As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,841 students and 70.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 26.2:1. There were 1,583 students (86.0% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 69 (3.7% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
In their annual list of the top 1,300 high schools in the United States, Newsweek ranked Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School as 352nd in 2008 and 291st in 2007.[6] In 2007, U.S. News & World Report named it one of its top 100 public high schools.[7]
History
Originally, a magnet center was established at nearby Lincoln High School before moving to Wilson High School from 1985 until 1989. Bravo Medical Magnet is named after Francisco Bravo M.D., a well-known physician who practiced in East Los Angeles, established his own clinic, and founded a scholarship fund for needy high school students interested in the health science professions. Groundbreaking on Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School started in 1987 and construction was completed in 1990. Dr. Rosa Maria Hernández, who was instrumental in the school's construction, served as principal from the school's opening until 2003 when she became the District F Coordinator. She was then succeeded by Maria Torres-Flores.
The school's proximity to USC has enabled partnerships, Bravo was adopted by the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center in September 1981, shortly after the school opened as a small magnet center on the Lincoln High School campus. The school has agreements with USC Medical Center as well as California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) in promoting health-related activities and projects.
Magnet Program
Bravo’s medical magnet program was originally part of the school integration program to be accessible to all students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, so the school community has wide geographical boundaries. Thirty buses deliver 85% of Bravo’s 1,726 students, some of whom travel up to an hour to school and are drawn from 32 middle schools. Students apply through the District’s “Choices” program and are selected by the district’s lottery.
Student Body
Bravo serves around 1,847 students in grades nine through twelve, with a student-teacher ratio of 25:1. Full-time teachers 75. Approximately 40% of the students attending Bravo are from the surrounding community in what now comprises LAUSD Local District East. The remaining 60% commute from other areas of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Bravo's demographics currently indicate 80% Hispanic students, 13.1% Asian/Filipino/Pacific Islander, 2% African-American, and 0.1% American Indian/Alaskan Native. Over the past six years, Bravo has maintained a steady total enrollment and has seen a general decline in all ethnic populations except the Hispanic group which has increased 15% (with a corresponding drop in other populations).
Title I Students
For 2006-07, Bravo has approximately 82% (1,415 students) of all students that are socioeconomically disadvantaged. About 72% of the students’ home language is not English. Bravo High School has a school-wide Title I program and is one of the very few Title I High Schools that have surpassed the 800 API level.
^CIBA cited as one of the best by Education DepartmentArchived August 19, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
^Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; The Washington Post. September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
