History in the Hallway

“Eagle Rock, though politically a part of the City of Los Angeles and enjoying the advantage of a metropolitan activity, is socially somewhat of a unit, retaining a self consciousness from the comparatively recent days when it was a separate town and conducted it’s own affairs.”

So begins an address to the Progressive Education Association written by Helen Babson, the first principal of Eagle Rock High School, in 1927.  

It is not at all apparent while visiting Eagle Rock High that this new 40-acre facility once adhered to a pedagogical movement founded in the late 19th century, which followed the principle that humans are social animals who learn most effectively in real-life activities with others. Although Principal Babson oversaw Eagle Rock High until 1945, the education-through-interaction model was soon abandoned for more conventional learning methods.  

The school's current main building and gymnasium facilities were built in the 1960s to house 1,700 students. One of 61 high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Eagle Rock High is the only comprehensive school that has a 7-12 grade configuration. The site houses both a comprehensive junior and senior high school, and a junior high (7-9) magnet program serving gifted, high ability and highly gifted students.  

The school has expanded mightily from its 1927 population of 750 students. By the fall of 2007-08, there were in excess of 3,000 students enrolled in Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School, with an additional 162 students in the Eagle Rock Gifted, High Ability, and Highly Gifted Magnet Program. 

“The population is homogeneous,” wrote Principal Babson in 1927. Today, students are 0.7% American Indian/Alaskan, 4.3% Asian, 16.0% Filipino, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 1.2% African-American, 68.6% Latino, and 7.8% white.  

Eric Warren, president of the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society and a 1965 graduate of the school, pays a fitting tribute to his alma mater on the Eagle Rock High School Alumni Association website. “Eagle Rock has always ranked high among LA City schools in the quality of its faculty and in the achievements of its students," says Warren. "Nearly 90 percent of its graduates are going on to college or technical education, probably the highest percentage in the history of the school. And these students are not only successful in the classroom, they also are maintaining the ERHS traditions of excellence in choral and instrumental music, community involvement, and in producing winning athletic teams, both male and female. Longtime ERHS traditions continue, the senior class still selects a name which they feel typifies their aspirations, a student designed class plaque is still emplaced in front of the auditorium (the same inside as in 1927, now with seats), and the class still graduates at the Occidental College Hillside Theatre, less formally but more affordably now in caps and gowns.”    

Says Sergio Lopez, a student at the school: “There are no fights, everybody gets along, and it’s peaceful compared to other places.” His classmate, 15-year-old David Rodriguez agrees: “We’re united as one. You’d want your kids to come here.”