As part of a series of stories about real-world schools that have achieved substantial success in school improvement over multiple-year periods, this report provides an in-depth look at one school's efforts to improve student learning. The school profiled is Highland Elementary School, located in Salem, Oregon, serving a student population of kindergarten through fifth graders that is primarily low-income and Hispanic, with Spanish as their first language and has a high mobility rate. The report begins with a description of the situation at Highland and the improvements in third and fifth graders' achievement from 1998 to 2000. Changes in practice contributing to school improvement are identified as teaming schoolwide, emphasizing reading schoolwide, forming partnerships with numerous community organizations and parents, extending learning time through the use of a year-round calendar, and aligning the curriculum to standards and student assessments. The key topics addressed in this report are: gaining schoolwide focus for improvement, improving student performance in reading as the cornerstone for all learning, meeting student needs through a bilingual magnet program, and obtaining resources to support school improvement. The report notes three principles underlying education at Highland Elementary: promotion of student learning above all and no excuses for failure; (2) inspired leadership by a principal who is an instructional leader; and (3) continuous staff learning. (Contains 31 references.) (KB)