The Preuss School, located on the University of California San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla, California, is a charter middle and high school dedicated to providing a rigorous college prep education for motivated low-income students who will become the first in their families to graduate from college. As part of UCSD, a major research institution, The Preuss School also serves as a model school to study and develop best practices in the preparation of low-income, urban students for college admission to be disseminated to improve public education. Read more >

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The Preuss School has been ranked #16 in the nation by Newsweek, #2 school in California.


Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2009 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 6 percent of public schools measured this way.
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Congratulations, Ms. Artz!

 

Ms. Anne Artz, Science Teacher/Chair, Science Department, was recently recognized by the award of the Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence, for which she received $5,000. (The school also receives $5,000 to help its science program.) This award recognizes the top science teachers in K-12 education. Outstanding!


Southbay Volkswagen donates two vans to the Preuss School UCSD


On March 26, the school accepted two VW Routan vans, which have been donated by South Bay Volkswagen for use by the athletic department. President and Owner Rudy Erm turned over the vans to Principal Scott Barton, in a ceremony celebrated by The Preuss School UCSD cheerleaders, student athletes, and coaches. This event was made possible by the hard work of Ms. Lisa Hawk, Head of the Athletic Department, so that more transportation would be available to transport student athletes to games and matches.


Congratulations Ms. Kovacic!!


"All of my students will be the first generation of their families to graduate from college.” — Kelly Kovacic

Kelly A. Kovacic—2010 California Teacher of the Year


Kovacic is an eleventh and twelfth grade social studies teacher at The Preuss School USCD in La Jolla, California. She has taught a total of eight years, all at Preuss, a school of 819 students. "Like most teachers I meet people who have a perplexing view of our profession. They understand the importance of education but fail to see the connection between a quality teaching environment, student achievement and a healthy nation. They expect professional performances by teachers but don't view them as full-time professionals. They entrust their child to teachers throughout the most formative years but don't encourage that child to choose teaching as a viable and meaningful career. At my school I have seen the power of a functioning educational system that can transform a student from one who has all but given up to one whose passion to learn is ignited and whose future is reclaimed. We have the power as teachers, administrators, parents and community members to make that difference, but must model what we ask of students through the efforts we exert, funding we support, academic rigor we instill and the standards we fulfill."

Click here to hear Ms. Kovacic’s speech:


Hanna Fekede, Preuss 8th grader shines at IOC Presentation

Hanna went to Switzerland as a squash player to present a case to have Squash as an Olympic sport in 2016. Hanna was extremely impressive during her presentation, so much so that she brought tears to the eyes of the IOC and also received the loudest ovation of the presenters.[Read more...]


UCSD News: Preuss School Principal and Student are Named To Bezos Scholars Program at the Aspen Institute

Scott Barton, principal of the Preuss School at UC San Diego, and Paul Tran, a Preuss School junior, have been selected as 2009 Bezos Scholars, a program which brings together 12 of the nation's top public high school juniors and 12 of the most engaged educators for a weeklong seminar. [read more]


BusinessWeek Best School

Business Week and Great Schools names The Preuss School as "Best Low-income School" in the State of California. For more information, click here.


Title 1 Award Winners

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced that 200 California schools have been selected for the 2008-09 Title I Academic Achievement Award. They represent 88 school districts in 27 counties. The Preuss School UCSD is among those listed here. The full news release may be found on the California Department of Education website.


Classic Cars for Classic Kids, by The Preuss School, UCSD, La Jolla California

The Preuss School moves up from No.10 to No.8 by U.S. News


The Preuss School UCSD has been ranked the 8th best public high school by US News and World Report in 2008 among 21,000 public schools across 48 states. The top 100 list may be viewed here.

 

For more information on how schools were ranked,visit the magazine's explanation of methodology.