – particularly in California. But now it sounds as if we are reversing roles.
It shouldn’t be so ridiculously difficult to get education right.
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Common core? Haha that has been failing and everyone hates it! Bill Gates finds it yet his children don’t learn common core. They also don’t get vaccines but that’s for another discussion. Children at a young age can quickly learn a foreign language through memory much quicker then an adult. That is why it’s a mile long and an inch deep; to get math facts memorized quickly and To use later on to calculate things quickly and easily. Have you seen the common core method of subtraction and grouping? That a riot. So idiotic! Let’s take and nitpick to death, a simple subtraction problem that could be done on a minute with carrying, by grouping and counting ten sticks! You are wasting kids fast growing neurons and time! They can better understand that with time and age! It’s comes automatically! The sad truth is common core has failed and you drank the Kool Aid.
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There is a for-profit BASIS in Brooklyn now. I wonder if the curriculum is similar, or if they modify it so that upper middle class parents who can afford their tuition aren’t turned off. (The tuition is about half of what most NYC private schools charge, so presumably they are willing to wait a while before turning a profit). I can’t imagine many parents would spend that much for a private school as described.
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My child has had a very different experience at Basis than what was described. Because they start the children at high school level classes in 6th grade, the kids get to take a class for 2 years before they take the AP test in that subject. That is the case with every single AP class. Therefore, there is much more time to go into the subject deeply to really know and understand it, rather than having to learn it all in one year as all other high schools do. My child’s world view has broadened significantly since moving to Basis. People (away from the school) have often commented at what insightful observations my child makes and wonder how he can be so wise at such a young age. It is because of the core knowledge he is learning there, he can connect things in so many subjects to real life. Most children are capable, if the schools wouldn’t waste the middle grades.
I have had some frustration with the amount of turnover of staff at the school. It seems like it has been used a stepping stone in advancing the careers of many who walk through its doors. There have been a couple of teachers who were not up to par with the rest. But most of them are excellent. I feel like it’s a process of ironing out the wrinkles that seem to happen with any newly opened schools. I can say with confidence that this school year already has improved MUCH over the past 2 years. My son rarely has homework as he is able to complete it during the study hall that each student has daily. I do try to have him study for about a half hour each evening. This is enough to keep him at mostly A’s with a couple high B’s.
As for the previous comment regarding the end of the year projects, there are projects that are free. She may not have liked those choices, but a fee based project to pass is NOT a requirement. I feel that is worth stating, since that was misrepresented. Also the person who stated there are no electives at Basis, is obviously ignorant of the program. They strongly believe in the arts and is one of the reasons I do not want my student to change to a closer school. The caliber of art he is learning there, far beats anything that is offered near me in any public or charter I have researched. I wish I could find a school closer to me that could offer as much as my child is getting from Basis, because I really hate the commute. I don’t think a school should just teach to the test. If my son ever experiences anything like what the original writer describes, I will strongly consider leaving the school as well, but luckily, that is not the experience we have had so far.
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Although most of your “corrections” are true, there is one in particular I had to respond to. I had two boys in a BASIS school. One left after 9th grade, and 3 total years. The other is still there, currently in 8th grade, and preparing to exit for high school. My oldest son was very advanced in math and science. So much so that he was amongst approximately 5 other 9th graders to take Honors Physics. However, that wasn’t enough to “make a class”. Therefore, they were forced to take AP Physics that year. There was nothing we could do about it, except for transferring sciences, which my son didn’t want to do. There is a track you must complete with the sciences, in order to complete them all, and one at an AP level. My current BASIS student’s math teacher, just stopped coming in. This is not an isolated incident. It has happened several times per year. It is extremely disruptive and nerve-wrecking for veteran parents, as we know the pre-comps and comprehensive finals are brutal and need plenty of preparation. Second point: my children were almost always overloaded with homework. It amazes me when a BASIS parent says their child completed their homework in school. Let’s see, 30 math problems, AP History DBQs, English Daily Grams, Mandarin or Latin Vocab, a literature chapter reading with annotations, maybe some economics and/or logic, an art project to keep on top of, Jazz band practice, chemistry, physics, and biology worksheets EVERYDAY! And, if you don’t have homework, you should be reviewing for a test in SOMETHING! I’ll let everyone reading this make their own judgment call on that. Anyway, I actually believe it’s hard to find a GOOD middle school program in Az, and BASIS was the only answer for us, as my boys needed the advanced math classes at a young age. I have no regrets, but the faults are REAL!
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Yes We do have a lots of homework and tests at Basis
But is that what the students suppose to learn ! I have 2 children as well at Basis and they are younger
They skipped grades before entering Basis and they are doing fine and most important enjoy the challenge
The problem is parents expect the school and teachers to spoon feed their children
Only in America where parents have that mentality
Other children at any other countries study harder than our children in America especially in Asian countries
As parents our jobs are to support the children not to spoon feed them
Any where in the world physics chemistry and biology are taught as individual classes at young age and the classes get harder with grades
Only in America these subjects are taught in high school to students who have never been exposed to any of these subjects in depth before
Basis have the classes starting 6th grade building up to high school which is wonderful
If you feel the school is not for your children then transfer out but don’t blame the school advanced curriculum
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BASIS Mother, the complaint about Basis is not that students work too hard, but that the school has a very high attrition rate, that it doesn’t serve all kids, just the ones it wants, and that its owners make millions of dollars each year in profit by selling their own schools goods and services. When you write again, please address the profiteering of this charter chain. Its greatest success consists of pushing kids with low scores out and making big bucks for the owners.
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Ever since I posted about BASIS, which US News says has some of the best high schools in the nation, without remarking on their very high attrition rate, their expectation that all students will take AP courses, and the fact that the owners of the for-profit charter chain make millions from them, I have gotten a steady stream of letters from anonymous people claiming to be parents at these schools. They do not mention the attrition rate or the for-profit charter of the schools. But they strongly defend the schools because their high-achieving child is doing just fine.
