Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School
CEEB Code: 440069
2014-2015 School Profile
7309 Lazy Creek Drive  Austin, TX 78724
Telephone: 512-414-LASA  Fax: 512-414-6050  Web site: www.lasaonline.org
SUMMARY
ADVANCED PLACEMENT
The Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) High School is a four-year
comprehensive, public, urban, advanced academic magnet high school of
1006 students. The class of 2015 numbers 235 students. The program
recruits the most academically advanced students from public and private
middle schools in Austin; as such, admission to LASA is competitive, based
on test scores, previous accomplishments and teacher recommendations.
An upperclassman will typically take 4 to 5 AP courses per semester. In
2014, on their own initiative, LASA students took 1684 Advanced Placement
tests with an 85% passing rate. Advanced Placement courses are offered in
the following areas: U.S. Government, Comparative Government, French
Language, Computer Science, Spanish Language, Statistics, Chinese
Language, Calculus AB/BC, English Literature, German Language,
Japanese Language and Culture, Latin, U.S. History, European History,
Studio Art, Biology, Music Theory, Physics B, Physics C:M/EM, Chemistry,
Environmental Science, Psychology, English Language, Economics:
Micro/Macro, Spanish Literature, Art History, World History, and Human
Geography.
HISTORY
The LBJ Science Academy, Austin’s first magnet program, was created in
1985. The Liberal Arts Academy at Johnston High School opened in
1987. The two programs were merged in 2002 and became the Liberal Arts
and Science Academy (LASA), housed on the Lyndon Baines Johnson High
School campus. In 2007, the school board voted to make LASA its own high
school. The two high schools, LASA and LBJ, are housed on the same
campus and still share fine arts and athletics classes. They compete in UIL
events as one school.
MISSION
LASA educates socially responsible leaders, problem solvers, and thinkers
through a nationally recognized, rigorous, innovative, interdisciplinary
curriculum.
STUDENT PROFILE
Race/Ethnicity (2014-2015)
Black/African-American
American Indian/Alaska Native
Asian/Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Multi-Racial
White
1.7%
0.1%
17.3%
21%
4%
55.8%
2013-14 RECOGNITIONS



Ranked #8 (#1 in Texas) in Newsweek’s America’s Best High Schools
Ranked #37 in US News and World Report’s Best High Schools in
America
Ranked #85 among American public high schools by The Washington
Post’s Challenge Index
POST SECONDARY PLACEMENT (Class of 2014)



94% matriculated to 4-year colleges and/or universities
5% matriculated to 2-year colleges
1% sought employment following graduation
CURRICULUM
The curricular expectations for LASA students exceed that of a traditional
curricular program. The curriculum for every course is written to go above
and beyond state and district standards. LASA courses move at a quicker
pace, cover more material, are project-based, and rely heavily on discussion
and seminar style delivery of course information or the use, interpretation,
and delivery of research.
SIGNATURE COURSES
One of the cornerstones of LASA is the group of courses known as
Signature Courses. These innovative classes are collaborative in nature.
Student groups research, design, implement and present projects in the
sciences and humanities. LASA freshmen take Electronic Magazine and
Science and Technology; sophomores take Planet Earth and Great Ideas.
These classes are described in more detail on the LASA Web site in the
Prospective Students section.
GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
LASA students complete a rigorous program of study that requires a
minimum of 26 credits for graduation. In addition to completing the
requirements for the state of Texas Distinguished Achievement Program (as
prescribed by the Texas Education Agency), students must complete a
minimum of 17 magnet credits to receive a Magnet endorsement upon
graduation.
GRADING SYSTEM
Letter Grade
Numeric Value Weighted value Unweighted
value
A
90 – 100
4.0 – 5.0
3.0 – 4.0
B
80 – 89
3.0 – 3.9
2.0 – 2.9
C
70 – 79
2.0 – 2.9
1.0 – 1.9
F
69 or Below
0.0
0.0
The theoretical maximum GPA is 4.8 on a 4.0 scale, reflecting the number
of required unweighted courses as well as 1 additional grade point for preAP, AP, and advanced courses. All courses are included in the cumulative
GPA. GPA information for the class of 2015 is as follows:
Highest GPA: 4.67
Lowest GPA: 2.15
CLASS RANK
Because admission to LASA is competitive and tested aptitudes are above
the national average, rank in class cannot be regarded as a valid indication
of preparation for college for the students at LASA. For this reason, we only
report class rank for the top ten percent of the senior class applying to Texas
public universities pursuant to Texas Education Code Section 51.803.
NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
Commended
Semifinalist
Finalist
National Achievement Scholars
National Hispanic Recognition
2011
34
35
35
1
7
2012 2013 2014
58
44
49
20
26
32
20
26
29
2
3
2
12
11
18
SAT DATA & SCORE DISTRIBUTION
(195 students)
Overall Mean
700-800
600-690
500-590
400-490
300-390
200-290
Class of 2014
CR
M
668
669
89
78
59
80
37
29
10
8
0
0
0
0
W
644
67
72
44
11
1
0
ACT SCORE DATA
(111 students)
E
Overall Mean 29.5
Class of 2014
M
R
S
29.8 29.8 29.4
LASA OFFICE PERSONNEL
Comp
29.5
Ms. Stacia Crescenzi– Principal
Ms. Kenisha Coburn – Academy Director
Mr. Marc Hernandez– Assistant Principal
Ms. San Czaplinski – Assistant Principal
Ms. Shannon Bergeron – Lead Counselor (A-G)
Ms. Carole McPherson – Counselor (H-Pa)
Dr. April Walker – Counselor (Pe-Z)
Ms. Jamie Kocian – College Counselor
Ms. Paula Boothe – Registrar
Ms. Claudia Villarreal – Guidance Secretary
2015
50
33
TBA
TBA
TBA
TRANSCRIPT EVALUATION
To aid in the evaluation of the transcript for admissions review, those
courses, where further explanation is deemed appropriate, are listed below
with corresponding codes. *LASA Signature Courses; (DC) – Dual Credit
Class Code
INT TO HUMAN
ELECTRONIC MAG
SCI TECH
PLANET EARTH
MATH IND STUDY
SCI R&D1
SCI R&D1/ROBOT
SCI R&D2/ROBOT
ENG PRESENT
Equivalent Course
Great Ideas*
Electronic Magazine*
Science-Technology*
Planet Earth*
Logic, Set Theory, and Proofs
Organic Chemistry
Robotics 2
Robotics 3
Eng Design and PresentationRobotics 1
Subject
Local Credit
Local Credit
Elective
Elective
Mathematics
Science
Science
Science
Career Tech Ed
Class Code
FIREFIGHTER1/2
ADV STUDIES SS
ENG IND1 STDY
ENG IND2 STDY
ENG IND3 STDY
JOURN IND STDY
RESEARCH SS 1st
SPEC TOPCS SS1
SPEC TOPCS SS2
SPEC TOPCS SS3
SPEC TOPCS SS4
TECH WRITING
Equivalent Course
Firefighter Academy
Model UN
Literature to Film
Philosophy
Songwriting
Newspaper/Yearbook Editors
AP Psychology-1st semester
Mock Trial
Constitutional Law
Contemporary Issues
Facing History
Music & Revolution
Subject
Career Tech Ed
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
Elective
COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY ACCEPTANCES FOR THE CLASS OF 2014
(#) – Designates where members of the class of 2014 matriculated and corresponding number enrolled
University of Aberdeen
Agnes Scott College
University of Alabama
Alaska Pacific University
Allegheny College
American University
American University of Paris
Amherst College
Angelo State University (2)
Arizona State University (2)
University of Arizona
Austin College
Austin Community College (9)
Bard College
Barnard College (1)
Baylor University (1)
Beloit College (1)
Bennington College
Berry College (1)
Blackburn College
Boston University (1)
Brandeis University (2)
Brown University (1)
Bryn Mawr College (1)
California Institute of Technology
University of California, Berkeley (3)
University of California, Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of California,Los Angeles (1)
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California at Santa Cruz
Canisius College (1)
Carleton College
Carnegie Mellon University (1)
Case Western Reserve University
College of Charleston
University of Chicago
University of Cincinnati (1)
Claremont McKenna College
Clark University (1)
Colby College
Colgate University (1)
University of Colorado at Boulder (3)
Colorado College
Colorado School of Mines
Colorado State University (2)
Columbia University
Concordia University of Austin
Connecticut College
University of Connecticut
The Cooper Union for the Advancement
of Science & Art (1)
Cornell College
Cornell University (1)
Davidson College
University of Denver
Drew University
Last Updated: September 15, 2014
Drexel University
Earlham College (1)
Eastern Washington University
Eckerd College
Elon University
Emerson College (1)
Emory University
University of Evansville
The Evergreen State College
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida Southern College
University of Florida
Fordham University
Fort Lewis College (1)
Franklin College Switzerland
