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Schools

Examining The Modified Calendar

Mount Vernon Community School's intersessions offer enrichment, extra help

This is the first article in a three-part series examining the modified calendar at Mount Vernon Community School.

Many Alexandria school children said farewell to summer and made their way into classrooms on Tuesday, but most elementary school children in Del Ray have been in the classroom for more than a month. 

For the past five years, Mount Vernon Community School—a staple on Mt. Vernon Avenue for more than a century—has operated on a modified calendar. This calendar essentially divides the summer vacation so common in schools across the United States into several smaller breaks throughout the year. Learning then becomes a more continuous operation for students at MVCS.

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While there are conflicting opinions about the modified calendar, it is important to understand why the decision was made and what the modified calendar is all about.

About six years ago, it became apparent something had to change at MVCS.  Teachers reported a widening achievement gap between the students with and without access to summer enrichment experiences. They also reported having to re-teach lessons that were not retained over the long summer.

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According to the Alexandria City Public Schools final operating budget for 2004, more than 40 percent of the children at MVCS were categorized as English as a Second Language students, and more than 60 percent were a part of a free or reduced-price lunch program. Many of the parents of these students worked outside the home during summer break and did not have the funds to send their children to enrichment camps.

The MVCS principal at the time also reported that students often left school for long breaks in the winter or spring to visit the home country of their parents, causing these students to lose even more academic ground. 

A task force was formed by the principal to research options that would solve the problems that existed at MVCS.

"After speaking with teachers, the task force found that the kids who typically struggled the most were the ones who lost the most ground over the summer," said Patrice Linehan, who is a former PTA president at MVCS and was a member of the school's task force.

The group discussed a variety of solutions and considered adopting a program for children living in poverty that was proven successful in Montgomery County (Md.) Schools. There was also talk of expanding the summer school program.

According to Linehan, the overall goal of the task force was to help the most kids and build on the strengths of all students.  The final recommendation was the adoption of a modified school calendar with specialized "intersession" programming that would help struggling students and offer enrichment opportunities to all students.

Intersession classes are offered to all MVCS students—remedial classes for those who need extra focus on certain subjects and enrichment classes open to all. The enrichment classes are meant to be interesting and fun, but they also cover subjects that come up on the Standards of Learning tests. 

MVCS teachers oversee some of these classes, but according to Elizabeth Namba, intersession coordinator at the school, approximately 50 percent of the classes are taught by community members—from parents and police, to those simply with an interest in expanding young minds.

One successful intersession class was a Harry Potter potion class that taught chemistry and math under the guise of hocus-pocus. Next month's intersession will include a soccer class that incorporates the fundamentals of soccer with the geography and history of the World Cup. There will also be a class taught by a local illustrator in which students will write and illustrate their own books.

Since the implementation of the modified calendar, the program has grown and improved, and according to Linehan, has become more targeted to students' needs.  She cites the remedial classes that have become more focused on the specific skills students need to improve. 

Diane Lambert, who has two children at MVCS, reports that her second-grade daughter is "happy and can't wait to go to school."

Lambert is very pleased with the knowledge her daughter has gained and the experiences she has had in her three years at MVCS.

But happy students are not the only criteria for a great school. While MVCS is fully accredited, it still needs improvement. MVCS has not met Adequate Yearly Progress standards for the past four years, and its facing sanctions until AYP status is met.

According to Linehan, the school district is implementing a more sensitive data system this year in order to learn more about individual student progress over time—a step she feels is important because of some perceived flaws in the state and federal assessment systems.

Principal Tina Radomsky, who is in her first year at MVCS, lists meeting AYP standards as her No. 1 goal for the school. One of the ways she hopes to accomplish her goal is by redesigning the intersession classes to allow for increased opportunities for remediation and intervention.

There are many views on whether or not the modified calendar program at MVCS has been successful, and even its biggest supporters are not satisfied with the scores and are concerned with the failure to meet AYP standards. 

But as its name conveys, MVCS is a community school, and the community of parents, teachers, and neighbors continue to work hard toward the goal of helping every student in the community excel.

For a look at the current modified calendar at MVCS, see the attached graphic.

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