Then they went back to class.
Back to class? Really? “Yes, really! Our students and teachers acknowledge their hard work, even celebrate it! But they always keep working,” said BASIS Charter Schools co-founder Olga Block. “That’s where the rankings success comes from – plus the individual student achievement that each family can celebrate, too.”
The national rankings, national STEM rankings, national charter school rankings, and state rankings published each spring by U.S. News & World Report are traditionally an indicator of the BASIS Charter School network’s priority of college preparation and advanced-level curricula across grade levels. They are among a number of such indicators, of course. But since US News changed its rankings methodology several years ago to not focus solely on college prep schools, the publication’s STEM rankings, in particular, are what the educators at BASIS have particularly noted.
“For a college prep-oriented network like ours, with 100% of our graduates in our 24-year history accepted to four-year colleges and universities, overall rankings aren’t as meaningful as STEM rankings,” Mrs. Block says. “The STEM rankings are a useful gauge, as they are the closest to recognizing high-level college prep that US News now gets.”
No other district or network in the nation comes close to BASIS, when it comes to assessing schools in science, technology, engineering, and math.
BASIS has three of the top five schools in the 2022 national STEM rankings, seven of the top 20 STEM schools in the U.S., and eight of the top 25 – including the network’s only school in Texas that’s eligible for rankings, BASIS San Antonio Shavano, coming in at #25 in STEM.
“Our BASIS Shavano Campus was not a top STEM campus last year, and even rose in the overall rankings from top one or two hundred to #77 nationally,” said BASIS.ed Texas CEO Dr. Peter Bezanson. “That is a rapid rise, well earned – and as we grow in Texas, we expect more of our Texas campuses will land near the top of US News’ STEM ranks.”
Instead of ranking 3,000 American schools for college readiness, US News now assesses 24,000 American schools, and ranks nearly 18,000. Nevertheless, college prep BASIS still had 11 of the nation’s top 81 schools overall — out of 17,843 ranked campuses.
“It’s true that readying students for college success is what we do, and U.S. News & World Report’s best pure measure of college readiness is its STEM ranks,” agreed BASIS co-founder Dr. Michael Block. “Our teachers were quite pleased to see our high STEM ranks, and I was happy to see several of our schools make marked improvement in them.”
- The network’s campuses in the top five STEM schools are BASIS Scottsdale #3 (up from #7 last year), BASIS Chandler #4 (same as last year), and BASIS Peoria #5 (improved from #8 last year).
- The rest of the network’s schools in the top 25 STEM rankings are BASIS Oro Valley at #12 (#11 last year), BASIS Prescott #14 (not eligible last year), BASIS Tucson North #15 (#20 last year), BASIS Phoenix #16 (#18 last year), and BASIS San Antonio Shavano #25 (not STEM ranked last year).
National Charter School Rankings
- Three of the top five charters nationally, seven of the top ten, and eleven of the top 20, are BASIS Charter Schools.
- BASIS has the ten best charter schools in Arizona, the best charter school in the state of Texas, and the best charter school in metro Washington, D.C.
“As a network of public charter schools completing our 24th academic year, we look at national charter school rankings,” said BASIS Educational Group CEO Carolyn McGarvey. “More than half of the top ten charter schools in the United States are BASIS Charter Schools!
“Even though we’ve said this before, it’s worth saying again: that’s incredible, and it’s a testament to our teachers and school leaders, and the student themselves.”
State Rankings
- Arizona
- BASIS Chandler is the #1 school in Arizona for the third consecutive year — charter or otherwise.
- BASIS Charter Schools comprise four of Arizona’s top five campuses of any type, and ten of the top twelve schools in the state.
- Texas
- BASIS San Antonio Shavano is the #8 school of any type in Texas, the #1 charter school in Texas, and the #1 school of any type in San Antonio.
- Washington, D.C.
- BASIS DC, the network’s only school in the nation’s capital, is the #3 school in the city of Washington, D.C., the #10 school in the metro Washington area, and the #1 charter school in the District.
“We’re a national network, but we were born in Arizona, so we’re always pleased to have the top campuses in our home state,” McGarvey said. “But ten of the top twelve is quite something!”
Of note: one BASIS Charter School – BASIS Goodyear – was not eligible for these 2022 rankings because it did not have enough 12th grade students in one of the academic years assessed.
