As teacher Robert Lee observes from behind them, Matt Balanda, left, Andy Berger and Sean Saleh work on a 2D kinematics project during an Advanced Placement physics class at BASIS Charter School. Challenging classes like this helped get the Midtown school named the top U.S. high school.

James S. Wood / Arizona Daily Star

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BASIS Tucson's Upper School sits in a building next door to a bank.

The white-walled classrooms are bare of the standard educational posters of colorful literary giants or I-think-I-can slogans.

There's no playground and no cafeteria — kids spill across the street to El Con Mall for lunch.

But what the school at 3434 E. Broadway lacks in frills, it compensates for with accolades that just keep rolling in.

Newsweek earlier this year named it No. 1 on its list of America's Best High Schools — an honor emblazoned on a banner in front of the school. No other area school made the list.

Every one of its 10th-grade students passed each of the AIMS test categories, according to recent figures from the state Department of Education. And 92 percent of 10th-graders exceeded the math standard — compared with 14 percent of 10th-graders statewide.

And the Arizona Charter Schools Association on Wednesday named it one of the three best charter schools in the state, with Mesa Arts Academy and Khalsa Montessori in Phoenix.

The school's academics-on-steroids reputation has triggered phone calls from around the nation from other schools looking for always elusive answers on what works when it comes to educating kids.

Carolyn McGarvey, the upper school's director, insists that all schools can follow the BASIS model, which is described as combining the rigor of the European system with the creativity of the American one.

"All we're doing is focusing on academics. And we are absolutely rigid with it," she said.

The recognition comes with a few caveats.

The Newsweek survey doesn't factor in subjective measurements such as teacher quality and extracurricular activities. And it kicks out any schools that require entrance exams or pull in high concentrations of students with SAT or ACT scores far above average, which is why you won't see University High School on the list. Instead, it looks at participation rates on challenging courses and tests among a more typical school population.

The heightened visibility has brought some criticism.

"It's almost like they get punished for being so wonderful," said Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for the charter association. "I think there are a lot of misperceptions about charter schools, and you definitely see it with BASIS —that people think they can choose their students, which is absolutely not true."

Julia Toews, who teaches English and doubles as the college counselor, said she gets three primary reactions when she tells people about her job. Some have never heard of the school. Some say they hear good things and want to know the secret. And some say, "Oh, you work at that elitist school."

That looking-down-the-nose perception is a bit of a sore spot with director McGarvey, who stresses that the school pulls from every zip code in the city, drawing kids from the South Side, Vail, Sahuarita and Marana. Two years ago, she even had a student living on his own in a youth shelter. Teachers and administrators would help him with rides on the days he couldn't take the three buses it took to get across town.

"We have kids come in with all levels of academic strengths and weaknesses but they have one thing in common," McGarvey said. "They want to come here and work."

Even though there's no entrance exam to get in, common sense holds that there's an element of self-selection involved.

Parents are told upfront that they can expect up to two hours of homework a night.

While Algebra 1 is a state high school requirement for the graduating class of 2012, BASIS students have to clear Algebra 2 by eighth grade. The lowest level of high school math offered? Pre-calculus.

Each year, students who can't pass a final content exam in their subjects are held back. And to ensure they don't get that far, students who are struggling have to meet weekly with McGarvey, with proof from their teachers that they attended office hours and did their homework.

Then there's the centerpiece of the high school program: The school requires students take six Advanced Placement exams to graduate. It doesn't mean they have to pass all of them, but it does get them used to sitting for exams they might see at the university level, McGarvey said. Nearly 75 percent of students who took the tests last year passed at least one of them.

McGarvey said the success of the school hinges on teamwork.

Toews agreed. Last week found her eighth-graders debating the quote: "To call a story a true story is an insult to both art and truth." Even she was surprised at how deeply they delved into such an abstract concept. "The only reason I could do that was because I know what the fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade teachers expected out of the students. At the same time, I know where my kids have to be when they leave so they're ready for the ninth grade."

The school isn't for everyone.

Julia Date, an interior decorator, said her 11-year-old daughter considered BASIS when it looked as if she wouldn't be able to get into their first choice, Dodge Middle School in the Tucson Unified School District.

The family tried a summer program at BASIS, but when a slot opened at Dodge for this year, they took it. "She hated it that there wasn't a playground and she wanted a bigger student body," Date said.

Her daughter did worksheets all summer and placed into an accelerated math program at Dodge. "She made great progress just in the time she was there for summer school. But your kid has to really want to be there. And they'll tell you that."

Ask BASIS students and they'll generally say the same thing when asked what they like best about it: They feel a sort of in-it-together vibe at the school, where students will hang out voluntarily after school together and help each other with assignments.

Still, on occasion, even students who go there — and like it — have considered leaving.

Tenth-grader Tristan Hasman, 15, who has been at BASIS since fifth grade, started the school year at Rincon High School. She only lasted about a week. "Everyone knows each other here (at BASIS), so it's a very personal learning experience," Hasman said.

And even though she cops to finding math challenging and history a struggle, she was worried about academics in the more traditional school.

"When I looked at what they were going to be doing, I had already done many of the same things in sixth and seventh grade," she said. "I couldn't sit through a year of that."

Her 16-year-old peer, Taylor Evans, who has been at BASIS since seventh grade, also recently returned from a foray into the traditional public system at Tucson High Magnet School. "I thought maybe less work would be nice, but it was massive and I missed it here," she said.

Evans, who wants to be a pastry chef, said she struggles with math, too, but noted that she gets a lot of help because the school has small class sizes.

On a bad night, she said, homework can consume three hours. "It's a fair amount, but I'm used to it now."

The founders of the school, Michael and Olga Block, couldn't be interviewed for the story. They were visiting schools in Finland, ranked No. 1 in the world by some measurements for academic achievement.

So while BASIS might get bragging rights as No. 1 in the nation, that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.

Said McGarvey: "We're trying to compete with the world and we need to see what they're doing out there."