Castle View High School Information

Castle View High School has adopted the 4x4 block, or a straight block, which we believe best supports our focus on the 3 R's. The 4x4 block requires a student to be registered into only four classes at a time. The 4x4 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 4x4 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 4x4 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 ...