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I would first like to point out that if you actually knew anything about the BASIS curriculum you would know that AP Physics in 9th grade is quite common, I took it in 9th grade, and that the reason they didn’t offer honors physics is because there was no longer a need to, because starting in the 2013-2014 school year the College Board scrapped AP Physics B and broke it up into AP Physics 1 and 2, each covering about half of the curriculm of AP Physics B. The only reason BASIS offered honors physics was to be able to teach AP Physics B over two years so it was more manageable, meaning even if your child had taken honors physics it still would have been AP curriculum. And this isn’t uncommon at BASIS AP Chemistry and AP World History are also taught over two years so the students can gain a better understanding of the subjects rather than just rushing to cover all of the curriculum in one year. It is also not like your child would have been taking an AP in a subject he had never learned, in 6th, 7th and 8th grade BASIS teaches physics covering many of the topics in the AP curriculum. To address your second point, yes there can be alot of homework at times but what you are saying seems very exaggerated, and if it isn’t that is due to the teacher and not BASIS. I am also a student at BASIS, I go to BASIS Chandler, I have gone there since sixth grade and am currently a junior, what you are saying about homework has never been my experience. Some nights the teacher do give alot of homework or I have at MAX two tests to study for but these are things that are manageable if you learn to properly budget time. But I am no strange to some long nights of doing homework however these are things that are unavoidable if you take advanced classes at any school, I have friends at public schools taking half as many APs as me but they have twice as much homework. So once again I am saying you should not be blaming the amount of homework on BASIS but the nature of advanced courses of study and maybe someone the teaching style of the teacher. Also I dont know why you are saying economics and/or logic because those two courses aren’t taken in the same year unless for some reason your particular BASIS school offers logic as an elective, but then if thats the case it was your childs own choice to take both and this is the same thing with your statement about latin and mandarin homework because as for as I am aware there is no way to take both courses at the same time, this is unless you are combine both of your childrens homework loads but in that case you are misrepresenting the actual homework load.
For any parents considering sending their children to BASIS, I highly recommend doing so, so long as not only the child but the parents too are willing to put in the effort to achieve a higher level of learning. And if you are concerned about the homework load I can personally attest that homework rarely ever interferes with my ability to do activities outside of school. I myself am able to do my homework, study for my regular school work, study for Academic Decatholon, participate in Boy Scouts and work on my Eage projects and still have time to relax and hangout with friends. If at first you have a hard time doing all the activities you want to just know that you will eventually learn to balance it all it just takes time.
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This is the exact type of student that corporations want for the future. a person, who knows very little about current affairs, and will do what they are told. The corporations and government want the kind of person that ws pictured in the original Apple ads. Follow orders, obey, don’t think!
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Its not the schools job to teach about current affairs, religions, politics, or values it’s yours! But many adults are lazy and expect someone else to raise their kid. Look at the mess this has caused.
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My son is in first grade at BASIS in Goodyear, and I disagree with several points in this article. I agree that spending too much time on homework is not good for a child. But, here’s what I realize as a parent and as a teacher myself. Homework only counts as 10% of his grade. So, if we don’t get it done because we have more important things to do, then I don’t stress over it. I know a grade in a class does not tell me how smart my child is. I know what level his is on, so I just take the report cards in stride. Parents need to realize that tests and grades are just snapshots of a point in time. I know for a fact that my son’s class does not just do worksheets and packets all day. His teacher sends home a syllabus with what they are learning in school, including links to websites where I can find practice to help him with at home. After all, this is my job as a parent to continue teaching him at home, as I have done since he was born. He knew his alphabet when he was 1 because we played with foam letters in the bathtub, and I have always made learning fun for him. I don’t rely solely on the school to do all of the teaching, and I think that is the main problem with education nowadays. Parents just send their kids to school in Kindergarten, and expect the school to teach them their ABC’s. No, your child should know them BEFORE they come to kindergarten. Parents need to make sure their child understand what kind of behavior is expected as well. They should know what a time-out means. Expecting the school to be your child’s only source of academics or behavior coach has never worked It, and never will. My parents taught me at home, along with the school, as partners in my education. This is one thing I like about BASIS. The teachers are in constant communication and I know exactly what my child is learning in school. Second, I would like to mention that my son has PE every day for 40 minutes. In the public school I work at, kids have 30 minutes of PE for a total of 35 days out of the 180 days in school. On top of that, my son has a different special every day – Music, Art, Theater, Connections, and Engineering. I feel it is a perfect balance between academics and specials. Last week in his Connections class they had to bring an old stuffed animal to mummify it. I bought an old one at Goodwill for 99 cents. He was able to come home and tell me all about mummies because of this awesome hands-on project. He’s built bridges in engineering, and acted out the Three Little Bears in theater class. Most importantly, when I pick my child up from school every day, he is so excited and says that he had “the best day ever!”. So for now, my perspective of BASIS is very different from what this parents says. I could name a million things wrong with the public school I work in, but I won’t. I am thankful for BASIS as an option. Luckily, the author of this posts happens to live in Chandler District, which is mostly an excelling district. I wonder if they might feel differently if they lived in the district where I live and work.
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I have my Ed.D in education. I was a NYC inner city school teacher for 20 years. I was in some of the worst districts in the city. Our goal, was as always, to teach and elevate our students as much as possible. We knew many of these kids had to take care of their younger siblings when they got home or had to work to help support the family. There was no teaching going on at home and we were not going to punish the students for something they had no control over.
As far as BASIS, not every student has parents at home. Many have parents who both work. They do not have the time to teach their children the lessons that should have been taught in school. Other parents have language barriers that prevent them from helping their children.The lower grades are much different than the upper grades. Parents who wish to help have no problem with the elementary curriculum. The 5-12 is another story. Also, every BASIS is different. There are no standards across the board for grades 5-12. Teachers have complete control as to what and how they teach. And it varies from school to school. The kids are required to take pre-comps and comps that are made by all the teachers in all the BASIS schools. Last year, for the Language Arts, for example, the BASIS Mesa teacher didn’t realize that the pre-comp was based on grammar. She hadn’t taught any. Half of the exam had to discounted for the kids because so many parents complained that it wasn’t fair that their students were tested on something that was not taught. After the pre-comps, the school changed the original grammar book that was purchased and never used at the start of the year and never told the parents. Instead of letting us know, and having us buy the books, the kids were given packets copied from the new book. The teacher then, mid way through the year, gave them all the work she had missed for the first have of the year within a month. My degree is in Language Arts, so it was no problem for my child. I taught him all the grammar that he didn’t already know. The other students didn’t fair as well.
The teachers were not in constant communication with the students or families. Once again, the elementary is very different form the 5-12 grades. Everything you stated has nothing to do with the 5-12 grades. My son was reading at age 2. He has an iq of 150 and he has parents who have been actively involved with his education from preschool. BASIS was not too difficult for him. We took him out due to the ridiculous volume of work the students are expected to do with very little teacher involvement. Also, the fact that every marking period his grades were inaccurate, test questions were unanswerable and the constant revolving door of teachers and administrators was not acceptable.
