District

Our Mission: We prepare every student to achieve their personal best, engage in lifelong learning, and be a thoughtful and responsible citizen.

Our Vision: We are committed to providing educational excellence for all by:

Offering personalized, rigorous academic and extensive extracurricular programming delivered by highly-trained staff
Promoting a welcoming, inclusive, and equitable culture where everyone has the opportunities and supports needed to be successful
Engaging with community partners to support student learning and career exploration
Investing our resources wisely to best meet the needs of our learners and communities

Why Choose Eastern Carver County Schools?

We are replacing the factory model of education by asking the question, “What’s best for the academic and social growth of each learner?” Our students are given the power to shape their education, supported by high academic standards and guided by caring and knowledgeable staff. Personalized learning created learners who are motivated and excited about coming to school. Students have opportunities to develop passion projects where they can make connections between school and topics that they care about. High-achieving students are never held back, but are encouraged to go as far and as fast as they can. Students who need additional support can choose to learn in the ways that work best for them. We are student-centered with teaching practices that adapt to the student. Eastern Carver County Schools is a model for a 21^st century education.

Serving All Students

Gifted Services

In our innovative approach, Gifted Services educators in each of our schools work together across our pre K-12 system and work with teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, and students to focus on the individual needs of each of our learners as they learn and grow toward realizing their immense potential.

We know that different children develop abilities at different rates—this includes traditional academic skills like math and reading as well as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and social/emotional development.

We know that the best learning happens when students are challenged just beyond what they can do easily, but that point is different for each individual learner, that point is different for different areas of learning, and that point is constantly changing.

We know that today’s students will need to continue to learn throughout life in order to be successful. Helping them grow in independence as learners will best prepare them for their future successes.

More information about the gifted program

Specialized Education

Eastern Carver County Schools provide specially designed instruction and programming for students with special learning needs. We pride ourselves on the quality of our staff and on our efforts to provide appropriate instruction for each student based on the latest educational research. We are committed to developing the skills and potential of every student we serve. We are dedicated to meeting the unique needs of our special education students and their families. Our mission is to:

Create an equal partnership between parents, teachers and learners to foster open, honest communication.
Provide an effective educational experience in neighborhood schools for students, families, staff and community members in an atmosphere where differences are accepted, valued, and supported by all.
Provide an atmosphere of respect where students will improve weaknesses and capitalize on strengths to become independent learners.
Dedicate ourselves to a collaborative team approach for meeting student needs in the least restrictive environment.
Protect student rights and demonstrate program benefit by applying state and federal due process laws.
Develop and implement individualized programs for students which are monitored through thoughtful data collection and analysis.
Provide ongoing development opportunities for special education staff in effective, research based instructional strategies.

More information about Specialized Services

Teaching Character Through PBIS

The exceptional approaches we use for teaching extend to our behavior support system.

Every school in Eastern Carver County Schools uses a research-based system that teaches positive social expectations and holds students to those expectations. The Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) system recognizes and rewards positive behaviors and seeks to eliminate negative ones, such as bullying.

Schools have seen declines in referrals to the main office for behavior by as much as 70 percent as a result of our data-driven approach.

The program is consistent across a school, so students and staff know and understand the system. Schools track behavior incidents along with areas in the school and times of day in order to support where it's needed. The PBIS system (also called PRIDE) is not a curriculum, an intervention or practice. It is a decision-making framework that guides students to identify and select positive behavior choices.

ECCS Exemplar PBIS District

Family Learning Center PBIS

Bluff Creek Elementary PBIS

Chanhassen Elementary PBIS

Clover Ridge Elementary PBIS

East Union Elementary PBIS

Jonathan Elementary PBIS

Victoria Elementary PBIS

Chaska Middle School East PBIS

Chaska Middle School West PBIS

Pioneer Ridge Middle School PBIS

Chanhassen High School PBIS

Chaska High School PBIS

Integrated Arts Academy PBIS

STAR Program PBIS

Exploring Special Interests

Arts & Music

There are multiple options for music, theater, and art at every level:

Band, Orchestra, and Choir are part of the curriculum
After school opportunities for middle school students through Community Education (ce4all.org)
Exceptional studios in modern high schools for visual arts (ceramics, painting, drawing, design)
Engineering courses to meld creativity and science
World-class theaters and award-winning productions
Elementary schools employ Teaching Artistic Behavior (TAB) which introduces a variety of materials and methods and allows for student choice

Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM)

Even the youngest students start with science in Eastern Carver County Schools. The engineering design process is introduced in Kindergarten as "Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve". In every elementary classroom, students have STEM lessons embedded in their day not as an add-on curriculum. Eastern Carver County Schools has been a state leader in our science education. Our "physics first" approach provides a better sequence for learning science in high school.

High schools can choose to participate in Project Lead the Way in engineering or biomedical sciences, working with industry-standard tools in hands-on laboratories. The leave high school with a step ahead in the education and preparation required for science and engineering. Some of these courses are available for college credit.

Utilizing Technology

Our technology-rich environments are designed with one purpose in mind: to increase student learning. You will find technology in every corner of the district, including Wi-Fi on school buses, but we view devices and technology tools as just that - tools for students and teachers. We do not lose sight of the human element of teaching - the people who guide, shape, and direct learning experiences for students. Even if the learning is exclusively online, it still requires the intuition, creativity, and experience of our teachers.

Eastern Carver County Schools has adopted web-connected laptops (Chromebooks) as the primary tool for students to manage their portfolio of learning. These devices support close collaboration between students and their teachers. They seamlessly connect to online resources, which are managed by the district.

Dual Language Immersion

Spanish language and culture surround the personalized learning experience at La Academia, our two-way dual language immersion school. Unique to the west metro, this style of immersion is known as the recommended way to learn a new language. The advantage of a two-way dual-language is that it combines native speakers with new-language learners. Each student has the opportunity to be both a first-language model and a second-language learner.

More information about the immersion program

Elementary Schools

Middle Schools

High Schools

District Services