Stanton+College+Preparatory+School+Jacksonville,+Fla.

Status: NOT a miracle school Main Reasons: Does not have low poverty, has selective admissions.

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/21/ten-miracle-high-schools/stanton-college-preparatory-school-jacksonville-fla.html

Stanton College Preparatory School (SCPS) has a student body that in no way mirrors the larger Duval Country School System, the 22nd largest school system in the country. The larger system has approximately 47% of its students receiving free or reduced meal prices, whereas SCPS has about about 12% according to the SchoolDigger data base. Drawing from a district with over 100,000 students, SCPS has done a remarkable job of "creaming" the best and the brightest, and of course, the more economically advantaged students from all racial and ethnic groups. Diversity exists, but not in the ways that Newsweek portrays it. Almost as an aside, in 2010 the school did not make AYP. We point this out because we are also very critical of NCLB.

[|School Web Site]

Going to the school's web site you will find an incredible wealth of information... for our purposes here the following information sheds a lot of light on why this school performs very well. Again, from the "Admissions" section of their own website you will find that there are two programs at SCPS. The "Honors" program and the "International Baccalaureate" or IB program.

"**Magnet Lottery for Stanton's Honors Program for the Gifted and Talented"** is the first category found... and I have to admit I thought it was a program for students identified as Gifted and Talented. After calling the Magnet office, I was told this was not technically true, but perhaps you can see my puzzlement at the title. The students must have taken and completed (and should we assume passed) Algebra I in the 8th grade. Seems to me the combination is going to certainly draw students from the higher-achieving tail of the belle curve of student achievement. The person I spoke with cautioned me... in a not so subtle way, that ALL courses would be either AP or honors.... again suggesting that an average student may not be able to keep up.

Students enrolled in the 8th grade for the 2009-2010 school year who earned a score of 4 or higher on the 7thgrade FCAT Reading and Math, or 87th percentile on an equivalent 7th grade nationally standardized exam (private schools or transfer students) are eligible to apply. In addition, students must successfully complete Algebra I while in middle school in order to enter the 9th grade program.
 * __ Eligibility to apply __** (this is for the IB Program)

__**School Statistics**__ http://www.duvalschools.org/reseval/Schools/SchoolResearchData.asp?School=153 http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/default.asp?action=main (school is in Duval county) Has only 16% Free/Reduced lunch. Also with 477 9th graders but only 315 12th graders, suggests 34% attrition. Lunch% || 2010 504 9th graders 2009 430 9th graders
 * ~ Date ||~ Enrollment ||~ 9th ||~ 10th ||~ 11th ||~ 12th ||~ Asian% ||~ Black% ||~ Hispanic% ||~ Mixed% ||~ White% ||~ Free/Reduced
 * 6/13/2011 || 1576 || 477 || 443 || 341 || 315 || 16 || 26 || 7 || 3 || 49 || 16 ||

(How is it possible for Newsweek not to consider this a merit based admissions program is beyond my ability to comprehend!)

'Nuff said.... this is a school with a very small proportion of low-income students, they are spending more at the school per student than the state or district average ([|School Financials]), they use entrance criteria designed and likely to eliminate lower achieving students,and as far as their facilities, the building and campus look a bit like a small community college, and not necessarily a low-budget one! I just have to note that the school was begun by African-Americans after the Civil War, and that African-Americans now make us a small percentage of the total enrollment at the school.

Interesting comments from the readers of this Jacksonville newspaper. [|Read the comments!]