Sixth-grader Jenna Martin was still wiping sleep from her eyes as she shuffled through the halls of Marley Middle School. It was a Saturday morning after all, and she could have spent it in bed or watching Hannah Montana or fiddling around online, caring for her virtual Webkinz pet.
Her usual Saturday morning schedule, however, is on hiatus for seven weeks.
Jenna and dozens of schoolmates are using that time to prepare for the Maryland School Assessments, to be given to third- to eighth-graders April 1-10.
Marley's teachers and principal Kevin Buckley have invited all of the more than 830 students to attend Saturday School - 1 1/2 hours of intensive tutoring and help in reading, math, social studies and science in order to boost the school's performance under No Child Left Behind.
Saturday school has been used in this district and others in the region for years to offer extra help, but it's new to some schools, including Marley. The initiative is paid for by federal grant money and staffed by a handful of teachers and, sometimes, a principal or assistant principal.
"We're making progress in a lot of ways ... trying to help students in any way possible with afterschool tutoring on Tuesdays and Wednesdays," said Buckley, a first-year principal at the school. "We're just not moving as fast as I'd like. I think the extra Saturday school will help."
The Glen Burnie school is among 15 Anne Arundel County schools on the state's watch list for missing benchmarks under the high-stakes federal law, and many of them are on a sprint to offer extra tutoring before the state tests hit students' desks this spring. None of the schools wants to risk remaining on the state's list. If they do, NCLB authorizes the state or school district to levy sanctions that can range from a complete staff turnover to longer school days and even a state takeover.
Like Marley, Brooklyn Park Middle is offering Saturday school for the next several weeks, and others, including Lindale and Annapolis middle schools, are offering extra help periods during the school day. In each tutoring session, whether after school, during the school day or on Saturdays, students struggling with certain subjects are placed in small groups to work closely with teachers for extra help.
