PEORIA, AZ — The Valley is home to the top-ranked high school in the nation, according to the U.S. News and World Report.
Basis Peoria came out on top in the 2024 U.S. News Best High Schools Rankings, making a jump from No. 12 last year, when it was also the Arizona leader. It was No. 30 nationally in 2022.
Basis public charter schools have been regular fixtures on national high school rankings for years, including last year's Niche public schools list, and Basis Peoria was the leader among six of the network’s schools that made U.S. News’ top 50 in the nation and 11 in the top 100 — with all but one of those located in Arizona.
In fact, the top eight Arizona schools on the U.S. News list were Basis locations.
Read more of this story from the Business Journal.
The standard for students at a Basis school: taking multiple advanced placement (AP) classes before graduation.
“I take band, AP US History, AP Literature, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Physics one, AP Spanish, and AP Seminar,” said Avni Chidella, a junior, who listed her classes to ABC15.
Peter Bezanson, the CEO of the Basis Education Ventures network, said their average graduate ends up taking 12 or 13 AP classes “before they get to senior year.”
“In order to do that in high school, you have to hold kids accountable in middle school,” Bezanson said.
Melissa Rankin, the head of the Basis school in Peoria, said they prepare their middle school students for all the academic rigors.
Students at Basis have to take several AP exams, Rankin said. They must at least pass one of the exams in order to graduate, in addition to the regular Arizona requirements.
According to the College Board, a nationwide organization that helps with higher ed, about 34% of students in public schools took at least one AP exam in 2022.
The curriculum, teachers, will and motivation of students, and parent support are why Rankin and one of their teachers say they landed in the number one spot this year.
