Eastview High School

School Information

School Name:  Eastview High School
School Address:   6400 140th Street
                        Apple Valley, Minnesota 55124
School Phone:  (952) 431-8909
School Fax:  (952) 431-8911
Principal:  Dr. J. Richard Dewey
Principal E-Mail:  j.richard.dewey@district196.org

Demographics

Number of Students:  2150
Number eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch:   6%
Percent of Limited English Proficient:  2%
Percent of Special Education:  13%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White  (85%)
• Black  (6%)
• Hispanic  (2%)
• Asian/Pacific Island  (6%)
• Other  (1%)

Present Student Achievement Data in at least three points to demonstrate trends – for example, three consecutive years or the first, third, and fifth years. The data report should always include the most recent school year and should always offer a basis of comparison (for example, state scores, national scores, similar SES schools).

	Math (Eastview/District, State)	Reading (Eastview/District, State)	Writing (Eastview/District, State)
2005-06	91% / 83%, 72%	96% / 90%, 81%	98% / 95%, 91%
2004-05	85% / 84%, 70%	91% / 89%, 78%	99% / 97%, 91%
2003-04	n/a	n/a	91% / 90%, 84%

Please feel free to comment on any aspect of the data that you feel is particularly significant.

We have had remarkably consistent success, having exceeded the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks with EVERY subgroup of students in EVERY area tested since the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) tests were first administered. Eastview High School routinely has either the highest or one of the highest percent of students passing each test when compared to every high school in the State of Minnesota (all sizes/all SES). And, we are one of the few high schools that have received the (highest) “Ten Star Rating” every year the School Report Cards have been published by the State of Minnesota.

We have also had remarkable success with the Writing Initiatives in our 9 th and 10 th Grade Core Academies. In a recent year, we had 99% of our 10th graders pass the State Writing Test at the first sitting.

Please present any additional information that indicates your efforts to build a professional learning community have had a positive impact upon students and/or teachers.

There are a lot of good schools; even a few great ones. What we are after at Eastview High School is not greatness; greatness is a “state of being.” There is a place beyond greatness; we’re after a “constant state of becoming.” We call it the Journey to Extraordinary at Eastview High School:

BEHIND US, even though we are still quite young (celebrating our 10 th Anniversary), is a rich tradition of accomplishment – thousands of students pursuing their FULL potential academically, in the arts, in athletics and activities, and as wonderful young men and women. Our origins are cherished, our plan has been intentional, and the impact has been profound.

Supporting our journey has been a strong community, with high expectations and financial contribution to match. We have outstanding, state-of-the-art facilities and grounds, with a school building that is (all at once) warm, inviting, intimate and inclusive; and it is both flexible and adaptable to meet the changing needs of our students and community. And, a s the founding principal of  Eastview High School, Dr. Dewey led the design and building of the school, and its structure and programs, as well as the hiring and development of staff around best practices for professional learning communities. 

Students, parents and staff, who eventually would call Eastview High School their own, came together to create the identity for their school and dream about the ideal school they would like Eastview to be – to create the Guiding Principles (that we now call our Puzzle Pieces) that were (and still are) intended to give direction, to the current and future generations of the school, as to HOW we do our important work at EVHS.

The Eastview High School Puzzle Pieces

More than 200 staff members choose to share their professional talents at Eastview High School because they truly understand and appreciate these “origins” of the Eastview Learning Community, including how the Puzzle Pieces were created, that for which they stand, and the level of commitment toward those ends that is both wanted by and expected of all who walk and work in our hallowed halls.

These Guiding Principles have become and remain “our ATTITUDE and our AGENDA FOR ACTION” (DuFour and Eaker) within the Eastview Learning Community. Eastview High School is a place where, in fact by multiple measures, the successes of the students at Eastview High School are the gold standard for high schools across the nation. As declared by Newsweek Magazine in four out of four examinations, Eastview High School is truly “One of America’s Best High Schools.”