A department chair in History, for example, from ASU had his child at the same BASIS as my child. He too removed his daughter from BASIS due to the same issues I have listed. He told me that the amount of work his 6th grade daughter was doing in the 6th grade World History class was more than his graduate students are required to do. Also, the amount of details they had to learn was totally unnecessary for AP’s or even college level classes. As I stated, life is short and there is so much more to life and education than just doing packet work and memorizing facts. Once the students reach the upper grades all creativity is left behind. Stress is at an all-time high. I do not live in the Chandler district but I don’t mint driving my child to a school that believes in excellence in education and balance in life.
In the upper grades your child will not have PE. That ends in 6th grade. PE is an elective in 7th grade so if they want to take band or art as an elective they cannot take PE. Also, lunch in the upper grades is only 25 minutes long. That includes recess time. Please check what the upper school schedule is like.
Your child, as is my child, are fortunate to have parents like us who are partners in their education. As you know, form where you teach, not every child has that blessing. BASIS does nothing to help the less fortunate child. I know, for a fact, that they coach kids out of the school who are underperforming and will not help families who are economically challenged to pay for the myriad of fees charged or everything from books to extracurricular activities.
Once final note, you should also check into the finances of BASIS schools. All the money that is donated to the Annual Teacher Fund does not go to teacher bonuses. I know that last year the Chandler BASIS school were in the midst of a battle with BASIS because it was discovered that some of the money was being used to pay for AP exams. Also, BASIS Schools are each non-profit that are owned by the parent company BASIS Ed. which is a for profit corporation. The owners higher the teachers then “rent” the teachers out to the schools. Furthermore, they have been investigated more than once for their unconventional bookkeeping practices. The owners farm all their financials out to the wife’s relatives in the Czech Republic. There is little transparency when it comes to the schools and corporations financials.
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Sorry for the typos. I was typing from my phone. Hope the meaning in my message cam across. 🙂
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Looks like I can’t win the battle of the typos! 🙂
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@ Penny, on a side note in reference to your own teaching styles you stated “Parents just send their kids to school in Kindergarten, and expect the school to teach them their ABC’s. No, your child should know them BEFORE they come to kindergarten.” I’m not sure what exactly you meant by this comment. Are you stating that you look down on kids who come into school not knowing their ABC’s. What would you do with kids who didn’t already know all you think they should? The sign of a great school is one that can teach the children who are hardest to teach. My son will excel at any school he is at. He will always be in the gifted/honors/AP programs because he is a certified genius and he has parents that are involved. The sign of an amazing school is one whose teachers can take the children who are disadvantaged and teach them. Teachers who can excite children and motivate them to learn. The kids who end up graduating from BASIS schools are the top of the top and would be, as my child is, at any school.
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First, and foremost, let me address your statement about “looking down” on children who come to school not knowing their ABC’s. The answer to that is NO, never would I look down on those kids. I do however, look down on their parents. If they were not ready to be parents and take on the full responsibility that comes with being a parent, then they should have never had kids in the first place. That is a huge problem in our society today, and that is the point I was trying to make. Second, you said that BASIS does nothing to help struggling kids? What about the support hours that are basically the same as free tutoring? As soon as my son’s grade dropped in Mandarin to a 67%, I got an email that he was signed up for free after school tutoring, so I don’t see how you can say they don’t offer extra help for those struggling. As for a few of your other points, the public schools do the exact same thing, or have the exact same problem. For example, errors in grades and report cards. I see it every grading period at my school. High teacher turnover rate – big problem at my district and across the state. Teachers having control over how they teach – in my school we practically rewrite the lesson plans over every year. Sure teachers collaborate, but they end up doing what they want in their own classrooms because the books are basically useless. PE is also an elective at the K-8 school I work at for 6-8th grades, so technically, a student could choose not to have PE after 5th grade – nothing different than BASIS. The annual teacher fund? – I don’t pay a dime into that, and never had an issue with it. Financial issues? – same in some of the public schools. “Only the strong survive” at BASIS? – have you seen the dropout rates of our public high schools? Talk about only the strong survive… Current affairs and community service? – Not any better in the public schools, and some districts are even against community service because it is looked on as a form of “slavery.” Teachers at BASIS don’t know how to motivate students because they don’t have experience? – same problem in public schools; a lot of inexperienced teachers and what’s worse, they actually have a license to teach. Excessive amounts of work to teach, and too little time? – have you see Common Core standards?? And they are lucky to get 25 minutes to eat. At my school, kids get 20 minutes and that includes waiting in a very long line to get your free and reduced meal. Kids scarf down meals in under 5 minutes. And, what would you suggest to parents who have geniuses as children but can’t afford to drive their child 50 minutes across town to the wonderful Chandler District? I live in the West Valley. I’m just saying, it wouldn’t be so easy for some parents to say I’m going to take my genius child out of BASIS and put them in a district that is rated a C or a B. Would those teachers really have time to differentiate for my genius child when they have so many others that are struggling? No, what happens is, my child ends up helping out the teacher by teaching groups of kids, or he spends half the day laying his head down on his desk while the teacher tries to get control of the classroom. And forget about a genius child being enriched…the gifted program has been cut in half. I guess I just don’t buy your argument about why you are taking your child out of BASIS and enrolling them in a public school. That implies that public schools are better than BASIS. I don’t buy your argument about excessive amounts of homework interfering with life balance; when homework is only 10% of the grade. Why stress over it if it’s only 10% of the grade? If your child can learn something quickly and do well on the test, why stress over homework that barely even counts? Does this homework policy of only counting as 10% of their grade change in the 5-8 grades? If not, then I don’t really see your reasoning for taking him out of BASIS for “a better balance of school and life outside of school.” At our house, we too realize that “life is short and there’s more to life than studying 24/7”. That’s why, if we have those important “life” things going on, we just don’t do the homework that night. But, I wish you well in the public school system. I have no doubt your genius will do fine in the Chandler District.
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We obviously will never agree on BASIS but there are some things that I still question in your comments:
You state, “I do however, look down on their parents. If they were not ready to be parents and take on the full responsibility that comes with being a parent, then they should have never had kids in the first place.”
I think that’s a broad, blanket generalization of a statement where you are making a lot of assumptions about parents. By what standard are you measuring these parents readiness and who is ever truly ready? I can’t imagine passing such judgments on another when I haven’t lived their life.
You state, ‘BASIS does nothing to help struggling kids? What about the support hours that are basically the same as free tutoring?”
