聯合創始人BASIS學校, 邁克爾和奧爾加座, 旨在提供教育學生的類型收到世界各地的頂級表演教育系統, 幫助美國學生在全球經濟中競爭的教育類型.
Ten years after BASIS Schools opened its first campus in Tucson, 亞利桑那, the school topped the national rankings, earning the #1 spot on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best High Schools, and was named a gold medal school by 中美. News & World Report. In addition to BASIS Tucson, today there are a total of 6 operating BASIS charter schools, including BASIS Scottsdale (2003), BASIS Oro Valley (2010), BASIS Chandler (2011), BASIS Peoria (2011), and BASIS Flagstaff (2011). There have been more awards and there are more schools on the way, 包括基礎鳳凰 (2012), BASIS圖森北 (2012), 和依據DC (TBA).
有什麼可以在世界其他地區，從基礎學校學習模式?
我曾與邁克爾座聊天的樂趣, Co-CEO of BASIS Educational Group. 博士. 區塊收到了他的學士學位, M.A., 和博士. 經濟學斯坦福大學. 此前BASIS, 他是經濟學教授, 法律和經濟教育辦公室主任在亞利桑那大學教授.
Can the BASIS Schools model be replicated across the nation?
We are expanding our model and opening BASIS schools in more locations. We have about 4,000 students attending six BASIS schools this year. Next year our programs may reach approximately 6,000 學生. This is still very limited reach when considering the millions of students receiving mediocre education across the US. The bigger issue might be ‘what is there to learn from the BASIS model?’ There are three points I think can be transferred in some manner.
第一, we have implemented very high academic standards that are internationally competitive and higher than any American state’s requirements. We also require students to demonstrate mastery of those standards before they can progress to the next grade. 在美國, 不僅標準低得可憐, 但測試用來考查學生’ mastery of the standards are often poorly designed and unrelated to the content taught in school. Systems used around the world, such as the Cambridge International Exams, the College Board’s Advanced Placement exams, the Program for International Student Assessment, 和其他人, can assess mastery of high-level content. That is something I think we do well at BASIS – we teach to very high standards and then assess our students’ progress toward reaching those standards using internationally recognized assessments.
The second point is much more controversial. At BASIS we focus first and foremost on recruiting, hiring, and retaining teachers who are experts in the subject they teach. Whether or not the individual is certified to teach by the government or graduated from a school of education – 哪, 在美國, is not often the most distinguished academic institution – is of secondary importance. We believe it is critical that teachers possess a thorough knowledge of the material they present to their students and we believe it is more effective for subject experts to learn the craft of teaching than for pedagogical experts to learn the subject content they may be lacking. At BASIS, 我們的教師在我們的教室開始在較低的在校成績，受專家; 許多擁有碩士和博士學位.
最後, Americans seem to have given up on teaching rigorous content in middle school. BASIS demonstrates that you can teach serious subject content in these grade levels. Let me give you an example. We visited one of the great schools in America, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in the suburbs of Virginia, and were incredibly impressed with the level of education the school imparts on its students. Thomas Jefferson utilizes a selective admissions process to enroll students who are prepared for their rigorous curriculum, 但基礎上，我們提供了一個類似的嚴格的教育給所有誰願意招收學生. We are only able to do this because of our accelerated middle school curriculum. By starting at a modest 5th grade level and requiring students to learn more than a year’s worth of standards every year, we prepare students to take Honors and AP courses beginning in 9th grade and post-AP courses in 11th or 12th grade, just like their peers at Thomas Jefferson.
Are the BASIS schools for highly motivated students in certain subject areas only?
別, the BASIS education is not focused on certain subject areas. We offer an accelerated program in all core subjects; 但, in contemporary America it seems schools that provide high-quality math and science education are pigeonholed. At BASIS, all students complete pre-calculus and take AP-level science courses in the 9th grade; 結果是, BASIS is sometimes considered a math and science school. But while our students do outpace their peers in math and science, they also complete a minimum of one AP English and three AP history courses by the end of 11th grade, engage in six years of foreign language, take a college-level economics course in 8th grade, and participate in PE and fine arts classes throughout their academic careers. The BASIS education is much like the gymnasiums in central Europe; we offer a high quality education in all of the liberal arts.
Is the school only for highly motivated students?
