BASIS Charter School

BASIS Charter School is a school in Tucson, Arizona. In 2006, its High School was named # 3 on Newsweek's Top 1200 High Schools list, #6 in 2007, and #1 in 2008. [http://www.newsweek.com/id/39380&GT1=43001 "The Complete List: 1,300 Top U.S. Schools"] , "Newsweek", May 23, 2006. Accessed April 1, 2007] It has also received numerous local accolades for its high scores, as well for its embracing of the AP program. In fact, it is one of the only schools in the country to not only require but also pay for students to take at least 6 AP exams in order to graduate. Newsweek ranks public schools according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors. The BASIS AP exam requirement, along with the relatively small population of graduating high school seniors (as few as twelve per year) allows Basis Charter School to excel in the Newsweek survey.

Infobox HighSchool
name = Basis Tucson High School


motto = The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
established = 1998
type = Charter School
head = Carolyn McGarvey
city = Tucson
state = Arizona
country = United States of America
coordinates =
campus =
students = 100-120
free_label =
free =
colors = blue and white
homepage = [http://www.basistucson.org/ www.basistucson.org]

Also, the school has received local recognition for its drama program, which recently put on the children's opera Brundibar: Hear My Voice (the new half of which was written by a student at the school) in cooperation with Arizona Onstage Productions.

Courses

BASIS Tucson high school is a liberal arts college preparatory school. BASIS offers a standard "core" set of classes with a choice of science and elective classes. All BASIS Tucson High School courses are at least honors level, with the exception of foreign language, which is offered at the same standard (level 1-AP) levels.

Freshman Level Courses

At the freshman level, students automatically take honors pre-calculus, two honors English classes (one of which focuses on World Literature, and the other which focuses on writing and critical analysis) an AP history class, and an honors-level science and elective of their choice. At this point, the student chooses the foreign language class of his or her choice (Mandarin, French, or Spanish), which he or she will continue into for the rest of his or her school career.

cience Courses

Every year for the first three years, students choose one of three honors science courses, which may be Honors Chemistry, Physics, or Biology, and they will complete their elected course over the year. The next year, students begin another honors science class of their choice and take the AP-level course of the class they elected the year before. Additionally, students may opt to take an AP Economics class as a substitute for the AP science course they would take that year.

Humanities and Social Science Courses

BASIS students only take AP history courses, beginning with World History in 9th grade, moving to European History in 10th, and finishing with U. S. History in 11th. As noted above, students take two honors English courses in the 9th grade, and this is followed by AP English Literature in the 10th grade and AP English Language in 11th.

Mathematics

After taking pre-calculus in 9th grade, all students take Calculus I in 10th grade, and this is followed by either Calculus I review/development (called "advanced topics in Calculus" ), or AP Calculus. Both of these courses typically culminate in an AP course of the student's choice, either AP Calculus AB or AP Calculus BC. This is one of BASIS's most successful programs: AP scores in Calculus have always been exceptional.

Electives

BASIS offers several elective courses, partially based on the Arizona requirement of one year of P.E. and one year of a fine art (art and drama constitute the arts electives, while a standard P.E. course supplies the athletic credit). Additionally, a student may choose to opt for an extracurricular credit in either of these topics. Other academic courses include AP computer science, AP Psychology, and a film and literature analysis class.

Foreign Language

BASIS offers French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese at various levels, however, no entrance exam is administered.

enior Level Courses

The senior year at BASIS is optional; those who choose to stay are eligible to graduate with honors or high honors. In order to graduate with honors, seniors complete 5 courses in the first two trimesters, including a Capstone Bio/Chem or Physics seminar, a Capstone Mathematics seminar (focusing on either differential equations or the history of math), a Capstone Foreign Language seminar, either a Capstone Literature course or a Capstone History course, and an elective. These courses focus on independent research and interdisciplinary projects in order to prepare students for success in seminar-style college classrooms. Seniors who wish to graduate with high honors also complete an independent research project off-campus in the last trimester of the year, designed by the student with the guidance of a faculty advisor.

Campus

BASIS Tucson Upper School inhabits an extremely small (by most standards) building in the urban environment near El Con Mall, providing generous off-campus opportunities for high-school students, as BASIS is within walking distance of several restaurants including Starbucks, Rubios, In-N-Out Burger, Chik-Fil-A and Target. The campus has 12 classrooms, various administration offices, and a central multi-purpose room, serving as a lunch room or a meeting room for school gatherings. Approximately 150 students currently attend grades 8-12.

References

External links

* [http://www.basistucson.org/ Basis Tucson Official website]