A Year of Hard Work Adds Up to Magical Moment for ALL

By Amber Lester Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Many teachers enter the workforce hoping they can have that movie moment where a student attributes all of his or her success to the tireless efforts of the instructor.

Many never have that moment. But the staff at the Academy for Life and Learning had it tenfold at the school’s Friday night completion ceremony, where 35 students celebrated one year of life-changing education.

The Academy for Life and Learning is an alternative education program in Williamsburg-James City County schools. The program has had several makeovers in the past few years, but the current iteration accepts rising seventh- and eighth-graders who have struggled academically. The typical ALL student has failed one or more Standards of Learning tests, has a history of absenteeism or is in danger of failing courses.

For the past two years, ALL has been housed in four classroom trailers on the grounds of Eastern State Mental Hospital, but in the fall, the academy will move into the annex at James Blair Middle School. The school is being temporarily converted into a central office for the school division, and for the first time, ALL students will be educated in brick-and-mortar classrooms with access to a gymnasium, auditorium and cafeteria. ALL acknowledged the transition by having its completion ceremony in the James Blair auditorium.

Addressing the audience, Principal Anthony Mungin praised his students’ bravery. “They took a big risk, the 35 students who left their home schools to go to four trailers at a mental institution. But tonight we’re in an auditorium that will be ours,” he said, choking back tears.

“We will now have a facility that we can be proud of … For your risk, I want to say thank you.”

During the two-hour ceremony, emotion was displayed openly, as students and teachers tearfully recounted their yearlong journey together. One by one, students took to the stage to express how their year at the ALL academy, where character education is part of the curriculum, changed their outlook on everything from school to their own abilities.

Eighth-grader India Walker recounted how she never understood her teachers before she came to ALL. “It was like when they spoke, it would not get into my head,” she said.

For the first time, she passed all her SOLs this year. “If you work your hardest and you use all your strength, you can succeed. I am definitely ready for high school,” she said. “I have never felt this confident.”

There is a reason for the students to feel confident. The intensive and rigorous program yielded amazing results this year, according to teachers. Preliminary SOL scores show the ALL students had a pass rate of 91 percent on the writing SOL, 89 percent on the reading SOL, 83 percent on the science SOL, 77 percent on the math SOL and 57 percent on the social studies SOL. Many of the students passed their SOLs with advanced scores. But math teacher Lloyd McKeithan, who will teach in Newport News next year, was most amazed to report two students – Henry Ordung and Khadijah Harden – earned perfect scores of 600 points on their math SOLs. Harden failed her 7th grade math SOL with a score of 364.

After the ceremony, McKeithan said the students always possessed the ability, but lacked self-confidence. He could tell Harden was a thinker and a problem-solver, but could get overwhelmed. He told her to pull out the relevant information and try to figure out what each problem asked of her. “After a while, hearing ‘I care, I care, I care, I believe, I believe, I believe’ started to sink in,” he said.

Volunteers were also honored at the ceremony for their contributions to ALL, which included forming a chorus, teaching a monthly art course and tutoring students. William and Mary students Ellen Anderson and Caitlin Thomas were recognized for their commitment to the academy from its very beginnings. When the division first started considering changes to its alternative education program, the two students formed a group of volunteers called Project ALL. The group produced a 13-page research paper about the benefits of alternative education and presented it to the school board; since then, the students have been active volunteers in the program.

Both Anderson and Thomas were inspired to pursue careers in education based on their experiences with the ALL program. Anderson wants to work in school psychology, while Thomas will be teaching middle school math for special education students in Baltimore through Teach for America next fall. “[ALL] was truly inspirational,” Thomas said after the ceremony. “It changed my focus.”

In that way, the ALL experience has a similar effect for the students, teachers and volunteers. At the beginning of the year, everyone is nervous and unsure how successful they can be; by the end, they’ve encouraged each other to believe anything is possible. Reading teacher Kristin Dwyer started the year scared of failure; on Friday, said the experience was beyond her expectations. She plans to teach again next year.

“I was really scared. The kids had a 55 percent pass rate for the reading SOL. I was stressed to the max,” she said. “But to see kids who have never passed an SOL have an improvement of 200 points … that’s so much more rewarding.”