In the spring of 1907, the Institute decided to focus on the college level and closed the grammar school. Citrus tycoon and notedeugenicistEzra S. Gosney donated $12,500, a sum matched by twelve other donors. This money allowed them to purchase the property at the present site, originally an orange grove. The school opened in October 1907 with 106 students. At the time, the school was named PolytechnicElementary School. The school added a ninth grade in 1918 and expanded to high school in 1959. Polytechnic ended itspre-kindergarten program in 2005.
Poly has a rigorous academic curriculum, which includesAdvanced Placement andHonors classes as well as arts and athletic programs. In 2006, Poly was named a world leader in student participation and performance onAdvanced Placement exams by theCollege Board. The school frequently had the highest percentage of its students receive a 3 or above on theAP Calculus AB examination when compared to all other small schools administering the test across the globe, according to the College Board.[2]
Los Angeles Magazine has also consistently recognized Poly as one of the best high schools in Los Angeles. The September 2008 issue praised Poly for its "national reputation for producing scholars, artists and athletes." Using test score data, the September 2014 issue ofLos Angeles Magazine ranked Poly 2nd of 75 Los Angeles high schools. With an average score of 2150, Poly students had the highest average SAT score of any school included in the rankings.[5]The Washington Post ranked Poly the 84th most challenging high school in the United States in 2017.[6] In their 2022 evaluations,Niche ranked Poly as the 3rd best private high school in Los Angeles,[7] the 9th best private high school in California,[8] and the 36th best private high school nationally.[9]
Polytechnic School covers 15 acres and is divided by Cornell Road into two campuses, north (Lower and Middle School) and south (Upper School), and is adjacent to theCaltech campus. Most of the North Campus buildings were designed byMyron Hunt, who also designed theRose Bowl andThe Huntington, and Elmer Gray, who designed theBeverly Hills Hotel and thePasadena Playhouse. Some of the classrooms on the lower campus were also done byGordon Kaufmann, andRoland Coate. The Cornett Mansion (now called the Haaga House) in the south campus was designed in 1907 and serves as the administration building and houses several classrooms for the Upper School. Facilities include a Lower and Middle School Library, Upper School Library, Pool, Boys and Girls Gyms, Athletic field, Performing Arts Center, and historic as well as new classrooms.[citation needed]
Poly's Athletic Department currently offers 25 Varsity sports in the three seasons of play and is a member of thePrep League. Poly has been competing in theCalifornia Interscholastic Federation (CIF) since 1962. In 2016–17, 82% of the students in the Upper School participated in some type of sport.
The CIF Southern Section has recognized Poly for its commitment to sportsmanship and awarded Poly the CIF Southern Section Jim Staunton Champions of Character Award in 2012. Poly was named the ESPN Rise California/Cal-Hi Sport's Division 5 School of the Year in 2011.
CIF-SS Team Championships (38)
Football (2) - 1999, 2002
Baseball (2) - 2011, 2018
Boys Basketball (5) - 1978, 1979, 1984, 1995, 2021
^"AP Data - 2nd Annual Advanced Placement Report to the Nation (2006)"(PDF).Research.College Board. 2006. p. 20.Archived(PDF) from the original on December 4, 2021. RetrievedDecember 3, 2021.These schools lead the world in helping the widest segment of their total school population achieve an exam grade of 3 or higher in AP Calculus AB. Small-size school (<300 students in grades 10–12): Polytechnic School (Pasadena, CA)
^Gamerman, Ellen; Chung, Juliet; Park, SungHa; Jackson, Candace (November 30, 2007)."How the Schools Stack Up (revised 12-28)".Wall Street Journal. RetrievedJanuary 16, 2008.Weekend Journal looked at the freshman classes at eight top colleges -- Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins -- and compiled a list of the students' high-school alma maters. The survey ranked the high schools based on the number of students sent to those eight colleges, divided by the high school's number of graduates in 2007, limiting the scope to schools that had senior classes of at least 50...
