Charter School PCS Picked Best in the State

Pacific Collegiate School, the college preparatory charter school founded in 1999, was picked second-best in the state and eighth in the country by a US News & World Report survey for 2012.

The 475-student charter school has consistently been in the top of the rankings since its inception.

It has also been at the top of the controversy scale, as some public school devotees claim that although entry is random it is more like a private school. Parents are asked to donate $3,000 a year, they say,  and it has a lower percentage of poor students than other public schools.

The school requires students to take at least AP college level classes.

PCS is also about to lose its building. The campus was leased to it by the Santa Cruz City School District, which plans to reopen Natural Bridges Elementary School in the Swift Street building.

PCS hasn't yet found a new location but it has a strong economic position with a multimillion dollar reserve fund and powerful backers. Its board includes Brett Graessle, Intel's development director; the city of Santa Cruz's economic development director Bonnie Lipscomb; and attorney and NextSpace cofounder Caleb Baskin.

"I commend Pacific Collegiate School on their accomplishments for they have clearly exceeded my, and the communities, expectations,"said Santa Cruz County School Superintendant Michael Watkins.

"I have to especially recognize the teaching staff for being the catalyst behind the strong high student achievement. And although some may contend that their demographics portend success it is important to note that there are any schools across this nation with similar student populations with far inferior results."

The schools are ranked not only on college preparedness, but how they served all students and how they served the least-advantaged students. See more here.

Three broad criteria are used by the magazine to determine its ratings:

• College Readiness Index. Based on the percentages of 12th graders who were tested and passed AP exams. 
• Academic Performance Index. A measure of performance and growth of schools based on a variety of academic indicators. Possible scores are from 200 to 1000.
• Student/Teacher Ratio. California schools average 20/1.

PCS  with 475 students had a CRI of 100 percent. Its API was 935. And with 27 teachers, its teacher/student ratio is 17:1.

Harbor High School  with 1,000 students was ranked #330 on the list in California and #1,420 in the country. Its College Readiness was 25.5; API was 787 and it doesn't list its student-teacher ratio.

Santa Cruz High School  with 1133 students wasn't ranked. It had a CRI of 21.1 and Academic Performance of 785. It didn't list student-teacher ratio.

Scotts Valley High School with 802 students was ranked 135th in the state and 709th in the country. It had a CRI of 39.3. Its API was 844 and its teacher student ratio is 24:1.