SPECIAL REPORT: Experiment shows promise to help struggling Highland students catch up

Sarah Theis traveled 3,000 miles across the country in search of answers for her school.

The Highland Elementary School principal thought an elementary school in the Bronx might hold answers for the changes she hoped to make.

She found a school in a neighborhood surrounded by housing projects and struggling with frequent crimes. The school grounds, though, were pristine, Theis recalled of her January trip. 

Families came in to see a doctor at an attached…