University
Preparatory Academy
Admissions Requirements
Admission:
University Preparatory Academy actively recruits a diverse student
population from throughout Santa Clara County. Admission to the school is open
to any resident of the State of California. Students are considered for
admission without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender
or disability or any other characteristic described in Education Code Section
220. The school strives through recruiting efforts to achieve a racial and
ethnic balance of students that reflects the general population within Santa
Clara County. UPA is committed to
maintaining a diverse student population, utilizing outreach efforts to recruit
students who traditionally have been underserved
UPA provides a rigorous
educational experience that includes longer hours and more school days than is
expected of them at other neighborhood schools.
No specialized admission
criteria are required; however, assessments may be administered to determine
the proper placement of students. All students who wish to enroll in the school
are enrolled unless the number of applications exceeds the number of seats
available in which case a public random drawing is held.
All students who are
interested in enrolling at the school are required to complete an application
for admission.
Parents must attend a
Parent Information Meeting to be eligible to enroll their student. Parent Information meetings are held
throughout the community during the months of December, January, February and
March. At Parent Information
meetings, prospective students and their parents or guardians are briefed
regarding the school’s instructional and operational philosophy and are
informed of the school’s student-related policies at numerous intervals,
including open houses, informational evenings, inclusion of these expectations
on the school web site, orientations, and interviews. Parents are asked to help
ensure that their child upholds the academic and behavioral rules of the
school, and are asked to acknowledge the UPA academic and behavior policies,
and support those policies.
Recruiting and Admissions Cycle:
UPA has established an
annual recruiting and admissions cycle, which includes reasonable time for (1)
outreach and marketing, (2) parent information meetings, tours and open houses
for students and parents, to familiarize themselves with the school (3) an
admissions lottery, if necessary (3) completion of forms and admissions
application after the lottery, (4) personal interviews of students and parents,
and (5) scheduling of classes.
The school fills
vacancies or openings that become available after this process using a waiting
list. The school admits students at any time during the school year on an
open-ended basis in order to better serve the transient local population, if an
opening is available. Please see Section 4 for additional details regarding the
school’s enrollment plan.
Timeline for Recruiting and Admissions:
Applications for admission
are made available in December of the previous year and are due by the 1st
Friday in March. UPA holds parent information meetings between December and
March so parents can learn more about the school before they apply.
Additionally, the school features and open house, scheduled for a weekend,
where any and all community members are able to attend the school to learn more
about what UPA offers their students.
Lottery – Public Random Drawing:
In the event that the
number of students seeking admission to any grade or class exceeds capacity, a
lottery is held as per the procedure outlined below.
Lottery
Procedure:
The process the School will use if more or fewer students register
per grade level than projected, including lottery and preferences
Fewer students
register per grade level than projected
·
If
there are fewer students registered per grade level following the enrollment
process, then UPA continues to process applications until all vacancies are
filled. The school actively recruits students to fill the classes. Students
whose applications are processed after the due date are placed on a waiting
list in the order received if there isn’t any class space available.
Lottery procedure
if more students register per grade level than projected
·
In
the event that the number of students seeking admission to any grade exceeds
capacity and each has completed the application process by the posted due date,
a lottery is held. Pulling slips of paper out of a container with applicants’
names on them completes the lottery process. The drawing is held in a public
forum. All eligible names are drawn from the container and those exceeding the
number of available spaces are placed on a waiting list in the order drawn. UPA
may grant admission preference to students who attended Canoas Garden
Elementary School and continue to reside in the school attendance boundary (for
SB 740 eligibility), to siblings, children of staff and board members, and *Low
socio-economic students provided that such preference shall be utilized only in
the event that a public random drawing is needed due to oversubscription.
Existing students of UPA
have an automatic right to continued enrollment in the school should they wish
to do so and shall not need to be included in the public random drawing. UPA
does grant preference in the public random drawing as to siblings of students
already attending UPA, children of UPA educators, administrators, and staff,
students who reside in the elementary school attendance area for Canoas
Elementary School (in accordance with Education Code Section 47605.3 and
47614.5), and students who are eligible to receive *Free or Reduced-Price Meals.
Any applicants not admitted through this public random drawing due
to capacity limitations will be placed on a waiting list and as space becomes
available, will be offered admission in the order in which their names were
drawn. Applications are accepted after the lottery and are added to the wait
list. The wait list does not carry over from one school year to the next.
*Following admission, UPA will conduct an audit of the
records of students who utilized this preference. Any student who utilized this
preference, but is not eligible to receive Free or Reduced-Price Meals, will
forfeit admission and be placed at the end of the wait list. This preference
will be capped at 25% of enrollment.