The story of the BASIS Curriculum Schools network began in 1998 when Dr. Michael and Olga Block, world-class economists and academicians, found that the traditional American education system had fallen far behind the best of those found in Europe and Asia. While they enjoyed the spirit and creativity in the American classrooms they saw, they also found that low expectations for American students led to a lack of curricular substance. The Blocks therefore created a brand new school in Tucson, Arizona, and BASIS Curriculum Schools were born, though initially with a small, single campus. The Blocks quickly discovered that students did not falter but instead thrived when challenged, rising to the levels of, and then surpassing, the best students in the world.