MOUNT VERNON — The newly instituted
Mount Vernon Academic Program, or MVaP, is a self-contained program at Mount
Vernon High School. A school within in a school, it is designed to be an academically
focused environment with continuous supervision and support. The students won’t
have any other distractions and will be able to focus their attention on one
single class, if that’s what they need.
“We recognized that some students do not do well in a traditional classroom
setting, for a number of reasons,” explained Assistant Principal Sam Shuman, “What
we’ve tried to do with MVaP is create an independent, student-centered
type of instructional setting where we meet their individual needs, whether they
lack credits due to irregular attendance, poor social interactions and/or poor
study habits.”
Shuman said MVaP students, who can be involved in clubs, sports, drama and other
extracurricular activities, are going to be able to earn regular credits, elective
credits and physical education credits. “We are creatively meeting all
of their academic needs,” Shuman said. “Our teachers can be involved
directly with MVaP, and we think that’s an advantage. We’re using
Nova Net courses, we’re utilizing teacher-created curricular materials,
we’re utilizing online remedial courses. All of the online courses offer
standards-based credits. That’s important to us because we wanted to be
connected with our curriculum and also with what the state and federal requirements
are.”
MVaP is not a punitive placement, Shuman said.
“It’s an academic placement. It’s a positive success placement.
The students have a lot of freedom within that setting. It’s a very self-directed
program. We’re telling them what they have to do to meet their goals, and
we’re providing them the necessary materials and support. Then we’re
allowing them to choose. One student might say, ‘Today I’ll do my
English.’ or, ‘I’ll do my math. If I want to do math all day,
I’ll do that.’ As long as they’re working toward their goals,
that’s all right.”
Individual goals for each student will vary, but the overall goal for students
is to earn their diploma.
