Solar Preparatory School for Girls is an exciting new Choice School in the Dallas Independent School District.

Opening in August 2016, it will be located at the former James B. Bonham Elementary School, 2617 N. Henderson Ave. This unique school will be accepting student applications for kindergarten, first and second grade in the 2016-2017 school year. Solar Prep will grow one grade level per year until it serves kindergarten through eighth grade. The school is open to all girls living within Dallas ISD. Bus transportation will be provided.

Solar Prep will prepare young girls to become trailblazers and leaders in the classroom and beyond. In core subjects, girls actively explore real-world problems and challenges, learning next-generation skills through hands-on projects, use of technology, and an integrated STEAM curriculum (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics). Solar Prep will also focus on strength of character, emotional health, and empowerment for young girls.

To be accepted into Solar Prep, students must complete and submit an application to the Office of Transformation and Innovation between January 6 and January 29. Applications can be completed online or on paper. A blind, randomized, computerized selection will be conducted. No student academic information will be considered in this process. Students will either be accepted into the school or placed on the waiting list.

There will be a weighted admissions process for Solar Prep based on a student’s socioeconomic status in order to create a socioeconomically diverse student body. Half of the seats will be reserved for economically disadvantaged students, and half of the seats will be reserved for students who are not economically disadvantaged, based on federal and state guidelines.

Research shows that socioeconomically balanced schools are ideal learning environments for all students. In such settings, low-income student performance significantly increases, middle-class student performance sustains, and all students experience social and moral benefits such as learning tolerance, learning to work with people from different backgrounds, and rejecting false stereotypes. There are school districts across the country that have committed to pursuing socioeconomic diversity as a proven strategy to improve student achievement.

For more information about Solar Preparatory School for Girls, please visit www.dallasisd.org/solarprep.