Students don’t have to be “gifted” to excel in the BASIS program, but they do have to put in effort. We work very hard to create a culture of academic excellence in our schools. We hire educators who can convey passion for their subject in a way that teaches students that learning is exciting. As older students build a sense of personal responsibility for their education, they become models for younger students and create a culture of positive peer pressure. This culture motivates students to excel in their academic exploration and teaches them that success is the function of hard work.
What is your process for selecting a great teacher?
Finding talent is tough. We try to have a very broad base of candidates from which we select our teachers and often search worldwide to fill math and science positions. Our interviews are conducted first by veteran BASIS teachers and then by the Head of School. The candidates then participate in demonstration lessons – in which they teach current BASIS students for two class periods – which I think is unusual in public schools. This allows us to determine whether the candidate is capable of conveying advanced concepts to young students. We have the most senior staff members at BASIS do the final round of interviews before making a decision.
After our teachers are hired, we have a summer training session which all new teachers and many experienced teachers attend. The training session exposes new teachers to the BASIS philosophy and focuses on the teaching techniques used in many of our classrooms. 最後, we try to mentor teachers as they begin their careers at BASIS. We spend a good deal of time with them. The process of finding and developing teaching talent is difficult and of course we make our share of mistakes.
Why do we do so poorly in the PISA test?
PISA tests what an education system teaches its 15-year-old students, and in the United States we don’t teach math and science well in middle and high school. Many 10th graders in the US have not been exposed to the concepts of an Algebra 2 course and in a many states students can graduate without taking Physics. I think that is inexcusable.
我也相信美國的教育制度過於集中關注像教師資格認證的投入, 班級人數, 師生比例, 學校的一天，學年長度, 的補充服務的形式, 物理設備, 技術在課堂, 太少關注產出像學生如何以及能夠掌握重要的學術內容. 注重投入是牽制和手段教育工作者和學校領導有較少的評估和改進他們所提供的教育質量時.
Final thoughts on the education reform issues we face in the US today?
There is one more issue I want to mention that I think BASIS is designed to get at. There are two achievement gaps in the US. The achievement gap that receives almost all the attention in the media – which is real and shameful – is the achievement gap between rural areas and the poorer sections of major cities on one hand and the suburbs across the country on the other. Another much more hidden achievement gap is the international achievement gap. What US suburbanites consider a “good education” is actually mediocre by international standards. That’s an important aspect of the BASIS experiment – 我們的學術課程解決了美國和其他工業化國家之間存在的國際成績差距.
照片由BASIS學校, 公司.
在 全球搜索教育, 和我一樣，全球知名的思想領袖，包括邁克爾·巴伯爵士 (英國), 博士. 邁克爾座 (美國), 博士. 萊昂特司特因 (美國), 博士. 琳達·達林 - 哈蒙德 (美國), 博士. 馬達夫恰範 (印度), 邁克爾·富蘭教授 (加拿大), 霍華德·加德納教授 (美國), 伊馮娜赫爾曼教授 (荷蘭), 克里斯汀Helstad教授 (挪威), 讓·亨德里克森 (美國), 玫瑰Hipkins教授 (新西蘭), 科妮莉亞Hoogland教授 (加拿大), 太太. 尚塔爾考夫曼 (比利時), 多米尼克·拉方丹教授 (比利時), 休·勞德教授 (英國), 本·萊文教授 (加拿大), 巴里McGaw教授 (澳大利亞), Ř教授. 納塔拉詹 (印度), 博士. 丹尼斯教皇 (美國), 斯瑞達拉賈戈帕蘭 (印度), 博士. 黛安·拉維奇 (美國), 肯·羅賓遜爵士 (英國), 帕西SAHLBERG教授 (芬蘭), 安德烈亞斯·施萊歇 (PISA, 經合組織), 博士. 安東尼·塞爾頓, 博士. 大衛·謝弗 (美國), 博士. 基爾斯滕都沉浸式 (挪威), 總理斯蒂芬·SPAHN (美國), 伊夫Theze (法國公立高中美國), 查爾斯Ungerleider教授 (加拿大), 托尼·瓦格納教授 (美國), 迪倫Wiliam教授 (英國), 博士. 馬克沃莫爾德 (英國), 西奧Wubbels教授 (荷蘭), 邁克爾·楊教授 (英國), 和張民選教授 (中國) 因為他們探索所有國家今天面臨的大畫面的教育問題. 全球搜索教育社區頁面
ç. M. 魯賓是廣泛閱讀網上系列的作者, 全球搜索教育, 也是三本暢銷書, 其中 真正的愛麗絲夢遊仙境.
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