Inside the best public school in America - a charter school that feeds prodigies into the Ivy League
Melia Robinson/Business Insider
BASIS Scottsdale, a charter school in Arizona, is the best public high school in America.
Its founding dates back nearly 20 years, when two economists struggled to find a school that could provide a rigorous education for their daughter. They started a charter school in Tucson with the belief that the goal of a great education should be to provide students with limitless opportunities. A second high school opened in the affluent suburb of Scottsdale in 2003.
In 2017, four out of the top five public schools - according to a ranking from US News & World Report - are all run by BASIS Educational Group LLC, a for-profit corporation.
Charter schools are public schools that are privately run, either for-profit or not. Their supporters see the schools as providing a leg up for underserved students who lack access to a personalized education, while critics claim that charter schools snatch away limited resources from other public schools.
Polarizing as they may be, charter schools have a track record of success. Business Insider spent the day at BASIS Scottsdale to see what makes it the best in the nation.
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