The Preuss School, which is jointly chartered by the San Diego Unified School District and the University of California, San Diego, opened in 1999 with 150 students in grades 6 ~ 8. Currently, there are 760 students in grades 6 ~ 12.
The Preuss School students are culturally diverse with 59% Hispanic, 12% African American, 23% Asian/Indo-Chinese and 6% Caucasian.
Preuss students are selected through a process of application and lottery.
To be eligible for the lottery, a student must meet three criteria:
1) All students must meet the federal school guidelines for economic support known as "Title One" or "Free or Reduced Lunch" subsidy.
2) The parents or chief guardians are not graduates of a four-year college or university.
3) Student applicants must demonstrate high motivation and family support as defined by the highly successful AVID program in San Diego schools.
The Preuss School is housed in a $14 million dollar facility on the UCSD campus which is funded entirely by community donors.
Three critical areas are employed based on how to improve education practices:
1) Expanded school year (198 days vs. the
traditional 180 days)
2) Extended school day (7 hours vs. the traditional
6 hours)
3) Smaller class size in all grades (27 students
vs. 34 students district-wide)
Preuss logs 74,669 instructional minutes compared to the State requirement of 64,800.
