Prominent Independent School Provider BASIS to Open New School in McLean

One of the nation’s most rigorous and most successful independent school providers is opening its third school in McLean beginning with the 2016-17 school year.

BASIS.ed — which include 16 charter schools throughout the country and even abroad, as well as two established independent schools in Brooklyn, New York and the Silicon Valley — will open a new independent school in McLean at 8000 Jones Branch Dr.

The school plans to accept roughly 800 total students from preschool through the 10th grade at first, and the plan is to have the school extend its curriculum through the 12th grade by the 2018-19 academic year.

Tuition for the school in McLean, according to BASIS.ed’s website, will run parents about $25,000 per year (and about $22,000 for preschoolers). However, the school system also claims its collective 2014 graduating class throughout all of its schools garnered more than $22 million in combined merit scholarships over four years’ matriculation, noting that the education is not only worth the money, but may pay for itself in some capacity.

BASIS.ed is known for its challenging curriculum, and that curriculum is actually a part of the foundation of BASIS.ed’s mission in education. Its founders, prominent economics academicians Dr. Michael and Olga Block, found that in their classrooms the students educated outside the United States often out-performed the students educated in the U.S.

After looking into the source of this trend, they concluded American students were not being challenged enough, that the bar had been set too low in American schools, and that students who are regularly challenged are actually more motivated to overcome those challenges.

“They discovered that American students thrived when challenged, rising to and surpassing the best students in the world,” BASIS.ed’s website reads.

And the proof is in the pudding. In U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of the top high schools in America, BASIS.ed’s school in Scottsdale, Ariz., ranked No. 2 overall. Two BASIS.ed schools ranked atop the Washington Post’s list of the most challenging high schools in America, with a third BASIS.ed school cracking the top 10 at No. 6.

And in addition to the multi-millions earned by BASIS.ed graduates in the form of scholarship money, more than 20 percent of BASIS.ed graduates nationwide are accepted into one of the top 25 colleges and universities in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report.

BASIS Independent McLean is now the fourth prominent independent school located in the McLean area, joining The Madeira School, The Langley School and The Potomac School.

Registration for BASIS Independent McLean’s 2016-17 academic year will begin on Saturday, Aug. 1.

Image credit: BASIS.ed