Home > Florida > Palm Beach County > Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Junior School
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Junior School
501 S Sapodilla Avenue, West Palm Beach, FL, 33401 -  Map
tel: (561)802-6000
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School Overview:
Definition of Terms Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Junior School
School Level High school
Grades Offered Grades 9 - 12
County Palm Beach County, FL
Awards Honored for National Blue Ribbon Award Blue Ribbon School – Selected in 2007  
Students & Faculty
Total Students 1327 students
% Male / % Female 35%  /  65%
Total Classroom Teachers 72 teachers
Students by Grade
Grade 9 - 364 students
Grade 10 - 336 students
Grade 11 - 319 students
Grade 12 - 308 students
This School ( FL ) School Average
Teacher : Student Ratio 1:18 1:16
Students by Ethnicity
This School ( FL ) School Average
% American Indian n/a n/a
% Asian 3% 2%
% Hispanic 12% 22%
% Black 9% 28%
% White 75% 47%
% Unknown 1 % 2%
Additional Student Information
This School ( FL ) School Average
% Eligible for Free Lunch 5% 42%
% Eligible for Reduced Lunch 2% 9%
% Migrant Students Enrolled n/a n/a
School Performance:
( FL ) Statewide Testing Performance
School Statewide Performance View Education Department Test Scores
School District:
School District Name Palm Beach County School District
This School's Agency ( FL ) District Average
Number of Schools Managed 236 20
Number of Students Managed 177,906 students 12,279 students
District Total Revenue $1,690,560,000 $110,828,000
District Expenditure $1,843,419,000 $112,427,000
District Revenue / Student $9,503 $7,795
District Expenditure / Student $10,362 $7,471
District Graduation Rates 85% 81%
School Notes:
  • Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. School of the Arts (DSOA) is a prestigious public arts magnet high school located in West Palm Beach, Florida. The school draws talented students from across Palm Beach County into one of its five art departments: Communications, Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Art. Students are said to 'major' in their art area, taking at least two art area classes per year. In addition, students complete the normal public school curriculum of math, science, English, history/social science, foreign language, health, and gym.
  • Audition process: Students audition for placement in the school throughout February and March. The audition process is coordinated by each of the individual departments, after which the school administration makes an overall assement of a prospective student's academic and behavioral record. Auditions rigorously test the student's artistic aptitude on a college level. Dreyfoos accepts a limited number of students in each art area. Students are encouraged to apply for placement in 9th and tenth grades; enrollment is generally more difficult, as competition can be high. Acceptance, rejection, and waitlist letters are then mailed to applicants in April.
  • Prospective applicants and their parents should contact the Palm Beach County School District.
  • Curriculum: Students in their first year at DSOA are given a fairly rounded course selection in their art area. Visual Arts majors, for example, take a year long drawing class as well as a semester of sculpture, and a semester of 2-D design. A few students are able to take photography. In subsequent years, students are allowed, and often encouraged to specialize in an area of the department; Communications majors may work in journalism, television or film, or speech and debate. Theater majors may focus primarily on technical theater, acting, or musical theater. Visual majors may concentrate on sculpture, painting, photography or printmaking. Dance majors train in a style such as ballet or modern. The one exception is music, in which a student is given intensive training in their instrument of expertise (or voice), for the duration of their high school career. Music departments include band, keyboards, orchestra, and vocal.
  • Alumni and accolades: Graduates attend a number of prestigious art colleges and conservatories, including California Institute of the Arts, Eastman School of Music, Juilliard, New England Conservatory, Maryland Institute College of Art and Tisch School of the Arts, among others. The school also has students at a number of top tier academic universities around the nation, such as Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Bard College, Cornell University, Georgetown, Harvard, MIT, New York University, Tufts University, the University of Southern California, Yale, and Princeton. The school earned the highest number of passing grades (3,4, or 5) on the Advanced Placement Arts tests out of any school worldwide for the 2003-2004 school year. Some of the school's notable Alumni include actress Nadia Bjorlin and her brother actor Ulf Bjorlin, and writer Wendy Guey.
  • Location: The school is adjacent to the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, and the outdoor mall Cityplace. Located across Tamarind Avenue is the Tri-Rail train station, which makes commuting for the students in the southern portion of the county fairly easy.
  • History: The school was previously named the Palm Beach County School of the Arts from its opening in August of 1990 until the opening of the new campus for the 1997-'98 school year. The original campus was the old North Shore High School campus in Mangonia Park, a neighborhood north of West Palm Beach. That campus is now the home of the Bak Middle School of the Arts, which recently received a generous donation from the Bak family and underwent major renovations.
  • Funding: Under the direction of School Board superintendent Arthur C. Johnson, specialty programs in Palm Beach County schools, including magnet schools and extracurricular programs, have been experiencing budget cuts. DSOA, which has a large yearly budget for purchasing art supplies and hiring experienced faculty, has been deeply effected by Johnson's fiscal policy. The School has survived the last several years through the generous donations of local philanthropists and careful financial management by the School of the Arts Foundation.
  • 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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School Zip Code:
About This Zip Code (33401)
School Zip (33401) (FL) State Average
Population (Approximate) 20,510 people 15,366,089 people
% (age 25+) w/College Degree 31% 27%
Population Average Age 39 years old 38.7 years old
Average Household size 2.0 persons 2.3 persons
Median Household Income $30,642 $38,451
Avg. # of Rooms in Household 4 rooms 5.0 rooms
Median Age of Housing Structure 35 years old 32 years old
View current housing listings in 33401
% Owning / % Renting 43% / 57% 67% / 33%
School Map:
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  Nearby Schools:
1. Survivors Charter School, Inc. - 317 students - view location
2. Forest Hill High School - 1807 students - view location
3. G-star School Of The Arts - 513 students - view location
4. Gulfstream Transition Academy - 14 students - view location
5. Palm Beach Lakes High School - 2248 students - view location
View all schools in: West Palm Beach Town, Palm Beach County, Zip 33401 
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Note: Data has been gathered from several government and commercial data sources. School data reflects years 2002-04 statistics (most recent years available). Area and demographic data reflects year 2000 statistics. Public School Review does not ensure the timeliness or accuracy of the information on this site.

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