Furman University
George Mason University
The George Washington University
Georgetown University (1)
Georgia Institute of Technology (1)
University of Georgia
Goucher College
Grinnell College
Hampshire College (1)
Harvard University (3)
Haverford College
Hendrix College (1)
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hofstra University
Houston Baptist University
University of Houston
Howard University
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
Illinois Institute of Technology
Indiana University at Bloomington
University of Iowa
Ithaca College
James Madison University
Johns Hopkins University (1)
Juniata College (1)
Kalamazoo College
University of Kansas
Kenyon College
Lamar University
Lawrence University
Lehigh University
Lewis and Clark College (1)
Long Island University-Brooklyn
Louisiana State University (1)
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University New Orleans
Macalester College
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
University of Maryland,College Park (1)
Marymount University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(2)
University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1)
McGill University
University of Miami (1)
Michigan State University
Michigan Technological University
University of Michigan
Millikin University
Millsaps College
University of Minnesota,Twin Cities (1)
University of Mississippi (1)
Mount Holyoke College (1)
Muhlenberg College
University of New Mexico
New York University (1)
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill
University of North Carolina at
Greensboro
University of North Carolina School of
the Arts
North Carolina State University
University of North Texas (7)
Northeastern University (1)
Northwestern University (1)
Ohio Wesleyan University
University of Oklahoma
Old Dominion University
University of the Pacific (1)
Pennsylvania State University
University of Pittsburgh
Point Park University
Pomona College
Prairie View A&M University
Pratt Institute
University of Puget Sound (1)
Purdue University
Radford University
University of Redlands
Reed College (1)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (3)
Rhodes College (3)
Rice University (3)
University of Rochester
Rutgers University
Saint Mary’s College of California
University of San Diego
University of San Francisco
Santa Clara University
Savannah College of Art and Design
Schreiner University (2)
Scripps College
Seattle University
Seton Hall University
Skidmore College
Smith College (1)
Soka University of America
University of Southern California (2)
Southern Methodist University
Southwestern University (4)
Spelman College
University of St. Andrews (1)
St. Edward’s University (5)
St. John’s University
St. Mary’s University (1)
St. Olaf College
Stanford University (2)
Stephen F. Austin State University
SUNY College of Environmental Science
and Forestry
Swarthmore College
Syracuse University
University of Tampa
Temple University
Texas A&M University (17)
Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi
Texas A&M University, Kingsville
Texas Christian University
Texas Lutheran University
Texas State University (1)
Texas Tech University (3)
University of Texas, Arlington (1)
University of Texas at Austin (30)
University of Texas, Dallas (16)
University of Texas, Pan American (1)
University of Texas, San Antonio (7)
University of Toronto
Trinity University (5)
Tulane University (2)
University of Tulsa
Tuskegee University
University of the Incarnate Word
Ursinus College
University of Utah
Vanderbilt University
University of Vermont
University of Victoria
University of Virginia
Wake Forest University
Washington University in St. Louis (1)
University of Washington (1)
Webster University
Wesleyan University (1)
Wheaton College IL (1)
Whitman College
Whittier College
Willamette University (1)
College of William and Mary (1)
Williams College
Wingate University
University of Wisconsin, Madison (1)
The College of Wooster
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Yale University (1)