AHEAD OF US will be the continuing passion to be extraordinary – the ongoing commitment to be better than even we think we can be. Through our work as a professional learning community, we have developed a plan to make educational equity a reality – ALL students reaching their full potential. And, we will continue to cherish and grow the collaboration, teamwork, persistence and courage to continue our Journey to Extraordinary!!

Most importantly, INSIDE OF US: the skills of great “teachers” (regardless of what role we play at school); the heart that touches every student; the character that places learning for ALL above all else; the high expectations; and, the love and care for our students, for each other, and for our learning community. Working together, we have done and will continue to do the EXTRAORDINARY!!

Please elaborate upon strategies you have found to be effective in any of the following areas: (1) Monitoring student learning on a timely basis; (2) Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning; and (3) Building the capacity of teachers to work as members of high performing collaborative teams who focus the efforts of their team on improved learning for students.

We have addressed these three areas as Eastview High School continues its dogged pursuit of Educational Equity (see the Inner Ring below Diagram A) by growing our Outer Ring Reality (supportive culture and structure) and our Middle Ring Skills.

Diagram A:

We have a well-articulated and developed sense of our Values(Puzzle Pieces),Mission(Educational Equity for ALL) and Vision(growing and linking the Middle Rings through the use of SMART Goals). Our Structure (the use of time, space, motion and people) fully supports both same-subject and interdisciplinary collaboration within the school day.

With a healthy and supportive Outer Ring, we then expand and link our Middle Rings:

• Staff Development that is embedded, aligned, differentiated, continuous and collaborative. We have committed significant time during the school day to support individual and collaborative staff development. Further, we have committed significant financial resource to support individual and collaborative staff development beyond the school day and school year.
• Curriculum that is focused, guaranteed and viable;
• Professional Practice that is informed, benchmarked and continuously improved;
• Assessment that is a balance of assessment FOR learning and assessment OF learning, with developing formative strategies in the classroom, frequent formative feedback cycles, multiple common assessments and meaningful data mining to inform subsequent intervention and future practice.
• A Pyramid of Interventions (see Diagram B) that is both proactive (at levels one, two and three) and responsive (at levels two, three and four)

Diagram B:

List any Awards and Recognition Garnered by Your School

As mentioned earlier:

1. Eastview High School routinely has either the highest or one of the highest percentage of students passing each of the Minnesota Comprehensive Tests (MCA Tests) when compared to every high school in the State of Minnesota (all sizes/all SES). We have had remarkably consistent success, having exceeded the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks with EVERY subgroup of students in EVERY area tested since the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) tests were first administered. We are consistently moving our students forward academically and to higher levels of learning and achievement. Consequently, we are one of the few high schools that have received the (highest) “Ten Star Rating” every year the School Report Cards have been published by the State of Minnesota.
   
2. As declared by Newsweek Magazine in four out of four examinations, Eastview High School is “One of America’s Best High Schools.” Every two years Newsweek publishes a list of the nation’s top high schools, based on a “challenge index” developed to measure participation of students in challenging (e.g. Advanced Placement) academic programs.
   
   The importance of Advanced Placement education was revealed by a 1999 U.S. Education Department study that showed the best predictor of college completion was not how good one’s SATs or grades were in high school, but how many difficult courses one took in high school.
   
   Eastview High School continues to have large (and growing) numbers of students pursuing their academic potential through Advanced Placement coursework. Furthermore, EVHS students are experiencing high degrees of success, measured by the yearly national exams given in each content area. Beyond the significant learning experiences, success in these exams also translates into college credit and thousands of dollars of college tuition money saved for these high performing students. Eastview High School continues to graduate some of the largest numbers of Advanced Placement Scholars (those who pass the AP exams) in the State of Minnesota.
   
   Public schools are ranked according to a ratio called the Challenge Index devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school divided by the number of graduating seniors. Schools that chose more than half of their students by grades or test scores were not considered because the index is designed to identify schools that challenge average students and does not work well with schools that have few or no average students. The ranked schools have the strongest Advanced Placement programs in the country. Each of them is in the top four percent of all American high schools measured this way.