- The Preuss School (commonly Preuss (IPA:/pɻoːyːs/), Preuss School UCSD, or Preuss Model School) is a coeducational college-preparatory charter day school established in 1999 on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla, California, United States. The school was named in recognition of a gift from the Preuss Family Foundation and is chartered under the San Diego Unified School District.
- Preuss uses an intensive college preparatory curriculum to educate low-income students between sixth and twelfth grades,
- History
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A group of faculty members at the University of California San Diego first conceived the idea of establishing a college-preparatory school for minority groups after California Proposition 209, a state measure that banned the use of affirmative action, passed in 1996. It was their belief, as expressed by Cecil Lytle, provost of Thurgood Marshall College, that public universities were not active enough in creating educational opportunities for the state's most disadvantaged youth. Faculty members Hugh "Bud" Mehan and Peter Gourevitch proposed establishing a college-preparatory school that would admit only low-income youths with the potential of becoming first-generation college students. In 1997, the proposal was sent to the regents of the University of California for approval. The regents, citing a need for private funding and strong oversight, rejected the proposal.
- Controversies
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In its history, Preuss has been the subject of two controversies. The first arose in March 2005 when a study, released by UCSD through CREATE, concluded that students who applied to the charter school but lost out in the subsequent lottery did as well in standardized testing as students who won in the lottery and were accepted. This led to speculation that Preuss was a boutique charter school that attracted highly motivated students while leaving less-motivated students to the mainstream public schools. It also led to the criticism that the school's practices were no more progressive than any other public school. The study found, however, that the number of college preparatory (A–G) courses and advanced placement (AP) classes taken by Preuss students was higher than the number taken by their peers who lost in the lottery.
- The second, more publicized controversy, arising in the fall of 2007, involved accusations of grade tampering. The accusations, whose source was past faculty and included a former teacher who filed a legal claim against the school, The audit was later challenged by a group of UCSD professors who questioned its statistical analysis and the method by which its testimonial evidence was gathered. The Association of California School Administrators also voiced concerns about the audit and said that the auditors did not appear to understand the role of the principal or the goals of the school. Later UCSD Vice Chancellor Paul Drake said on National Public Radio (NPR) that in the audit "they were never able to exactly prove who had done what or why".. On June 9 2008, Dr. Doris Alvarez made public an official statement and detailed rebuttal of the UCSD Audit. Dr. Alvarez described and documented numerous violations of internal audit standards and requested that the audit be reviewed by an independent third party, like the Bureau of State Audits or the Institute of Internal Auditors. After not being allowed to include her statements along the audit on the UCSD Web Site, Dr Alvarez made her statements public available at her own site: http://dorisalvarez.org.
- Facilities
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From the beginning, finding a place for Preuss was a concern. It was quickly decided that it would be best for the school to be on the UCSD campus to allow students a look at university life. However, finding a suitable location proved difficult because all the land on campus was already in use. For the first year of its existence, the school was housed on the campus of the Thurgood Marshall College, in a building called "La Casa", surrounded by eucalyptus trees and within walking distance of UCSD's main library, Geisel Library. The campus has fivebuildings for classrooms; each building has sixclassrooms, three on the first story and three on the second. The one exception to this is the science building, which requires more room for labs and hence has fourrooms in its building. The campus includes an office area; a gymnasium used for physical education, music, and choirs; an outdoor cafeteria; a library that includes a media and resource center; and a lacrosse and soccer facility. The front of the school includes a loading and unloading dock for the school buses. While an open campus for its initial years, by the 2006 school year the Preuss campus was fenced around the perimeter. During the 2007 school year, a side field formerly used for athletics was paved over and converted to two additional bungalow buildings intended to be used for music and the arts.
- Academics
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A goal of Preuss is to have every student accepted to a college or university. The school shapes its curriculum around college entrance requirements, especially those of the University of California.
