Year Founded: 2000
Students Served: 616
Grades Served: K-5
Location: Yuma, Ariz.
Website: www.desertviewacademy.com
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School History
Desert View Academy has shown a willingness throughout the years to constantly evolve in order to meet student needs. The school began in 2000 as Juniper Tree Academy, with 150 students in grades K-6. In 2003, the school changed leadership and, in the process, switched its name to Desert View. Presently, Desert View serves 616 K-5 students in Yuma.
After more than a decade in the Yuma community, Desert View has expanded multiple times to keep pace with its growing student body. After adding a new library, cafeteria and conference space, Desert View outgrew its building. This school year, Desert View students attend classes at their new campus, a 55,000 square-foot school that now occupies twelve acres on the west side of Yuma. In three years, school leaders expect to serve more than 900 students.
Academic Focus
Education is a collaborative effort at Desert View, with everyone from teachers to cafeteria workers pitching in to guide students in their learning. Not only is the curriculum aligned to Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards, the classroom instruction reflects the changes in how curricula are presented. Desert View utilizes Whole Brain Teaching principles, which engages students by allowing them to teach each other instead of just listening to the teacher.
Vocabulary instruction, particularly the use of academic language in instruction, is seen as the norm in classrooms. Desert View emphasizes speaking in complete sentences at all times, no matter where students are on campus. As a result, all employees hold students accountable to frame their thoughts in complete sentences. For a number of years, Desert View Academy has maintained fidelity to a 90-minute reading block for grades K-3, and a 60-minute reading block for fourth and fifth-grade. This has proven invaluable for both ELL and non-ELL students alike. Desert View has also infused its classrooms with technology, including Chromebooks and iPads.
Biggest School Accomplishments
Academically, Desert View has shined throughout the last decade, consistently receiving the highest marks in Arizona’s accountability system, including an A rating from 2012-14.
The school has also excelled with its humanitarian efforts. Desert View’s student body adopted the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as a fundraising partner in 2004. The organization has named Desert View its top fundraising school for every year since 2013.
What Makes Desert View Unique?
“Perhaps the greatest contributing factor to the school’s success is staying true to our mission statement, which is more than a framed document on the wall. It is the heartbeat of DVA,” said school principal Deb Weigel. The school mission is: Educate students with Knowledge, Empower students with Character, and Equip students for Life.
The school uses the “Character Counts” curriculum, which is built on six pillars: Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Respect, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. This emphasis is evident throughout the school, where campus hallways are lined with actual street signs with names such as Trustworthy Blvd. and Caring Way. “DVA believes strongly that our mandate is to reach the whole child,” Weigel said.
