“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).
Reford, in an interview with Forbes contributor Maureen Sullivan, says it’s BASIS’ teachers that make all the difference. “One of our goals is to do what we can to professionalize teachers. Without a true career path, it’s not a profession,” Reford says. “Good teachers don’t want to be given a script. Top people don’t want to work in a top-down factory. … Innovation happens in the classroom. There are daily clinical trials.” BASIS happily gives teachers salary bonuses for great work.
BASIS also bucks the trend of using more technology in the classroom. “Tech in the classroom almost always hurts class learning,” Reford says. “I’m not a Luddite, but tech in the classroom ignores the problems with teachers.”
BASIS is also known for pushing students into hard work. Students often have three hours of homework per night. But they advance quickly, having finished biology, chemistry and physics by the time they get to high school. The goal is to get the students to finish six Advanced Placement exams by the end of junior year.
Sullivan notes that BASIS’ Arizona teachers aren’t unionized.
To read Reford’s entire interview, click here.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
