Desert Mountain Makes List of Top Schools
Desert Mountain High School was named, for the second consecutive year, as one of the top 1300 high schools in the country according to Newsweek's Web site. DMHS is one of a handful of public high schools in Arizona to make the list and was ranked 867th. To view the complete list, please see the article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/39380.

DESERT MOUNTAIN SCHOOL INFO

School Opened

1995

Mascot and Colors

Our Mascot is the Wolf
Our colors are Maroon and Gray

School and The Communty

Opened in 1995, Desert Mountain High School is located in northeast Scottsdale and serves a community which strongly supports the school system. The school has a joint use city library facility, four computer labs, media studio, theater, college/career center and extensive athletic facilities.

Desert Mountain utilizes a year long scheduling format to serve its student population of 2,500 in grades nine through twelve. In 1998, Desert Mountain became an International Baccalaureate Member School and is a magnet program for the Scottsdale Unified School District . Desert Mountain offers students the choice of standard, honors, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes .

Special programs are available for gifted, English Language Learners and Special Education students. Extensive vocational programs are available through a partnership with East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT).

School Year

The school year consists of 180 days. Semester classes meet for 51 minutes, five days a week. There are two semesters in a school year and students receive .5 credit per semester.

Extracurricular Activities

Desert Mountain students participate in a variety of extracurricular activities including Student Council, National Honor Society, performing arts, athletics at the freshman, junior varsity and varsity levels, as well as over fifty student clubs and organizations. Desert Mountain students won eight varsity team championships and twelve individual state championships in 2007.

Faculty

The Desert Mountain Faculty includes five administrators, nine professional support staff members and one hundred twenty-three teachers, of whom seventy-five hold Master's Degrees and seven hold Doctorates.

Accreditation

Desert Mountain High school is accredited through North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Desert Mountain is a member of the National Association of College Admissions Counselors and complies with the NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice.

Honors and Awards

• 16 National Merit Semi-Finalists
• 12 National Merit Commended Students
• 1 Rensselaer Medalist
• 45 International Baccalaureate Diplomas
• Over $10,175,503 in scholarships

Graduation Requirements

A total of 22 credits are required to graduate:

• English 4 credits
• Social Studies 3 credits
• Mathematics 3 credits
• Science 2 credits
• Physical Education 1 credit
• Fine Arts or
• Vocational Education 1 credit
• Electives 8 credits
• High school computer proficiency and passage of Arizona 's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) tests are required for all students

Grade Point Average and Class Rank

Class rank is calculated on a weighted overall cumulative GPA for all courses grades 9 through 12. Honors, AP and IB classes carry a weighted grade value; an A=5 points, B=4 points, C=3 points. Honors credit is denoted with an “H” next to the class. Official ranking is reported as a percentile ranking at the end of the student's sixth semester. The higher the GPA of a student, the higher their percentile ranking. (Percentile rankings are shared by more than one student)

The following classes are weighted in computing class rank