August 2011

Welcome to East Mountain High School! We are entering our second decade and continuing to learn how to become a model college preparatory school for our community as well as the state of New Mexico. We are a story of what can work in education: parents, faculty, staff, students, and a community working together toward a common goal.

In many of our accomplishments, you will see words like “first” and “only” and see that we have achieved AYP for seven consecutive years (including a current graduation rate above 90%), been recognized by U.S. News and World Report,and received an ACT College Readiness Award. 

Those two words are a source of pride and concern to us. While we have ample evidence of our accomplishments, we have much more to do. As we tell our students, “learners” apply their current and past knowledge and skills to future goals and opportunities. College preparation is not just about high school graduation and college admissions; students need an education that prepares them to succeed in college and beyond. The basics, previously called reading, writing, and arithmetic; are now referred to as rigor, relevance, and relationships. As a school community, we teach for this new 21^st century skills-driven future, so our professional development and collaboration push us to be life-long learners as well.

I am deeply grateful to those who began in 1995 as well as those who have joined in since to make this school a reality. If you are new to the East Mountain story or just want to hear more, please contact me for a tour or a chat. With your continued support and interest, our students can become the future New Mexico needs, and we can provide lessons to help other schools write their own stories of success.