As I stated, I know nothing about the elementary school. In the upper school teachers will only meet with students during their scheduled “student hours”. Those student hours are only for one hour at a time, one to two hours per week. In the upper school these hours were so packed with students who were struggling that the teachers never had enough time to work with all the students. At the BASIS my son went to parents were spending enormous amounts of money paying outside tutors. Another problem is that what is implemented in one BASIS may not be implemented in another BASIS due to the lack of continuity from school to school. At my sons public school teachers are available before and after school. There is also a school wide, common, conference hour where mandatory tutoring is given to at risk students. The time can also be used to ask teachers questions or get extra help. This helps carpool kids who may not be able to get to school early or stay late.
You state, ““Only the strong survive” at BASIS? – have you seen the dropout rates of our public high schools?”
Dropout rates in public school have historically been high for a myriad of reasons, many connected to the socioeconomic pressures of the area the school is located. A high school in a upper middle income to upper income neighborhood has a much lower drop out rate than a high school in a lower income area. That being said, almost every BASIS school is located in upper income areas and yet the attrition rate is far higher than the schools in those areas. Please check CBS 5’s investigative report titled “BASIS schools fights criticism, works to increase student retention”. Also, just google it. You will see many articles and news pieces speaking on how BASIS numbers look good on paper but that it’s actually due to what I have stated, only the best choose to stay and those kids would be the best anywhere. Also, check out Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Hamilton HS in Chandler, Red Mountain and Mesa, and other public HS’s across the valley. All of them have comparisons of their top students SAT and AP scores to those of charter school in their area and all of them outscored the BASIS schools. When you isolate the numbers of the top performing students from many of Arizona’s High Schools they are ahead of the BASIS kids. The problem with just looking at numbers that BASIS puts out is that they don’t tell the whole story. Public Schools have to service all students, not just the best. Public schools have to deal with children on all academic levels and economic backgrounds. BASIS, in the upper school, weeds these kids out and coaches the to leave.
If a student fails even just one comp exam at the end of the year BASIS forces them to retake the comp at the end of the summer. No summer school or help is offered. If they fail it again, they must repeat the grade or leave the school.
You state: “Current affairs and community service? – Not any better in the public schools, and some districts are even against community service because it is looked on as a form of “slavery.”
I’m not sure what to make of this statement. I can’t imagine any school district looking at community service as a form or “slavery”. How can anyone make a connection of serving the greater good to one of the darkest periods in our history? I would suggest you check what colleges admissions are looking for in their applicants. Outside of outstanding academics and meaningful extracurricular activities they are looking for how the student will make the world a better place,how they can contribute to the community of the college, and what community service the student had done during his high school years.
You state: “have you see Common Core standards??”
the ex-CEO of Intel, Craig Barrett, a principal founder in BASIS schools is the chairman for the Common Core movement. Please look him up. He is one of the spearheads of Common Core, so to answer your question, yes, I’m well versed with the Common Core standards. Craig Barrett spoke about at length when he visited our BASIS campus.
As far as all your general statements about public schools, you’re correct. As in all aspects of life, there are some great schools and teachers, some not so great schools that have great teachers, some not so great teachers, etc. That is life. Public School districts have to deal with thousands of students from very diverse backgrounds. BASIS schools only have to deal with a fraction of what public schools have to deal with. My point is that since the BASIS schools claim they are the best of the best, that they only hire the best teachers, have the best classes, and on and on, they should be able to deliver. BASIS does not. The teachers are not the best, their curriculum has gapping holes in the Language Arts and math areas, and the kids aren’t able to be involved in meaningful extracurricular activities that are school based. There is a revolving door of both teachers and administrators at BASIS far greater than at any public school I’ve seen or have been involved with in over my 20 years in the education field. BASIS refused to let students use technology in the classrooms. They also refuse to use any online apps which always students and parents access to grades. Yes, there are times that grades are not correct in the public schools but for a school like BASIS that claims to be the best, every marking period should not be riddled with incorrect grades. Even the grades on the midterms were incorrect. You would think after it happening once or twice someone would start double checking why so many grades were incorrect. This was not only happening with my child but across the board and continues to this day.
My son now has a real performing arts center, multiple levels of band including jazz and marching band, and the art program by far exceeds anything BASIS had. His school has real band rooms, art studios and performing art rooms. This year, he belongs to the Model UN, Academic Decathlon, Programming Club, and Student Council – which by the way, BASIS has ban because they felt the students were becoming too empowered and they didn’t want to encourage that kind of independent thinking. They did not like students questioning school practices so they put an end to student council some years ago. Also, he has access to a much wider range of clubs.
Finally, in reference to the homework. It doesn’t matter if the homework is worth 0%, 10%, or 100%. We have taught our child that you complete all your work, all the time, to best of your ability, so not finishing homework is not an option. Also, much of the homework assigned is work the teachers couldn’t cover in class so if it’s not done at home he would be missing out on information he needed. Furthermore, we never want him to think that he should be exempt from doing assigned work. All the students are equal and all should complete work assigned to them. It’s not a matter of what it is worth, it’s a matter of him understanding that whenever he is given an assignment it must be completed. The teacher took the time to create and give it to them and feels it’s necessary in their learning so it should be completed. My problem is the sheer volume of homework was excessive and unnecessary. As an educator I could see that he could have learned the same information with half the work. Please look up the research on homework standards and best practices. There is much research on the topic and this reading will better help you understand the problem. Endless hours of homework is prevent be ineffective to your child’s education and learning experience.
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Penny N wrote:
“I do however, look down on their parents. If they were not ready to be parents and take on the full responsibility that comes with being a parent, then they should have never had kids in the first place. That is a huge problem in our society today, and that is the point I was trying to make.”
That says it all about her attitude.
Pat Barrett
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pbarret – you don’t believe in Planned Parenthood?
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Nancy – I have been an educator for 10+ years. I know about homework standards and practices. We will just have to agree to disagree about homework. We have different views about it, and that’s OK.
Not all BASIS schools are located in “rich” areas. I have visited the one in Central Phoenix, and the one in Goodyear is located in a low to middle income area.
