The wooded, twelve-acre rectangle that includes Wheeler Park and Vista del Valle Elementary School has been a Claremont community neighborhood anchor since 1953. Nestled just one block off Indian Hill Boulevard, Vista del Valle is a school with a clear vision and purpose. Eighteen months of intensive self-examination and more than fifty years of pioneering work in early childhood education have forged this vision and mission

School Vision and Mission

At Vista del Valle we inspire a community of leaders and learners to achieve their highest potential in an academically rigorous and joyful learning environment that celebrates our cultural diversity.  

Joy for Learning

All students and teachers work hard, and expect and appreciate high standards of work. Hard work pays off! Learning must be engaging, powerful and involving, and can always be made to be fun and joyful too. Three years of training for all staff with the California Reading and Literature Project prepared us to offer a balanced reading program with on-going assessments to monitor student progress through the year. Many of the RESULTS assessments remain in use today as part of our grade level benchmark multiple assessments.
We also believe and have every expectation that we shall all be successful; each and every person matters; learning occurs in multiple ways; we are a reading, writing, and thinking place; and kids are not afraid to do their best and try new things.

Our Key Practices

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

To encourage and recognize positive behavior, we use these school-wide practices:

• Students are held responsible to the 3 B’s- Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe.  

• Positive reinforcement of student desired behavior is recognized school-wide with Student of the Day Nomination slips and other Classroom incentives.

• Character education is encouraged through our morning message. 

• Our counseling interns carry out social skills instruction lessons in each classroom using Model Me Kids and Second Step Bully Prevention.

Response to Instruction and Intervention (RtI2)

Rigorous implementation of RTI includes a combination of high quality, culturally and linguistically responsive instruction; assessment; and evidence-based intervention. Comprehensive RTI implementation will contribute to more meaningful identification of learning and behavioral problems, improve instructional quality, provide all students with the best opportunities to succeed in school, and assist with the identification of learning needs and other disabilities.

Everyday in every classroom students at Vista del Valle recieve RTI2 instruction during an intervention and extension block.  This time is protected from interruptions to provide direct instruction to meet each student's personal needs. 

Kagan Cooperative Learning

Kagan Cooperative Learning is all about engagement!  You've probably heard of some popular Kagan Structures including Numbered Heads Together, Timed Pair Share, RallyRobin, and Quiz-Quiz-Trade. Those Kagan Structures, and many more, are now used world-wide from kindergarten to adult education, in all academic subject areas to boost student engagement and learning.  Kagan Structures are scientifically research based as well as backed by classroom evidence from districts, schools, and teachers experiencing success with Kagan.

Kagan Structures integrate the most powerful principles from decades of research. Among the many positive findings of this field or research are improved academic achievement, improved ethnic and race relations, improved social skills and social relations, and increased liking for self, others, and school.

The Kagan Structures have proven themselves effective teaching and learning tools for cooperative learning, multiple intelligences, character education, language learning, and emotional intelligence.

Professional Learning Communities (PLC)

Each Wednesday our school dismisses early to allow for professional collaboration.  In the context of school improvement, Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) shift the focus of school reform from restructuring to re-culturing. It is an ongoing process used to establish a school-wide culture that is based on a fundamental belief in building teacher leadership in school improvement efforts. Through participation in PLC’s, teachers enhance their leadership capacity as they work as members of ongoing, high-performing, collaborative teams that focus on improving student learning.

AVID Elementary - A College-going Culture

Claremont is fortunate to be the home of five small undergraduate colleges.  Vista partners with colleges in programs that provide tutors for all of the classrooms.  Vista students enjoy one-on-one attention from young mentors who are both energetic and creative.  Our college mentors serve as inspiration to our students that strive to some day attend college.  Several different college programs are sources for tutors:

1. Pomona College Intern Program:  Students at Pomona College who are interested in a teaching career spend a required number of hours assisting in one classroom as part of their college credit.

2. Learning in Collaboration:  LINC is a volunteer tutor program run by Pomona College students.  The student coordinators end each semester with an event at Pomona College for the upper graders, showing them the campus and encouraging them to prepare for college.

AVID College Day:  LINC has included families in an end of the year event.  Families from Vista and Oakmont are treated to a Friday late afternoon event including campus tours, a meal in a campus dining hall and discussion with college students who are the first in their families to attend college.