MIDLAND, Texas — Next week MISD will begin the first of the two scheduled intercessions for the school year.
If you're wondering what that is - it's an opportunity for students who need it to get extra help and stay on track with their grade level. For other students, it's a week off school.
The intercession will begin on Monday and end on Thursday, with Friday being a day off.
NewsWest 9 spoke to Jessica Gore, the principal at San Jancito Junior High. She said she is hopeful for her students and their learning.
"We really were intentional with the students we invited at the secondary level to make sure that the kids that are here are the ones that need the most help or benefit the most with extra support," said Gore.
Gore believes next week will be a learning opportunity not only for students but for the schools themselves.
"My goal is that our kids grow," said Gore. "We are going to take an assessment on the first day and an assessment on the fourth day. We have identified three objectives for those kids to improve future learning."
Not all students will need to attend. Only about 40% of the students in the district were asked to attend the intersession.
"I know that at JS we have invited about 220 kids which is about 25% of the campus enrollment," said Gore. "I'm excited to see the impact these 32 hours will have on those kids and our campus overall."
Gore said the smaller teacher to student ratio will help in the areas that require the most attention.
"We are going to have math and reading groups that are 15 to one and then we have science and social studies groups that are a little larger," said Gore. "Those are enrichment activities like doing science experience and doing different topics in social studies that why groups are a little bit bigger."
Gore believes this will be a great opportunity to be ready for the next intercession scheduled in the spring and also to open the possibility for any in future.
"This intercession is like the pilot to see, based on our data, what changes can we make for kids in February," said Gore. "We are going to have more data like final exams, week nine and week 18 data points. "Then that will be really targeted towards preparing the kids for the state exam.
Students who are not asked to attend the intersessions may take that time to stay home or attend a community-based enrichment program offered by the district. Click here to see the programs offered.