Pertaining to what I have read about community service and some believing it’s a form of slavery, see the links below. The first article came out in educationworld back in 1997. The second article came out in 2013 that shows what they predicted in 1997 about community service is most likely true.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr037.shtml
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/08/21/01volunteer_ep.h33.html
And, I don’t think that believing in Planned Parenthood makes me a bad person. It is a fact that this is an issue for our country. Over the course of my teaching career in low income schools, I’ve had 14-year-old students get pregnant, lose the baby because they were beaten up, and then get pregnant again. I’ve had students who have up to 10 siblings living in a house with little to no parent supervision. I’ve had students who have come home to find their mom passed away on the couch from a drug overdose as their little brothers played near her. I’ve had students who revealed bruises to me caused by their abusive parents, and called CPS many times. I’ve had students bring weapons to school that they got because a parent did not lock it away. I’ve had parent teacher conferences with parents who have “f*ck you” tattooed on their eyelids. I’ve had students who joined the gang their parent was involved in. And, I’ve also gotten in my car late at night, and brought food to students who told me they were hungry. Why don’t they have food? Because their parent spent all the money on drugs. I’ve bought clothes for students who live in the group home. But most of all, I’ve given them what so many of their parents couldn’t provide, basic care, love, and learning. So, yes, maybe I have a different perspective (or attitude as pbarrett puts it) on some parents than others because I see the results of their bad decisions affecting “my kids” (what I call my students). As a teacher, I touch these precious little lives every day and give them the best I’ve got, as do all of the other teachers I work with.
Like I said before, your son will do well in the Chandler District and I’m happy for you. But for some parents, we don’t have that choice to rely on an A-rated district that is within driving distance. And, for some parents in the west valley, BASIS and other schools like it are our only hope, especially if our child is advanced or “certified geniuses” as yours is.
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Penny:
In reference to the first article you linked from education world the title is “Community Service: Opportunity or Exploitation?” with a subtitle of “What about mandatory community service programs in schools? Are they a wonderful opportunity or are they “slave labor” for students? “ This article is actually pro-community service. Here are some quotes form the article:
“Proponents — including President Clinton and former President Bush — say participating in community service builds character, teaches civic responsibility, opens doors to career possibilities, looks good on college applications and resumes, and often provides services for communities they otherwise might not have. It also can help students focus on their goals.”
“One study shows that girls who are involved in community service are less likely to get pregnant and less likely to fail in school. “
The article goes on to quote kids stating how much they have learned from community service and how happy they are. One kid was also quoted as saying this: “Schoolwork is slavery,” says one student. “This is fun.”
The only mention of involuntary servitude was this “When Goldsmith tells these students about the lawsuits against mandatory community service, which argued that compulsory service amounted to involuntary servitude, they’re surprised.”
The whole article is about how beneficial community service is and how no one can understand why anyone would have a problem with it.
The next article you linked, from Education Work does not equate service to slavery either. It speaks about a who different issue that may occur, as it did in Maryland, when mandated volunteering led, in some cases to a reduction of overall volunteering hours. It’s a discussion on the possibility that if you mandate or tie the curriculum service hours it may cause less volunteering later in the students education career. I think you may have misread both articles and misinterpreted them. I could link many articles about the benefits of measured service but I think one could find them on their own.
Finally, I don’t know if you are aware of this, but once students are in National Junior Honor Society and National Honor Society they have a mandated mount of service hours. If they do not complete them they will be removed from the program. So, regardless of how you feel about it, if your child ends up in either one he will have to do mandated service.
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Once again Penny, sorry about the typos but on a phone it’s a rough going. I wish you and your child well at BASIS and hope it works out for you in the higher grades.
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One other thing I forgot to mention. It seems to me that you made a lot of excuses for parents not being able to teach their children their ABC’s, numbers 1-10 and colors before they start Kindergarten. I agree with you that lots of parents work 2 jobs, are single parents, etc…but they have FIVE years with their child before they enter kindergarten. If they wanted to, they could find the time somewhere in those 5 years to at least teach the ABC’s, IMO.
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At first you say BASIS does nothing to help struggling students, but then you admit that they do offer student hours (a.k.a “tutoring” in the public schools), which are for one hour after school for one to two days a week, free of charge. This does not seem like “nothing” to me.
BASIS teachers are available before and after school as well, just by appointment. I’m sure your public school teachers would also appreciate an appointment as well. And, hopefully, you are not relying on them full-time before and after school for free tutoring. That is unfair to the underpaid, overworked public school teachers. As for the “school-wide, common conference hour”, I can almost guarantee you those teachers are receiving a stipend to run that.
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Regarding the articles I linked. I PERSONALLY never said community service was slavery. I said that idea has been brought up by opponents of it in the public schools, as this statement in the first article suggests: “Opponents say it can interfere with learning the basics and holding part-time jobs, puts an unfair burden on students, that it’s the responsibility of parents to guide their children’s moral and ethical development, and that, at worst, mandatory service is no better than slave-labor.” Proof that some people feel this way. I never said I agreed with those opponents of it. If you google community service in schools and slavery, you will find tons of articles online where opponents suggested this idea, mostly back in the late 90’s. I well know the benefits of community service as my daughter volunteered at the local animal shelter in high school. I was just letting you know that SOME school districts will not do community service because of these ideas brought forth by opponents of it. And the second article proves that a recent study shows that mandatory volunteering lead to an overall reduction in volunteering. So, no, I did NOT misread or misunderstand these articles. They proved both points I was trying to make.
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The attrition rate for Arizona teacher turnover was 57% last year. Do you have any proof for your statement that BASIS has a higher turnover rate than that?
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Administrative Changes at BASIS Mesa:
School Opened in August of 2013. This school year, 2015-2016 will be it’s third year open.
Head of Schools:
Jill McConnell – Head Of Schools from August 2013 to January 2014. Only was the Head of School for less than one school year.
David Hubalik – Head of Schools from January 2014 to May of 2015. Was Head of Schools for One and a half school years.
Matt Fritzmiller – Head of Schools from July 2015 to present.
Head of Operations:
Cory Cyr – From pre-school opening in 2013 until August of 2013. Didn’t even last a semester.
David Hubalik – August 2013 till he became Head of Schools in 2014
Christine Garcia – January 2014 to November 2014 – Didn’t last a year
Christine Chicoine – January 2015 to present
School Directors:
Christopher Nelson – August 2013 to December 2013
Brian Jones – January 2013 to May 2015
Althea Anderson – May 2015 to September 2015
Jason Malloy – September 2015
In two school years BASIS Mesa has had four Head of Schools, four Head of Operations and four School Directors. These are the number 1, 2, and 3 of the school administration. What attrition rate is that? I could list the turnover of teachers but that would take too long!
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BASIS Mesa Update: On 9/22 I received several phone calls from parents. It appears that a Chemistry teacher for the 7th grade had not handed back any work to the kids the entire marking period. Now, at the end of the marking period she hands back all the semesters work; this includes exams. Students who thought they were doing well found out they were failing or near failing.
