About Happy Hollow Elementary

Happy Hollow Elementary School is located on a wooded knoll at the end of Ray Avenue just north of Highway 16 East.  The Happy Hollow school site is a part of the "Happy Hollow Farm" which was immortalized in many stories in national magazines and books written by William R. Lighton during the early 1900's.  In 1908, William Lighton bought the land and turned it into a productive organic farm.  A writer and novelist, Lighton, published

an article about the farm in the Saturday Evening Post that later led to a book, Happy Hollow Farm (1914), describing the trials and successes on the farm, that coincided with a "back to the land" movement, and subsequently attracted scores of people to the beauty and affordability of land in Northwest Arkansas.

Happy Hollow Elementary School, built in 1972, is an open concept school, where architecture and philosophy find common ground.  Few walls obstruct the view of students, staff and administrators into classrooms throughout the building.  The openness is indicative of the school's philosophy of education; the staff is open to new curricula, new ideas, and new ways of solving problems.  Happy Hollow works to eliminate the walls between disciplines and between the school and the community.  The school's staff is willing to take risks, and their open attitude pays off in terms of student success.

Happy Hollow is on a Continuous Learning Calendar (CLC).  CLC is an alternative schedule for learning.  Students attend school the same number of days as those students on a traditional calendar but with more frequent breaks to provide enrichment opportunities as well as point-in-time remediation.

University of Arkansas' College of Education and Happy Hollow Elementary are in collaboration as a professional development school site.  This partnership provides a variety of benefits for Happy Hollow students and teachers and University Interns and faculty.  Teachers directly benefit from the university partnership in a number of ways that enhance instructional development and sharpens their supervisory and observation skills while enhancing their knowledge of successful educational practices.