Visit Harris School

It is common for Harris teachers to team up and work collaboratively planning projects, developing materials, and sharing expertise. Teachers work together on extended contract designing new projects to support project learning, a school-wide priority at Harris.

Harris Elementary School serves approximately 300 students in Kindergarten through fifth grade. The demographic profile of the school is diverse. The attendance area covers the most square miles of any school in Eugene, and the student body is made up of children from several culturally and economically distinct neighborhoods. Harris serves neighborhoods which include professional families, families living in the University of Oregon's married- and family-student housing, and disadvantaged and impoverished neighborhoods.

Harris is designated a full Title I school, thus it provides services such as a free breakfast and lunch program, as well as an after-school homework club to provide extra support for students.

Eugene School District 4j has an open enrollment policy, which can foster competition for students. While it is not one of the twelve magnet schools in the District, Harris is viewed as a strong neighborhood school and more students enroll than leave it for other schools.

A significant upgrade of the building facility occurred five years ago when an Ethernet network and T-1 lines were installed, giving every room in the building access to school district servers and the Internet.

Each classroom at Harris has Internet access through a networked computer in each room. Additionally, Harris has a small computer lab with seven networked computers. Internet use is managed (and constrained) in several ways. At times students are sent to work at a single Web site the teacher has bookmarked. Other times, students research topics using approved search engines such as Yahooligans. Most commonly, students complete bigger projects through a Web unit designed by their teacher.

Computer use is broad at Harris. Most teachers have integrated technology into their curriculum. There is little use of drill and practice or game programs. Software purchased in the last two years has been production software. Simulation software has been used to support specific curricula, such as Oregon Trail II for western migration studies and Maya Quest to support the study of Central America.

The school district has research software on a server, including Worldbook Encyclopedia and an atlas program. Classrooms have access to the school library collection using remote browsers.