FULTON & ALSBURY ACADEMY OF ARTS AND ENGINEERING

The 2023/2024 application window closed at 3:00 PM on March 31, 2023, and we received far more applications than seats available for the program, so we will have a long waitlist. Please check back with us in December 2023 for information about the lottery for the 2024/2025 school year.

A successful candidate has these qualities:

• The student is highly interested in the academic program we offer and understands it is very challenging
• The student is self-directed and motivated
• The successful candidate typically has at least a 3.00 GPA and CAASPP (state test scores) at "standards met" level in both English language arts and math
• Excellent attendance. Students who miss school will not be able to make up labs or experiments, and much of our work is collaborative and hands-on
• Expect to have two hours of homework per night every night, and often on weekends 

How Are Students Selected?

Parents must submit the application in order for their child to be included in the lottery. Incomplete applications are not valid. An email will verify that the application was successfully submitted. Applications that are not submitted by the deadline will be considered void. Parents must apply for the correct grade level, or the child will be placed at the end of the wait list. For example, if the child is currently in 5th grade and the parent applies for a grade other than 6th grade for the 2023-2024 school year, that student will be placed at the end of the 6th grade wait list. 

A computerized lottery will take place on Friday, April 7, 2023 at 3:00 PM.  All students will either be accepted or placed on the wait list.  That wait list will remain in effect until December 15, 2023. Parents will be notified of their child's status via email. For students are who are accepted in the lottery, parents or guardians must complete the registration for their accepted child for the 2023-2024 school year by Friday, April 28th, 2023 at 3:00 PM or their space will be given to the next child on the wait list. 

Children of permanent employees of the Lancaster School District receive preference in the lottery. They are also required to submit an application within the application window to be considered. Preference is also given to siblings of students who will attend concurrently. For example, if a 6th grader and an 8th grade sibling will be attending Fulton & Alsbury at the same time, preference is given to the new student. If a student is applying for any grade and their sibling will be in high school, preference is not given, since their attendance at Fulton & Alsbury is not concurrent. 

Parents do not need to complete "zone exception" paperwork until a child is accepted for enrollment. At that point, parents will receive information about how to do so. 

Important dates:

February 11, 2023 - Application window opens

March 31, 2023 at 3:00 PM - Application window closes

April 7, 2023 at 3:00 PM - The computerized lottery takes place and parents are notified within 24 hours

April 28, 2023 - Parents of accepted students must complete registration

December 15, 2023 - The waitlist for the 23/24 school year expires

About Us

The Fulton & Alsbury Academy opened in the fall of 2016, a public 6th-8th grade middle school in the Lancaster School District. Attending Fulton & Alsbury is an educational choice for academically motivated students interested in rigorous and relevant studies in arts and engineering. Our test scores are among the highest in southern California, we've been voted AV's Best Public School for the last five years, and we are proud of our students’ accomplishments!

Our district prides itself on offering options and excellence in education. The district’s four comprehensive middle schools offer a host of terrific after-school sports, music, band, drama, and foreign language options. Fulton & Alsbury doesn’t offer these, but we do offer a rigorous and engaging curriculum within our specialized areas of focus.

Our Structure:

Every student has three teachers in all three grade levels. One teacher teaches the math, science, and engineering courses, the second teaches language arts, history, and the art class, and they have PE daily with the third teacher. We have two pairs of content teachers at each grade level, for 140 students per grade and a maximum school enrollment of 420 students. In this small school environment students and teachers know one another very well. While are proud of our academic rigor and we place great value on creating a supportive, caring, and safe environment. Our students stand out for being nice.

Engineering Course:

We use a nationally recognized curriculum called Project Lead The Way (PLTW). Their middle school program, Gateway, takes students through nine courses over three years at Fulton & Alsbury. They are taught in the following order:

Every student uses a high-end laptop in class to run sophisticated software including Autodesk Inventor for 3D modeling. Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Air Force Research Lab and the support of the Lancaster School District, we have a 1:1 ratio of laptops to students. We are also grateful to Lockheed Martin and Verizon for their generous support of our school. Each donated $20,000 to our STEM program, allowing us to ensure students have all the materials for their elective classes.

Art Elective:

Our arts program provides a foundation in the visual arts, starting with the elements of art in 6th grade, the principles of design in 7th grade, and mixed media in 8th grade, including watercolors and acrylic painting. Our students learn that they can become competent in art through instruction and practice. Our focus is on making students feel proud of the artwork they produce.

Field Trips:

We enrich our program with visits to locations including the Getty Villa to study Greek and Roman cultures, the Ronald Reagan Library to deepen our understanding of U.S. history, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, the Cal Portland Cement Company, NASA Armstrong, the Air Force Test Pilot School, LPAC, and Lancaster City Hall. Visiting high school academies and universities is also an important component of the program. Our students speak with university students, interns, and those employed in the STEM fields to better understand the pathway these young men and women took to get where they are today.

Guest Speakers:

In order to learn about the world around them, we bring in many guest speakers to share their stories. We have heard from the CEOs of firms like Sage Cheshire Aerospace, Masimo, and Simulations Plus. We have spoken with the director of NASA Armstrong, NASA's chief scientist, and interns. We have spoken with a rocket propulsion expert from Virgin Galactic and a space and missile specialist from the Air Force Research Lab. We heard from an instructor at the Air Force's Test Pilot School. We Skyped with the director of a nuclear fusion laboratory in France and with a windmill expert who was inside of a turbine above the Kansas plain. Each of these talks led to a better understanding of how math and science can be applied to solve real world problems.

Clubs:

Robotics: Our robotics team won the state championship in 2017 and was invited to attend the VEX World Championship in Louisville, KY. There they competed with and against teams from across the country and around the world, including China, Mexico, New York, Michigan, and others.

Science Olympiad: Our students compete in a challenge of science knowledge and know-how, where attention to detail and the ability to study their subject carefully can lead to regional and state championships. We have made multiple appearances at the state finals, held at Caltech.

Environmental Club: Students take what they have learned in their "energy and the environment" class and have time after school to apply these lessons through the campus recycling program, Earth Day activities, tending the school garden, and putting into practice principles of sustainability. 

Can You Sum It Up?:

We are impressed that many visitors say, "I wish I had this kind of program when I was a kid!" Our students have summed it up by saying, "Fulton & Alsbury is challenging, and it's fun!" For those who enjoy arts and engineering, we can't agree more.

If you have questions, feel free to call us at (661) 899-STEM (7836).