Part two of this story: The teacher, getting a lot of negative feedback from parents, sends out an email to all the parents. In said email she states that the kids are failing or have poor grades due to their terrible behavior in class. She goes on to further state that the students are unteachable due to their behavior and that there is no controlling them in class. Remember, this is a “Specialist” in her area. The woman has never taught.
The teacher then tells the students in class the next day that they were going to have one last exam of the marking period on a complete chapter that has not been covered in class. She went on to tell the students that they would have to learn it on their own and that it was their own fault she did not get to cover the material in class.
Part three of the story: This is truly unbelievable what happened next. The kids were told yesterday by administration that they were all getting “Extra Credit” in Chemistry. My friend, whose daughter had a low C in the class, ended up with an A! They added points to all the seventh grade students Chemistry grades. No one knows how they figured out how much to add. One kid had a 92 and ended up with 100%. It all seems arbitrary.
Beyond the ethical implications of grade fixing there also is the problem that these kids still have not learned the Chemistry work. BASIS gives pre-comps and finals. These exams are created outside of the school. The BASIS Mesa teachers do not create them. They can submit topics, but the test are based on what BASIS Ed. feels should have been covered. These kids will be missing, at the least, a whole section of Chemistry and from the sound of it, a lot more than that! Who inflates grades on a blanket level? That is not the sign of a great school. It’s not even a sign of a mediocre school. It’s cheating, and that’s unacceptable!
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Go to Valley of the Sun in Wikipedia and you’ll see the names of the many, many cities, municipalities, unincorporated areas, etc. in this areac called The Valley of the Sun or The Phoenix Area. My son worked in two charter schools and one on-line school; I worked in one public school and one private religious school; my wife worked in public schools (and both of us worked very, very briefly in a charter school). We can tell you all sorts of horror stories. All I can say is, if the story is horrible, it’s true. I don’t mean to single out charters, but, as Trump would say, they are truly horrible. Venal, incompetent, unprofessional, corrupt, downright obscene. I truly get tired of how we all try to make nice in the interest of avoiding lawsuits. And look, I’m a huge public school supporter, but there is all sorts of crap going on there, too. But the charter movement is a straight rip-off, and in another society, there would be jail time all around.
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A class action law suite is being started against BASIS Ed. due to its lack of accommodations for special education students. Please pass along this link to any parents who are interested in finally bringing BASIS Ed. schools to justice.
http://cloakinginequity.com
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Man I read a lot of this blog and I would just like to make a few observations. We all want our children to do well. We all love our children and wish them to have opportunity, safety and access to a good education. I note here that so many commenters go on and on about how gifted their child is, how their child would excel anywhere, their child is straight A across the board yada yada. It seems that sadly these parents are living vicariously through their children. Reminds me of the academic equivalent of the parent at the basketball game screaming and cursing at the coach or other team if they feel their (10 year old, destined to be a pro of course) child is not getting the ball enough. People need to chill the F out. Relax. Your kid doesn’t have to be the next Albert Einstein. I find this blog very intimidating with so many commenters stressing so much that THEIR child doesn’t have an issue, but someone else’s might. I just get the feeling that so many here just want to be able to brag to their peers “My child is learning Mandarin at age 5″…well how about “My child is learning how to be a decent open minded, educated, and loving person”?Thats far more important than learning Mandarin. There are no good public schools out here in Gold Canyon and as a child who experienced both public and private schools, I didn’t want my child in private school because there was far too much emphasis there on status and financial superiority. In my public school if I got into a fight with another student we fought about something….not playing fair at recess, or if we both liked the same girl etc…in the private school the kids were always making comments like “My dad drives a BMW and yours drives a Buick” “At least we don’t live in a shack” etc…I couldnt believe 10 year olds were bragging about their family’s financial status. Anyhow…my experience was the private schools were filled with way too many kids who were being taught at home that they were “better” than the poor kids, and the public schools out here are not acceptable IMO, so my Mathilda needs a charter school. I just don’t want her going somewhere where its all about who has the “best” kid. They are all good kids, until we as parents mess them up with our own insecurities and egocentrism.
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Sean, we must be reading different blogs. I haven’t seen much of that rhetoric here. The educators and parents here don’t brag about their children. This blog is about “a better education for all children,” not for a few.
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yeh we must be reading different blogs because several parents were lacing all of their comments with how incredible their children were…if you didnt see that you either do not read and comprehend well, or you are truly reading a different blog.
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Sean, I have read every one of the nearly 400,000 comments on this blog. Did someone boast about their child? It is possible. Is it typical? No. Most readers grapple with real-world problems. If you want to join the conversation in a civil manner, do so. If you want to insult the readers with your venom, go away.
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I am speaking the truth. If that is insulting sorry. How in the hell did u have time to read every one of the 400,000 comments on this blog…shouldn’t you be doing something constructive?
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Huh Whaatt?? I read through many comments here and am surprised at how involved the parents seem to be with their kids’ school work and their teachers. I guess I was a bit more involved when my kids were 6ish (although we definitely weren’t studying Mandarin 🙂 ). Now that my kids are in Hamilton HS, they come home, do homework totally on their own…I could only name one or two of their teachers….met them only very briefly at an open house. NEVER get an email from any teacher, any time, and since my kids are getting decent grades, I’m not concerned about ‘interaction’ with their teachers. Every assignment and grade is always available for me to look at through the parent portals, so if I wanted to micro manage, I guess I could. Kids are in honors and AP and I find the amount of homework is about 1-2 hours daily…certainly manageable; oldest just got National Honor Society, and he works 15+ hours/week at a job he landed on his own. I’d encourage parents to teach their kids to enjoy school, enjoy studying, not stress too much, read read read. We also spend a lot of time watching news and discussing world and US events. I always just hope they are ‘thinkers’ and have an opinion on everything.
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I am moving to East valley and my kids, 7th and 10th grader are on the wait list at Basis Mesa. However, I am rethinking if i want to put my kids into that type of learning environment. One cannot argue about Basis success in academic performance the reason why they are top school every year. My close friend’s son goes to Basis Mesa and all she talks about how much homework and staying up late at night to finish these homework. Her son is currently in 9th grade and have AP classes. I am very impressed and amazed how smart this kid is but what I noticed is the lack of socialization. The child is so focused on completing his task, rushed his dinner, and go back to his room and do more homework. Many weekends are the same…more homework. That is great if that is what you want for your child. I believe in success of every child but socialization, keeping up with the current affairs and engaged in other school activities are equally important in the development of each child. I read through this blog and the comments made by many concerned parents, I have decided to take my 10th grade to Perry high school (CUSD) and my junior high to Payne. CUSD is rated highly but more importantly, they have school programs that Basis do not have. My 10th grader is also in NHS and takes honor classes currently but I am afraid that moving her to Basis will drop her grades and make her feel like a failure. She also enjoys other activities that Basis do not offer. I do not want to discourage anyone from going to BASIS– I believe in their academics and their students perform very well in state exams, SAT’s or ACT’s. We are lucky to be in an area surrounded by great schools and I believe CUSD provides that same level of success and offers more programs to my kids to enjoy without being pressured that way Basis programs does.