- Every Preuss student studies Spanish or Japanese for at least three years, with an option for as many as five. Each student takes math courses for seven years. On the Preuss campus, students study basic algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, and calculus for two years and later take more advanced courses on the UCSD campus, which they travel to via shuttle. Required science classes include Earth sciences, physics, biology, and chemistry. Required history classes cover Western civilization, as well as U.S. history, European history, and government and politics at the advanced placement (AP) level. English and physical education are also included in the required core curriculum.
- Through all seven years at Preuss, students are required to take an advisory course known as university prep. In addition to this and other required courses, during sixth, seventh, and eighth grades each student chooses one elective course per semester. In ninth and tenth grades students take a year-long elective, while in eleventh and twelfth they choose two year-long electives. Electives have included robotics, engineering, drama, student's union (known as Associated Student Body or ASB), journalism, publications, music, music technology, and public speaking. In 12th grade, each student completes a senior internship, usually on the UCSD campus.
- Preuss also has a policy on advanced placement (AP) courses. Students are required to take AP classes while in high school at Preuss, and most take their first such class in their freshmen year. This requirement is meant to improve the students' chances for college admission and to reduce the number of college courses these low-income students might later have to take and pay for. By graduation, Preuss students will have taken at least six AP courses.
- Schedule
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Preuss uses a different schedule from most schools to make room for all the courses offered. Both the school year and school day are longer than normal. The school year is 198days (compared with 180days for traditional schools),
- Graduation requirements
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Every Preuss student who hopes to graduate must complete at least 10 volunteer hours each year and a total of 65 by the end of senior year.
- Faculty
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The tasks of the faculty members at Preuss extend beyond teaching. On Fridays, the teachers meet for twohours to discuss staff development, trends in education, and student work, and each teacher creates an annual portfolio to present to the rest of the faculty at the end of the year. Preuss signs one-year contracts with its faculty members and does not grant tenure.
- Student life
- Athletics
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Preuss requires physical education through the tenth grade. At this point, students may chose to opt out and take another elective or try out for one of Preuss' five athletic teams. All Preuss teams compete in Division IV of the San Diego section of the California Interscholastic Federation. Offered sports include cross country running, soccer, basketball, and lacrosse for boys and girls, as well as volleyball for girls only. Most Preuss teams are non-league and have yet to develop rivalries with other schools. Preuss has yet to win a section title game, although it appeared in one in boys' soccer in 2006–07. The game resulted in a 5–1 loss to repeat champion Francis Parker.
- Clubs
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A majority of Preuss clubs and organizations meet after school until 5:30p.m., when the late-activity buses take up to 256students home. A large number of the clubs are science-related. Robotics is popular on the Preuss' campus, which has teams that compete in robotics-related events sponsored by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), as well as teams that compete in botball games played by robots they have built.
- School clubs include Science Olympiad; Oceanography Club; and the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and the Black Chemical Engineers Club which focus on practicing for Quiz Bowl-like events. Other science-related clubs include a medical engineering club, the students well-being advocacy program (SWAP), and an organ donation club which promotes the process to students.
- Preuss encourages outreach and service clubs such as the Rotary-sponsored Interact, an organization similar to Key Club that helps involve students in community-service events. Others include the Preuss chapter of the National Honor Society. Though very prestigious, NHS fails to make a real impact on the community and only has one "great" event each year. Ecology club that runs the school's recycling program, and a student-to-student mentorship program.
- Other clubs on campus include a chess club, an urban dance league, and an arts collective. Preuss also has a choir that offers two concerts annually and has performed in other school events such as the "La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Stars in Their Eyes" concert. A tennis club has also been formed.
- Events
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The Preuss middle school and its high school each hold threedances per year. Two of the high school dances are the ASB Ball and the Prom. The students' union (ASB) also sponsors a school-spirit week, a talent show, a sports day, and a Shakespeare festival. Classic Cars for Classic Kids, an annual fundraiser featuring vintage cars and student exhibits, is held to raise the large sums, $375,000 in 2004, that the school needs to lease school buses.
- See also
- Primary and secondary schools in San Diego, California
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- External links
- Preuss School Website
- FIRST Robotics Team 812
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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