The+Preuss+School+UCSD+La+Jolla,+Calif.

Status: NOT a miracle school Main Reason(s): Selective admissions policy.

Was #1 on June 2011 list of Newseek's top 10 miracle schools http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/21/ten-miracle-high-schools.all.html http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/21/ten-miracle-high-schools/the-preuss-school-ucsd-la-jolla-calif.html

I was able to download several SARC report cards.

Class of 2011 has gone from 129 in 2005 to 100 in 2010. Main good stat is the Language Arts score of 92.5% passing for 11th graders in 2010.

That group, however, was outlier from the beginning: 6th grade was 81.8% 7th grade 84.9% 8th grade was 80.8% 9th grade was 90% 10th grade was 90.1% 11th grade was 92.5%

The following three conditions must be met for a student to be enrolled.... this is taken directly from the schools website. Note the third requirement... the school determines whether students meet this requirement or not... does it sound suspiciously like requiring entrance quality requirements to you? • All families must meet income eligibility criteria as defined by Federal guidelines. You may view these guidelines **__ [|here] __ **. • The parents or chief guardians are NOT graduates of a four year college or university. • Student applicants must demonstrate motivation and potential to attend an academically competitive university or college.

This last item is one of the classic ways that schools ensure that only highly successful and motivated students get in!

I think it is safe to say that if you require that students demonstrate "motivation and potential to attend an academically competitive university of college" and it is the school that determines this... that you are, in fact, as a school, NOT non-selective in your application process.

Might also be worth noting that the school is an architecturally wonderful modern school, built using private funds, and maintained by the university. Nice, huh?

Links to SARCs 2011 http://preuss.ucsd.edu/documents/Preuss%20SARC%20Report.pdf 2010 http://preuss.ucsd.edu/documents/About/Preuss%20SARC%20Report%202011.pdf 2006 http://preuss.ucsd.edu/documents/SARC348S.pdf 2005-2006 http://preuss.ucsd.edu/documents/SARC348L.pdf