BASIS Chandler

4825 South Arizona Avenue

School District

Basis Charter Schools INC. (90842)
Grade

5-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:20
Type

charter

School Map for Basis Charter Schools INC. (90842)

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on May 25, 2024

Nut Shell, If you want your kids to completely be focused on Education (STEM), This is the place for you. It’s not easy it’s completely doable. Parents need to be involved in kids’ homework and exams. Our daughter is with basis since Kinder Garden, she is going to 6th Aug 2024. We have done extensive search about schools in Chandler AZ area, Basis and Paragon are the only 2 STEM focused schools here. Our daughter has not experienced any serious bullying or discriminations. School communicates clearly with parents, Had no big issues with the management. This is the only school that offers after school care in campus for all age groups, so the parents can work worry free and pick the kids at 5 or 5.30PM.However, the cons are some kids will not be able to keep up with the pace and want to quit, your child needs to be decent at managing time and being organized, if not its hard to survive this school. Lunch is very short they never get time to actually bond with friends or play. We have to provide additional support for our kids like math tutoring when they go to higher grades. Music, Arts and Drama are not that great, there are many clubs most of them are boring to the kids. We are not sure about the sports as of now, planning to enroll her in some sports next year. Hope this review help some parents make an informed decision. This school demands a level of commitment from students and parents, Best STEM school in AZ no doubt.
Submitted by parent on November 14, 2023

My student has been with BASIS since 2nd grade and is absolutely thriving at this campus. There are plenty of after school activities to choose from to help him not just focus on homework. The administration is extremely visible - principal, directors and deans are outside at every dismissal smiling and talking with students. And the assistant principal knows just about every student's name. Most of the teachers are amazing at their jobs (let's be real, there is not a single school where every student will love every teachers). This is a great school for students who want to grow and work hard and for parents who can be supportive of their children.
Submitted by parent on November 13, 2023

Our kids attended the local public schools from kindergarten to fourth grade. It was a reasonable experience, e.g. they made friends, participated in school events and had a mix of good and poor teachers. While the kids did reasonably well academically, they were just one of hundreds of kids competing for attention with very little personal support.Naturally, as parents you want the greatest potential and possibilities for your children. We decided to attend various charter school discovery nights in preparation for the kids next year. Basis has a reputation for extreme academics and while that is somewhat true, the overriding stereotype is unfair. During the discovery night we were blown away by the teachers, not because of their credentials but their passion for their subject matter, e.g. from the eccentric world history teacher with a globe on his stick to the science teacher who shared her collection of exotic insects. You could see that they cared about teaching and the subject matter.It's real important to set the stereotypes and academic statistics aside. While they are hugely impressive, they are intimidating and tend to cloud your judgement, e.g. will our kids be happy in a school that places such importance on academic performance? Here is our experience. Our kids did not fit the schools stereotype. The first couple years were really tough, e.g. many late nights helping with homework where we could. It was tough and has been tough every since. But, it was not unreasonable once they found a rhythm. The kids absolutely struggled in different classes and excelled in others. When they fell behind we knew about it before it was too late and the support structure has made a tremendous difference. Our kids have a great sense of pride when they do well. We do too! Nearly all the teachers and most of the administrative staff know our kids personally. They have joined clubs, sports and drama programs etc. At 9th grade we gave them the choice of going back to the local high school or staying at Basis They both made the choice to stay. This school is not just a school of child prodigies/geniuses. There are all types/levels of students so again, don't be intimidated by the academic statistics. Most kids can succeed at this school IF... the parent and child are committed to the process. It's not for everyone but our experience has shown that it has and will pay dividends well beyond their primary and secondary education years.
Submitted by parent on November 13, 2023

We have been a BASIS Chandler family for 2.5 years and we have had a great experience. The teachers and administration work so hard to give our kids the best opportunities and education, and the teachers are passionate about their field and their students. It's really fun to see how much our kids learn and grow, thanks to the support they have from this school! It's a family effort, but we love being a part of the BASIS community.
Submitted by parent on August 23, 2022

Below 0 is the best rating. The administration is very good with asking for donations. They bring kids to a really nice city park nearby.
Submitted by parent on May 19, 2022

I would give below 0 if I could. Terrible environment, teachers, management. They only take credit of hardworking intelligent students. They have no contribution of their success. School provides no effort on the failing students to succeed. All they care is money money money, donations donations. Expensive and worthless field trips 6 days in a year, clubs that are not providing any value.. located in the middle of market place that cause a lot of traffic. I have no idea how they got permission from the state to open a school in a marketplace.Glad to leave them. Never coming back
Submitted by parent on December 01, 2017

This school does not develop a child’s personality in any manner. The workload and grading system bring down the child’s morale and confidence. The amount of information imparted in each subject is irrelevant and unnecessary. Focus is not on teaching but on overloading the children with unwanted information, on the pretext of preparing them for college. While children may not retain the information after an impending exam, what they will remember is the stress and trauma they went through. This school does not give the students the confidence nor does it prepare them for the real world.
Submitted by parent on September 30, 2017

Our daughter is enrolled at Basis Primary Chandler South Campus. You should know that this program is not for every child. There is little coddling and the focus on discipline, performance and testing is incredible. As such the model is often jarring for those brought up in the United States but normal for those raised in Asia. For those in favor of this model, the experience and life lessons learned by students are fantastic. So read carefully the other reviews as many of the "low" ratings are from folks who simply disfavor the model. Keep it up Basis.
Submitted by student on May 31, 2017

