School Compact

Highwood Hills Community Elementary School 

2188 Londin Lane 

Saint Paul, MN 55119 

Phone: 651-744-3290    Fax: 651-293-5296 

Website: www.spps.org/highwoodhills

  
                                                           

What Is a Family-School Compact?

A Family-School Compact for Achievement is an agreement that parents, students, and teachers develop together. It explains how parents and teachers will work together to make sure all students get the individual support they need to reach and exceed grade-level standards. Jointly Developed with Parents

Families at Highwood Hills Elementary: A Polytechnic Program School helped develop this Compact for Achievement. Schoolwide meetings are held each year to update the compact. Families are welcome to contribute comments at any time. 

For more information on the Pre-K -Grade 5 compact, please contact the school at 651-744-3290

Activities to Support Partnerships:

Conferences:

November 4, 2:45 PM to 5:45 PM

November 6, 2:45 PM to 5:45 PM

November 7, 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM - All-day conference

March 31, 2:45 PM to 5:45 PM

April 2, 2:45 PM to 5:45 PM

April 3, 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM - All-day conference

 

Full Service Community School Site Council Leadership Team:

September 18, 2:15 - 3:15 pm

October 30, 2:15 - 3:15 pm

November 20, 2:15 - 3:15 pm

December 18, 2:15 - 3:15 pm

January 20, 2:15 - 3:15 pm

February 19, 2:15 - 3:15 pm

March 19, 2:15 - 3:15 pm

April 16, 2:15 - 3:15 pm

Common Ground Conversations:

October 10, 9:00 - 10:00 am

December 12, 9:00 - 10:00 am

January 9, 9:00 - 10:00 am

April 17, 9:00 - 10:00 am

May 14, 9:00 - 10:00 am

Visiting Classrooms

Parents are welcome to visit classrooms on any day of the week. To avoid too much distraction and for other students’ privacy, we ask that visits do not exceed 20 minutes. As a gesture of courtesy and to ensure that your child’s classroom is available, please let the teacher know ahead of time that you will be visiting

Communicating about Learning 

Highwood Hills is committed to communicating regularly with families about children’s learning. Some of the ways you can expect us to communicate are:

● Weekly Friday take-home folders,

● Common Grounds Conversation meetings

● Monthly “check-in” notes, and emails,

● Principal’s periodic Newsletters

● Robocalls as a follow up for information already disseminated and reminders

● Opening Week Introduction messages from Teachers before the School Year starts

● Classroom newsletters

● Website, Facebook, X, Instagram

● Texts, robocalls and phone calls

 

***Please visit our website and Facebook page for more information

 

Do you have questions about your child’s progress? Parents can contact their child’s teacher.

Family-School Compact for Achievement

Based on feedback from parents, Family Engagement, the goal is to provide Adult Basic Education information to families and to offer Parent Academy during 25/26 School Year. These will be offered periodically at Highwood Hills. Specific topics, dates, and times will be determined in the fall of 2025.

Students

Highwood Hills students joined staff and parents to develop ideas about how they can succeed in school and reach for the stars in math and reading. Students thought of the following ideas to make connections between learning at home and school:

Students will do the following to take ownership of their own learning:

 

· Follow school-wide behavior expectations: Be safe, respectful, and responsible.

· Come to school on time every day ready to learn.

· Proper grooming and hygiene are important.

· Complete homework and read every night.

· Be an active learner with a positive attitude

· Bring home class newsletter and notices about school events and activities.

Classroom Teacher

Teachers will work with students and their families to support students’ success in all academic areas with a focus on reading, writing, and math. Some of our key connections with families will be:

· Maintain high standards of academic achievement.

· Ensure instruction is differentiated for each student.

· Set goals to help every child obtain at least one year’s growth in reading and math.

· Create an inviting, safe, and respectful classroom that promotes positive behavior.

· Create a classroom that is culturally relevant and trauma sensitive.

· Communicate with parents about their child’s progress and goals.

· Provide other enrichment opportunities in science, engineering, technology and agriculture.

At Home

How families can support students at home:

· Read with my child every night.

· Help my child with homework.

· Ensure my child gets a good night’s sleep.

· Make sure my child attends school daily.

· Check my child’s backpack or folder every day for information.

· Send my child to school properly groomed and ready to learn.

· iPads and other devices properly charged and ready to go if sent home!

· Have fun with math. Use materials in the math kit to explore math at home.

· Try to attend school events like Common Ground Conversations, Family Fun nights, Polytechnic and Community Nights, Academic Parent and Teacher Team (APTT) meetings, or get information from my child’s teacher if we can’t attend

· Play word games with the new vocabulary words and find ways to use these words in family conversations.

· Look for the class newsletter each month and check out the school website.

District Goals

Achievement

All students are proficient and making continuous growth in each of these academic measures: 

•Pre-Kindergarteners on target in reading

•3rd graders at grade level in reading and math

• 5th graders at grade level in reading, math and science

• 7th graders ready for algebra by grade 8

• 9th graders ready for high school

• 11th graders passing GRAD test in reading, math and writing

• Capstone: Ready for college and career

Equity

• Decrease gaps and disproportionately between student groups in:

• MCA and GRAD test passage

• Advanced Course Participation

• Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) test passage • Graduation

• Gifted/Talented identification

• Special Education referrals

• Absences

• Suspensions

School Goals

Highwood Hills Elementary: A Polytechnic Program School Goals

· Highwood Hills will work to: Increase the percentage of students scoring proficient or higher on the MCA III Math and Reading assessments by at least 5 percentage points from previous year’s achievement/scores

· Increase and amplify student voice and choice in all curricular areas

· Strengthen positive behavior supports and reduce office discipline referrals

· Expand activities and exposure to technology, engineering, agriculture, and 21st-century academic skills through our polytechnic model

· Provide access and opportunity for students to expand their horizons beyond the classroom.