March 30, 2023
Catching up and making progress
The scenes and sounds are familiar: bustling hallways, laughing students, ringing bells and the shuffling of chairs. But one look at the calendar reveals something new: it’s not a normal school day; it’s a weekend!
Every Saturday, nearly 800 City Schools students wake up and head to Saturday School at one of four sites across Baltimore. The program, now in its second year, gives them an opportunity to catch up on credits and access the learning necessary to reach their goals of graduation and beyond. In total, students are taking 1,216 classes delivered by 200+ City Schools educators.
“Saturday School simplifies access to credit recovery and learning for our students,” explained Laurie Lynn Sutton, City Schools’ Director of Summer & Extended Learning. “Some students may not be able to attend their after-school school-based recovery programs. Saturday School is another high quality option that makes academic progress accessible and keeps students on track to graduate.”
The half-day program runs for 14 Saturdays a year and offers a wide variety of coursework, such as math, English, social studies, science, health, physical education, music, art, computer science, CTE-pathways, and foreign language. This year’s Saturday School sites are Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Excel Academy, Carver Vocational Technical High School, and Mergenthaler High School. In addition to academic classes, students can also get services like mentoring, social work, counseling, special education, and free meals.
Marielis, a student participating in Saturday School at Dunbar, appreciates the benefit the program offers. “Saturday School has impacted my life by helping me recover more credits within a shorter amount of time. While I will still not be graduating in June, I am happy knowing I will not have to take as many summer school classes."
“The strategy behind Saturday School is flexible support.” Said Ms. Sutton, “The more choices we provide our students for how they experience this learning, the more able they are to have a well-rounded learning and life experience. No matter a student's at-home circumstance, programs like Saturday School ensure they don’t need to choose between work and school, or after school sports and school.”
Saturday School is just one facet of City Schools’ wide-ranging credit-recovery programs, including after school programs, summer school, and online options.