Vision and Mission

The instructional framework of our school is developed with our students at the center of everything we do with a focus on student agency and equity. Student learning will be Flexible, Inclusive, Personalized Competency-Based, Interdiciplinary, Collaboration/Connectivity, Innovative, and be Inquiry-based. We share the Santa Clara Unified School District Graduate Portrait which are Equity Ambassador, Effective Communicator, Future-Ready Learner, Resilient Mind, Healthy Body, Inclusive Empathizer, Collaborative Problem Solver, Critical Thinking Scholar, and Global Citizen.

Equity

Educational equity means that each child is ensured equally high outcomes, removing the impact of deficit thinking, interrupting inequitable practices related to social and cultural factors, and creating intersectionally inclusive school environments for adults and children, while discovering and cultivating the unique gifts, talents and interests that every human possesses.

Agency

Students experience voice, choice and self-actualization, which manifest throughout their educational setting.

Student-Centered

Students’ physical, social-emotional, and academic needs are at the heart of all conversations, decision making, systems and actions. 

These are the the principles that guide teaching and learning at DHMS.

Inclusive

An inclusive environment welcomes, honors, respects, and validates the various intersections of the learning community, sustaining and celebrating the traditions, values, and identities of all peoples.

Collaboration and Connectivity

We are an interdependent, globally-minded, and connected community that collaborates and supports each other for professional growth, wellness and student success.

Interdisciplinary

Concepts from multiple contexts or disciplines are synthesized to create and apply new ideas, understandings, and solutions.

Flexible

Our mindset encourages adaptability of, environment, processes, resources, outcomes and perspectives.

Inquiry-Based

Questions engage and drive the exploration of relevant experiences where students construct and evaluate their knowledge through research and exploration.

Personalized, Competency-Based Instruction

Each learner is challenged and supported based on their learning progression, which is co-created with their teachers based on their interests and strengths in order to reach mastery of their learning.

Innovative

Learners creatively iterate and explore ethical and imaginative ways to problem solve and critically think.