The school earned the distinction of California Distinguished High School in 1988, 1994, and 2003. In 2000, 2007, 2013, and 2019, MVHS received a full 6-year accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The school sent 95% of its graduating class of 2019 to post-secondary schools. In addition, the California Department of Education recognized Mountain View High School as a California Gold Ribbon School, citing its "Equal Opportunities Schools" program that identifies and supports first generation students taking rigorous academic courses. Newsweek ranked Mountain View High School as the 293rd best publicopen enrollment high school in the nation in 2005 and the 280th best school in 2015.
Demographics
Mountain View High School serves a diverse student body of over 2000 students from the cities of Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. As of 2018–2019 school year, the enrollment at Mountain View High School was 2,062. During the 2019 school year, the students were 40% White, 23% Hispanic, 22% Asian, 3% Filipino, 2% Black, 1% Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander, <1% American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 10% two or more races.
Standardized testing
History
Public education in Mountain View, California dates as far as 1858, but lacked a high school. Before Mountain View High School was created in 1902, students living within the town's limits commuted by train from Downtown Mountain View Station on Castro Street to attend either Palo Alto or Santa Clara High Schools. In August 1902, the town of Mountain View opened its first school at the corner of El Camino Real and Calderon Streets, named Mountain View Union High School. By the dawn of the 1920s, the high school saw a spike in enrollment and the campus was unable to accommodate any more students. In 1922, the school district decided to build a new campus at a new location on Castro Street. The new campus first opened its doors in late August 1924. By 1933, the opening of Moffett Field would force the school to add additional facilities on the campus to accommodate both local and the military children. By the 1950s, Mountain View Union High School was once again unable to accommodate the increasing student body on its campus. In 1956, the school district added Los Altos High, in the once small rural town of Los Altos. By 1961, the district added another school near Grant Roadat the corners of Truman and Bryant. This was named Chester F. Awalt High School, after the first superintendent of the district, and closed in 1981 due to declining enrollment. Mountain View School District decided to sell the original school buildings back to the city and relocate to the newly closed Awalt High School location. Los Altos High School adopted the MV school colors and mascot. Thus, Mountain View became the black and gold Spartans and Los Altos dropped the Knights and became the blue and gray Eagles. In 2016, the school received national attention after placing History teacher Frank Navarro on administrative leave for allegedly drawing historical comparisons between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler.
Classes
The high school holds an open enrollment policy: any student may register for any class being offered at the school, regardless of a student's grade. Mountain View High, like most Bay Area schools, offers all 8 of the AP advanced STEM classes. Environmental Science AP and Psychology AP were added as class options for the academic year of 2013-2014.
Athletics
MVHS Athletics is part of Central Coast Section, which governs High School Athletics from San Francisco to King City, and the California Interscholastic Federation. The school sponsors the following interscholastic teams for young men and women: basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, football, volleyball, badminton, and water polo. In the winter of 2017, the women's soccer team defeated Archbishop Mitty by 3-1 to capture the CCS Open Division Championship, adding to their CCS Division I championships in 2015 and 2012 and their final in the inaugural CCS Open. They also won their fourth straight SCVAL-DA league championship and the Fremont Firebird Classic tournament, finishing the season with 19 wins, 3 ties, 1 loss, 84 goals scored, 10 goals against. Maxpreps ranked them #8 in the nation, #4 in state. In the spring of 2014, the Men's volleyball team came from behind to beat inter-city rival Saint Francis in 5 sets in the CCS Championship. They went on to win the Norcal Tournament, thus defeating Saint Francis a second time 3 sets to 1. They compiled a 34-3 record, 14-0 in league, and ranked #4 in the nation, #3 in state, according to Maxpreps. In 2009, the boys cross country team won the Division II state cross country title.
