“It’s all about the teacher in the classroom,” says Mark Reford, the chief brand officer for Basis Educational Ventures. BASIS manages more than 20 schools across the country, mostly public charter schools in Arizona.

When U.S. News & World Report released its latest rankings of the best public high schools in the country, three of the top 10 were BASIS schools. The rest were test-in schools that only accept students with high GPAs, test scores or teacher recommendations. But BASIS’ public charter schools have to accept all students (although there’s a lottery to determine admission when too many students apply).