Verbum sap sat: the entanglement of admissions policy and student experience in an alternative school

In the face of a rapidly diversifying United States, schools have had to make decisions regarding how best to approach diversity. In particular, schools of choice (schools which have more applicants than can be accepted) have been forced to continually re-examine their admissions practices in accordance with changing public opinion, political climate, and relevant research. Much of the existing literature on admissions policies deals with post-secondary schools, such as college, law or medical school admissions policies. What is not known is how alternative schools of choice have responded to this call for diversification, nor how admissions and outreach policies affect the identity of the school and the experience of its students. This study was conducted in an agential realist framework. Documents were analyzed to examine the relationship between admissions policy and student experience in an alternative high school. The findings suggest that admissions policy and student experience are interrelated, particularly with respect to diversity and the schools position within the larger community.