Heights Elementary School

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Our School

Who could describe Heights better than Heights? Here are some quotes from our former 5th graders.

"Have fun at in the Heights. Do your work, don't get in trouble, and this school is fun. You'll love Heights, it is truly the best school ever."

"Advice I would give to a new student is to have fun and be good"

"I'm going to miss the good food that they serve here at Heights"

"My favorite memory of Heights is the Olympics. It is kind of great when the whole school comes together"

"Listen to the 3 B's: Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible"

"Never get frustrated because there is always going to be help"

"If I could give any advice to a new student to Heights, I would say that if he/she is at Heights for 6 years, it'll be the adventure of your lifetime"

Community

Heights is a community school with low transiency where many of the students attend the entire elementary duration from kindergarten through 5th grade. It’s unique location is surrounded by affordable housing which creates a legacy school in which many of the students’ parents and grandparents attended Heights. The student population is roughly 76% of its population qualifying for Title I support, 29% Limited English Proficient, 68% Hispanic/Latino, 9% African American, 3% White, and 3% Asian.

Parent Support

The school’s rich history creates a supportive parent community which raised over $15,000 to go towards fieldtrips, school incentives, and teacher appreciation. Heights also benefits from a Parent Family Liaison who oversees communication with families, holds monthly parent workshops, organizes volunteers, and connects families to community resources.

State of the Art Facility

The community is proud of the new building that opened in August 2014 as a result of a Pittsburg bond. The two-story facility offers 34 classrooms, a full court indoor basketball multi-purpose room, 2 teacher media rooms, 5 separate playground areas with a full baseball and soccer fields, and a secure building with electronic key cards.

Technology Resources

The state of the art facility includes technologically updated classrooms with Wifi, document cameras, classroom printers, teaching walls with LCD projectors, and FM systems with voice projection. Teachers enjoy a 1:1 ratio of students to computers.

Reading Program

Teaching students to read is one of the most challenging tasks in education. Heights has several resources to empower teachers: Accelerated Reader with school incentive system, leveled library, Acadience reading assessments and biweekly progress monitoring data provided for teachers, reading intervention coach, fluency and sight word routines, after school intervention, Reading Foundations resource binder for intervention during daily 30 minute universal access instruction time, and Wonders curriculum with leveled readers.

Active Student Body

Heights offers a wide array of activities for our students: Talent Show, Science Fair, Literacy Night, Fall Festival, Olympics, Get Fit Walking Program, Student Council, Heights in Harmony Choir, Technology Team, Girls on the Run, Girl Scouts STEAM, Junior Referee Program, Bear Hug incentive system, buddy classes, and the school garden.

MISSION STATEMENT

Heights Elementary will seek to enable scholars to soar to new heights as we know, value, and give access to high expectations and culturally responsive teaching.

KNOW - We need to know who we are in the skin we are in and the contributions of the groups that make up our community.

VALUE - As we examine our culture and areas of potential bias, we seek to value each other and recognize what we bring to the table of learning. This means we are not following a deficit model of thinking.

ACCESS - When we see our scholars' strengths, we seek to increase their learning opportunities with high expectations and provide access to a quality education, especially for those historically unsupported.