NEW VISTA AT A GLANCE
New Vista High School has reinvented high school in order that all students:
- Acquire strong skills in core academic subjects.
- Identify and develop individual talents, gifts and interests that give unique meaning and purpose to their lives.
- Develop a set of self-advocacy, organizational and interpersonal skills to effectively negotiate our complex society.
- Experience membership in a values based community.
The New Vista community values:
- The cultivation of each individual's talents and gifts.
- Respect among students and between staff and students.
- Conflict resolution through problem solving and negotiation.
- Quality work and disciplined effort.
- Multi-cultural understanding and perspectives.
- Social justice and environmental stewardship.
In order to actively engage every student in learning, our program includes:
- Personal relationships, built on mutual respect, with all adults in the building.
- An advisor who supports each student from enrollment through graduation.
- Choices that allow students to shape the educational program to meet their needs and interests.
- Active learning within all classrooms as well as varied and engaging course offerings.
- Credit earning opportunities in the community.
- A school climate that values individuals, community, and learning.
Unique programmatic elements of New Vista High School include:
- A culture of high expectations, revision and practice.
- Course offerings that respond to student and teacher interests, including opportunities for students to teach.
- Advisory groups.
- End of Quarter Exhibition Days that celebrate learning across all disciplines.
- Heterogeneous and multi-age class groupings.
- A full inclusion approach to special education and English language learning.
- Weekly time for learning in the community.
- Contracts for mentored learning outside of the regular school day and year.
- Off-campus learning in technical or post-secondary programs.
- Extra-curricular activities such as: volleyball, ultimate frisbee, lunch jam band, restorative justice team, student equity leadership cohort, yearbook, and a variety of student initiated clubs.
New Vista's unique graduation requirements expect that each student will:
- Fulfill Common Learning Requirements which specify grades of A or B across a range of disciplines:
- Applied Technology, Arts, Inter-personal Skills, Intra-personal Skills, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, World Language.
- Earn additional credits (almost half of required credits) in learning opportunities chosen by students to explore their personal path (which, for many students, includes meeting college entrance requirements).
- Write a graduation proposal, convene a graduation committee and complete a Culminating Project (minimum 120 hours).
- New Vista's curriculum aligns with District and State content standards.
Enrollment: 330
Students of Color: 15%
Students with disabilities: 16%
Graduates applying to 4 yr colleges: 75%
School Accountability Report Rating: High
Average Verbal SAT I: 601
Average Math SAT I: 543
- Average Writing SAT I: 555