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I have a daughter who is currently in 5th grade at Basis Mesa. Our entire experience has been nothing but fantastic!! She loves all her teachers, who are from my point of view, literally world class. In 2 years she has not once been overwhelmed with homework. The school is obviously not for everyone, but we have not experienced any of these horror stories regarding homework. The afterschool clubs don’t seem to cost any more than her previous school. We feel extremely lucky to have this school!
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I can relate to your situation as a parent navigating the educational landscape. Once your daughter reaches sixth grade, you might see things differently. As a Basis Oro Valley family, since my son started in fourth grade (he’s now in seventh), I’ve noticed significant changes, particularly the challenging transition from fifth to sixth grade. The upper school experience is starkly different from the early years.
My role has evolved into being my son’s personal tutor, necessitating a semi-retirement from my career to support his academic demands. The Basis system is rigorous, often leaving little room for extracurricular activities. Despite my 33 years as a research professor with extensive teaching experience, assisting my son is a full-time job, requiring 5-6 hours daily, including weekends and holidays. This involves creating presentations for each topic, as the materials provided for some of the courses are often disorganized and unclear.
I agree that while there are both exceptional and lackluster teachers, many struggle with effective teaching methods. Students frequently find themselves learning independently, even for topics not covered in class. The workload is overwhelming, and my son’s desire to participate in sports or clubs is often sidelined due to time constraints.
Comparatively, my two older children, who attended public schools in Ohio and Georgia and graduated from Ohio State University and Georgia Tech, did not face these challenges. Unfortunately, Arizona’s public school options seem limited.
Given these experiences, I’m actively seeking recommendations for a good high school in Tucson, whether public or private, other than Basis. Any suggestions from those with similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.
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I have both a 6th and 7th grader at Basis Mesa entering their 3rd year. The curriculum is stringent and that’s what keeps us there. Our state is ranked in the bottom 10 nationwide and it’s refreshing to know that there’s finally a school out there that recognizes it. Both my children are involved in sports outside of school where they not only play or perform, they compete in Regional and National tournaments. All while maintaining their grades. They have made 90s Club. Honor Roll, and Distinguished Honor Roll every quarter since they started.
My thought is that the school is not for everyone. It’s up to the parent to decide what’s best for their child. If you want a school that is ahead of the curve in the curriculum and focuses on higher education goals, this is the school!
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JRK,
Glad your children are doing well. BASIS is not for everyone. It is for the most motivated, highest achieving children. It operates for profit and its owners have made millions.
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Dianeravitch,
Late response on my part, haven’t logged in for awhile. It really doesn’t concern me that Basis operates for profit. I don’t pay tuition there, my kids are getting a good education, and if it was tuition based, I would pay it. Public schools are not necessarily free (our tax dollars at work) & the majority of them are not teaching up to par. As a parent that had a very poor education in the AZ public school system, I do not want the same for my children. Learning calculus my 2nd year of college is not what I consider a good education. Above all, my children are happy at Basis and that’s the most important thing for me.
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I am with you
As long as my child is receiving the best education
I don’t mind the owner of the school
Makes profit
After all public school is also a businesss but it failing
And we as working parents we still pay for these failing schools by paying taxes
We are not a socialist country
If some thing fails it needs to change or get rid of
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I have 2 children at Basis school, and we started at Basis as 5th grader. This is our 4th year here.
Few things I have to say, like any school, one Basis campus is different from another Basis campus, just like every school in a public school district is different. We have different student body, different leadership, different teachers, staffs, etc.
I can only speak for our school.
Yes, Basis is not for everyone, but with hard work and commitment, a child can succeed here.
At our Campus, Basis Phoenix, we have a very closed community of parents, teachers and students. We are all helping each other. It is a very nice supporting environment. The teachers go out of their ways to teach and stay after school and come in early before school to help those who struggle.
If a child is behind, that child is immediately required to go to student support. And there is a log book to track that child’s progress.
We do have variety extra curricular clubs after school.
Yes, if a child fell a comp exam, that child needs to retake the exam, and if fell again, that child will either retake the grade or leave.
That is the standard. I don’t have any issue with that. Why would you want to promote a child who has not mastered the subject of the current grade.
It is standard practice in a lot of schools in Asia.
A Basis student needs parental support and involvement. And I believe that is the problem in today society. Parents send children to school and expect the school to babysit and teach their children. And if that child fell, the responsibility is the school.
We as parents need to take more roles in our children’s education.
Overall, there is no perfect school, and no perfect child. I am just glad we love our Basis Phoenix school and our children are excelling here.
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I also have to agree with some of the responses that, overall, we have had an amazing experience at Basis. I have a 6th grader and 7th grader and it is our 3rd year switching to Basis after attending a private school for 6 years. I have to respectfully disagree with some of the points you made. My kids have come home on numerous occasions telling me about the discussions they’ve had in class regarding current events and important happenings in our city, state and country. They are both straight A students, receiving honor roll, and distinguished honor roll, as well as the special teacher recognition awards at the end of the year. They have been enrolled in many after school clubs (some of which offer some community and charity outreach by the way) at Basis as well as sports and music privately 3 times a week. I will admit that the first year, homework was an adjustment. However, as they have learned better organizational skills and time management (which I attribute to Basis), their homework and studies have been quite easy to manage. Last year, they had time to watch TV, play a video games, go outside and attend many weekend parties.There was plenty of time for them to be just kids.
I absolutely agree that Basis is not for every student, but that holds true for ANY school. I definitely feel that my children are receiving a top notch education and are well rounded individuals. I do not feel that there is a lack of “human touch”. Teachers are people, and people have different personalities, which is also true about students. Some teachers may not be as “warm” as others, while some have proven to be very caring and engage the students with a passion that would rival some of the teachers we had at the small private school my children previously attended. Obviously, there is no “perfect” school out there and ALL schools have teachers that are less than perfect as well. I feel Basis often gets a bad rap for only caring about academics and students test results. In my experience, they care about the overall success of the students, both academically and personally. My children have thrived at Basis Mesa. Despite your experience, they also care about the world they live in and do have the desire to make it a better place. My kids always have something exciting or fun to tell me everyday on our car ride home about their day at school. Until that changes, we are very happy to keep them there as we have seen them grow by leaps and bounds in the past 3 years that they have attended.