I am a student at basis and I got called a communist in the hallways. As far as I know, nearly the whole 8th grade failed the econ comp. The reviews on Google are pretty similar also. As other people have stated the chaos on the roads lengthens the time that my parents come to pick me up by about half an hour to an about maximum of 3 hours. Every body that goes to this school knows that Atf teacher fund is just so the school earns money , it doesn't go to the teachers, else the education would be way better.
Submitted by parent on August 16, 2016

I don't like the way they have set up the pick up time for the grades. For most of the students pick up time is same and parents start to come there 30 minutes before, it is a huge chaos on the road at that time. They don't allow you to take right or left turn when you need it. Construction is still going on in the same complex so inside roads are also blocked.Moreover the staff is soooo rude that they say they will call the cops without even listening to you properly. I made a big mistake when I took the decision to enroll my kid there.
Submitted by parent on July 22, 2016

I have moved my kids to Basis in the hope that they get better education than the previous school but I am totally wrong. Bad choice. Feel like my kids had wasted one year of their precious time. Parents- there are still better schools in chandler, just look for it.
Submitted by parent on May 25, 2016

All that they care about is how much money they collect for ATF. The math and language levels are so low that the child does not feel confident in any subject. More importance is given to completion rather than correctness of the homework. They are constantly ask8ng the parent to provide everything they need to run the school....and have enough money to open new branches every year. The teachers are way too casual and dress without thinking that they are working with little kids. The school has been a big disappointment...
Submitted by parent on September 05, 2015

Teachers cannot fluently in English.To advertise Basis brand is the focus rather than students questions and concerns. Teachers quit any time they want. There's no one to teach the class so counsellors have to teach. Not well structured institution.
Submitted by parent on May 13, 2015

The reviews about teacher churn and wide variety of talent in teaching ability are true. They are up front with this however, but are short on the details of how that can really negatively impact the learning experience. When students must pass every class or be held back regardless of overall GP ... this is the reality of high-stakes comps counting for 50% of the year. The school is too small to manage the logistics of one or two kids retaking a single subject so they set policy to erase a child's school year for a single F grade. The parents need to help the kids not with homework, but the stress of adult-level consequences wrought by thier understanding of what these grades MEAN. I witnessed kids crying at grade ceremonies and one child wrote "my failure" on their balloon because (presumably) it was not one of the higher awards. They do lots of things right. .. but need to work very hard on the emotional impact of thier policies.
Submitted by parent on January 22, 2015

I love this school! My family has been apart of this school since the beginning. 90% of the teachers are very committed to the education of the students who attend this AP focused-college prep school. The administration does strongly encourage the $1,500 per student donation toward the Annual Teacher Fund, but that is to help offset the shortage in funds for Charter Schools in AZ to be able to pay these great teachers as much as possible. Although the Extra Curricular programs will never mirror a mega school in the public district they have really done a great job to provide as many options as possible to students considering they have 720 students from 5-12th grade. They have Four basketball teams (which all made it to the CAA playoffs last year) and they took State for both V Girls and V Boys Swimming for the CAA this year. This school isn't for everyone, but it is an amazing school for those who are willing to put forth the effort and work hard.
Submitted by parent on July 19, 2014

Basis chandler is a great school. I am so happy that we have such an excellent school in chandler for kids. The teachers really care about teaching your child and preparing them for college. I have two kids in this school
Submitted by other on July 18, 2014

As I was saying in the previous review, if you want to contact your child during school, you're going to have to call the front office. Speaking of offices, we don't even have a nurse's office, library, computer lab, or hot lunches. Most teachers are glad to tutor kids after school and we have a homework buddy program for getting information for your child if he/she is absent. The school always bugs parents about donating money to the school which can be pretty annoying. Most of the students from my 8th grade class are leaving, because of the limited opportunities they have here. If your child doesn't have a social life, loves studying and doing homework until midnight, and hates sports this school is just right for them,
Submitted by parent on July 02, 2014

The school has lost it's focus. The director's main concern is beating out Basis Scottsdale and Basis Tucson which are both well established. There is more focus on the upper school and have left many lower school students to flounder with teachers who are either incapable of teaching younger students or are so arrogant that they have little concern for how they are teaching. Leadership starts at the top and unfortunately that failed when they put a new director at the school.
Submitted by other on June 10, 2014

This school is very tough on their students and most nights the students are up til or past midnight studying for tests or quizzes or doing homework....most weeks we have 3-5 tests and we usually have 2-3 quizzes per subject each week...and although the curriculum is high most of the teachers are very hard to understand because English isn't their first language and then the teachers that are understandable usually don't know how to teach their subjects...and their is this one biology teacher that only really likes the kids of her race and is always picking on kids...most of the students at basis chandler dislike the school and I would suggest if you don't have to send your child to this school...DO NOT!
Submitted by parent on June 10, 2014

This review is middle of the road, not skewed in either direction. My children left for different reasons; 1 wanted more options in high school for outside activities, 1 did not like the negative environment of Basis. Both consistently achieved in the 90% club. They were not one of the top 5 students in their grades however; in 5th grade, there was a 4 way tie for the top student with a 100% average! My daughter needed to go an hour early in the morning, and my son needed to stay an hour later. I dropped them off together to save my sanity: that extra hour at school was all they EVER required to finish their homework for the day. Now in a public high school and a college prep Junior High (run by the Public School district) and they are getting their BUTTS kicked! They are working much harder than they did their 2 years at Basis. In summation, it is a good school (but not the ONLY school in Chandler) - reports of the homework expectations are greatly exaggerated. The biggest problem is that they are so focused on expanding the BASIS brand they don't deal with their existing problems. The turnover is due to the transfer of good teachers to new schools the next year.