Our Vision
Our vision is to prepare every student for the 21st century by helping them to acquire the knowledge and the skills to be responsible citizens who are prepared to be contributing members of our society. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to call the main office at (303) 387-9000.
Our Mission
Our mission is to transform high school learning through meaningful Relationships, Relevant learning, and a Rigorous academic environment where every Castle View student will graduate with the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful in the 21st Century.
What We Believe
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Relationships are the foundation of any quality educational pursuit. We believe that all relationships should be centered on mutual respect, knowledge of each individual's personal goals and aspirations, and each individual's educational as well as personal strengths and weaknesses. Our teachers must first and foremost understand each of their students as individuals and as human beings. Each student has a variety of experiences, knowledge, and individual skills that make them unique as individual learners. All teachers must start from this foundation in order to provide relevant, rigorous learning for all students. Significant relationships are not unique to only student and teacher relationships but must also be nurtured between fellow teachers within academies and content areas but also through interdisciplinary structures. Castle View also actively promotes meaningful relationship and mutual respect between athlete's coaches, sponsors, organizations, boosters, parents and members of the greater school community.
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Relevance connects what students learn to the skills they practice in real-life situations. By engaging every student in learning we can dramatically reduce the number of dropouts and allow students to acquire the skills they need to be successful and contributing citizens. Expanding the scope of extended learning opportunities through internships is a practical way to make this connection and ensure that students are engaged in their education. It is highly recommended that CVHS students participate in our extremely successful Internship program to enhance their learning experience.
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Rigor is something that every student deserves in a course of study that allows him or her to learn in a deep, meaningful and practical way. Achieving this requires high standards that clearly identify and describe what is expected of students across the curriculum. Such standards serve as a common target for students, staff and parents. High standards should address character and emotional development as well as academic growth. They should apply to all programs, including Career and Technical Education programs. They should apply to all students, not just those in certain academic tracks. Standards should address not only academic knowledge but also everyday life skills such as problem solving, team building, and time management.
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The Academy Model allows student to make a choice of an academy and to select an educational pathway that is relevant to their individual interest. The challenge for educators is to engage each student, showing relevance while at the same time keeping the students' horizons broad, because we know that we cannot predict today what may or may not be relevant in students' later lives.
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Block Schedule Castle View High School has adopted the 4×4 block, or a straight block, which we believe best supports our focus on the 3 R's. The 4×4 block requires a student to be registered into only four classes at a time. The 4×4 supports our 3 R's by allowing students to focus on a smaller number of courses at one time and lowers teacher/student loads to approximately 90 students. This allows for students and teachers to develop more significant relationships by creating smaller learning communities. The 4×4 block promotes rigor by allowing our students to concentrate on a smaller number of courses at one time allowing learning to be taken to deeper levels of understanding and application.
The 4×4 block schedule at Castle View High School is unique in the Douglas County School District and has been created to increase educational opportunities and student learning while teaching subjects at deeper levels. This type of class schedule supports the academy structure at our school. By utilizing this schedule, we have also increased the elective possibilities during the high school career thus affording our students to select those electives that are more relevant to them as learners.
In the block schedule at CVHS, a student will earn 8 credits in a school year. This allows a student room in his or her schedule to take two more semester-length or four more quarter-length electives each year. In the Castle View 4X4 block schedule, a .5 credit class will meet for 85 minutes each day and be completed in 9 weeks. A 1.0 credit class will meet 85 minutes daily and be completed in 18 weeks. For example, in a traditional high school schedule, a Spanish class would last a full year and would meet every day for 50 minutes or every other day for 90 minutes. At CVHS, that same Spanish class will be completed in 18 weeks. As a freshman, the student may decide to take Spanish I in their first semester and Spanish II in the second semester. In the sophomore year, the student may then decide to take Spanish III in their first semester and Spanish IV in their second semester. By the end of their sophomore year a student will have earned 4 credits of Spanish. During the junior and senior year, the student will be able to take higher-level Spanish courses or another language altogether. Again this supports our goal of providing both relevance and rigor for all of our students. This type of personal acceleration would not be possible in a traditional schedule.
While the 4×4 allows our students to focus on a smaller number of classes at one time, and allows students to accelerate their progress through courses, it is also necessary to provide classes that are year long in duration. Classes such as student government, yearbook, web team, newspaper and some performing arts classes are scheduled in an alternating block process. Courses required to meet for the entire year will be specifically noted in the registration materials. Students taking a yearlong course will have to select from a menu of courses that are solely available opposite the yearlong course. For example, a student who registers for student government would have a choice of other alternating block classes such as yearbook, or other similar courses. CVHS uses period 2 to create this alternating block opportunity for the designated yearlong classes.