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BASIS sounds like a very elite private school, not a public school. It is a cash cow for its owners. Read my book “Reign of Error”
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I accidentally came across this article as I was searching for Basis AzMerit scores. I read most of the arguments and I see all sides. I have 3 kids that attend Basis (4th, 6th and 8th) and all have different personalities. 2 of my kids qualified for the gifted program and 1 is not. The 2 “gifted” ones are not straight A kids, sometimes they even go to student hours because they have a D, and my non-gifted one is a straight A student. I mentioned this because its not their IQ level that makes them successful but its their attitude and hard work that does. This is what I see: my non straight A kids are the ones that enjoy Basis the most, while my straight A child takes it so seriously she won’t play unless she’s done with homework even if its due 4 days from now.
From what I read, most of you are educators who have in-depth knowledge about education in general that is beyond my level, and I can’t even argue with most of you because some of it I don’t get. So please excuse me if my grammar and spelling are not perfect. But here are my simple thoughts as a parent of kids that goes to Basis:
My kids amaze me everyday with the amount of learning they have. They see something drop and they think about gravity and mass, they see soap bubbling and they will tell me what they learned in chemistry and why it bubbles. They see salt and they think of Sodium Chloride etc.They see a tissue and they think of cells, microbes etc. They tell me how their teacher teaches them in innovative ways to spark their interest. Example in their English class they’re reading Romeo and Juliet but in Manga form.
My kids hate homework but loves to go to Basis, if their grades are dropping, I always tell them that if they fail, then I’m pulling them out of Basis, and thats usually enough for them to put more effort. They love school so much that my son was teary eyed on their last day of school before summer break. Yes thats almost impossible that my imagination won’t just make that up.
The 2 gifted ones are my disorganized ones, but if there’s something that they learn from Basis are organizational skills and sense of responsibility. If they won’t make graduate HS at Basis, I know that they will be successful in other schools because of this.
Yes they charge for clubs but its reasonable and cheaper than if its the out of school one. Martial Arts for example charges $150 per year and they meet twice a week. That would have been $150 per month if I place them in an out-of school Martial Arts club. The biggest perk is you pick them up an hour after dismissal time. Their chess club is $30 per year.
I feel that my kids are safer because its a closed school. I am less stressed about drugs and gangs. I’m not saying that it may not happen but I know that the school has cameras, plus its such a small school that they can easily monitor unusual behaviors and activities.
I have never seen a more diverse school, Muslim kids can do their afternoon prayers if they want to, my kids are aware of their friends that practice Hari Krishna, what food to serve them and what not. How their classmate with a bun is not a girl but a boy who have a different religious preference. That these kids maybe different than them but they are smart, funny and their good friends.
Nevertheless most of the negative stuff about Basis that are posted here, I also believe are true. Lack of communication between teachers and parents is one of my biggest complaints, donations here and there is also one of the things that I don’t like. Financial disclosure of where all the money are going is still very hazy to me. I also believe that yes the amount of work that they have is heavy.
Basis is not for everyone and I think we should all respect each others view. If your child is happy at Basis keep them there, you are ensured that your child is getting good quality education. If your child is unhappy, please pull them out. It doesn’t mean that they are weaker or not smart enough its just not for them and its not your fault either and of course they still can get good quality education in other schools.
Yes, the owners are probably making huge profit from Basis, but if I can afford it, I will put my kids to private school. So technically I’m getting private school quality education for free. Its a win-win. Unless all of Arizonas public schools improve then I will continue to put my child at Basis. My public school district where I live only has 24% of the kids passed the AZ Merit in English, and 25% in math. Can you blame me?
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BASIS makes millions in profits for its founders. It should be a private school. It has very high attrition rates. Why don’t you tell the owners of BASIS to stop taking public money for their private school? Shameful that they take in millions every year.
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You said it very well and precisely
I have 2 children at Basis and our children enjoy the learning very much
As far as the school finance , any businesss profit or non profit it is still a business . A business is not sustainable if it does not generate income
I don’t mind if the owners of the sxhhol make big money as long as the kids receive top class education which come at a fraction of private school
Rather than seeing superintendent of school district makes big money but public school districts do not deliver quality
Yes Basis is not for every child
Some will love it and be successful others will hate it and leave
Just as with any school
It is the parents and the child ‘ s decision
Please just don’t criticize a school
Because your child ‘s experience.
Your criticism can deter a childi to receive a good quality education
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BASIS is a private school that gets public money.
It’s owners collect millions in profit from taxpayers. That’s fraud. Except in Arizona, where fraud is legal.
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Well said!
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Yes BASIS schools assign an atrocious amount of homework. I am a student at BASIS Scottsdale. On weekends, I have up to 9 hours of homework sometimes, not giving me enough time for my extracurriculars.
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Could we get an update on this article. It would be great to here how things turned out with your son transitioning to the public school. I’m a parent of a basis kid wondering if we should stay or leave. I’d love an honest account of the turnout if you don’t mind?
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Hello
I am a parent of 2 Basis graduates. Basis Phoenix
My son just graduated this year 2022
We are extremely happy with the school and how the kids are prepared for college
My daughter is in college. She graduated from Basis during CoVid 2020. She is excelling in college and very prepared. I would send my kids to Basis again in a heart beat
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BASIS is great for white and Asian kids who are highly motivated. It pretends to be a public school. Your kids got a private school education at public expense.
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I can’t reply to the ladies post below you but SHE IS A RACIST! What a trashy comment that is generic and is so biased.
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You as the parent need to shape and mold your students emotional and political views, not the school. School is for academics but the left thinks otherwise. Now, look at the horrible proficiency ratings scholastically speaking for public schools, and then look at Basis. What I hear you saying is they are doing too much education of math and science but not enough social emotional indoctrination. Well, if you want the school to teach your child seal and woke values, by all means put them in a woke Normie pub. school. Then, you will get your wish; less scholastic education, lower standards, a social life with other low achieving students and leave the parenting to the nanny state! Pulling them out in seventh grade is a bad idea. You should keep the momentum so they are prepared for the rigorous and grueling experience of getting a college degree. Things just get harder. Studying is longer.
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