New documentary lauds BASIS schools of Arizona

September 22, 2009

By hammersmith

[Source: Two Million Minutes, Broken Pencil Productions] — American students’ lackluster performance on international exams has given rise to a national discussion about increasing student achievement levels. While opinions and theories on how to accomplish this goal are plentiful, less common are concrete examples of what works.

Having revealed the frightening decline in student acheivement in the US in his first documentary, “Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination,” executive producer Robert A. Compton next searched the world for the best high schools in the hopes of discovering a solution to America’s education crisis.

Then, in Arizona, Compton discovered a school that teaches ordinary U.S. children at an extraordinarily high academic level. BASIS Schools demonstrates that American students are capable of competing academically with the best in the world given the right curriculum, the right teachers, the right inspiration, and expectation for success.

According to Mr. Compton, “[BASIS] is academically as rigorous as anything I have seen in the world. More rigorous than Finland, more rigorous than the best in India and China.” Despite the decline of public education, the decades ahead can be ones of prosperity and economic growth for the United States, provided the American people have the will and the leadership to embrace The 21st Century Solution.

For more information about the film, visit: http://www.2mminutes.com/