Nearly every four years, we add an extra day to the calendar in the form of February 29, also known as Leap Day. Put simply, these additional 24 hours are built into the calendar to ensure that it stays in line with the Earth’s movement around the Sun. The Egyptians were among the first to calculate the need for a leap year, but the practice didn’t arrive accurately in Europe until the Gregorian calendar accounted for the slightly longer solar year by adding a leap day nearly every four years.

Leap Year is an advancement to prevent our calendar from falling behind the times. We are working with our network schools and districts to accomplish the same by accelerating systemic, sustainable innovation in education.

Here are some great examples of our network taking great leaps to ensure all students graduate ready:

• The young men at the Middle College at NC A&T have created communication applications to better bridge school/parent relations and increase parent awareness. These applications are being developed with hopes of being distributed by major web app stores. As a result of these innovative practices, Middle College at NC A&T received AT&T’s $250,000 Education Grant. The school will use the money to fund a digital applications class.
• Jones Senior High School created an ACT BLITZ process as part of a focused student support and intervention structure. The process has led to a rise in ACT scores, and raised their school grade. The school hosted area principals and counselors to share this process, and has since been invited to travel to Bladen County to share the process with their school faculty.
• Students at Nash Rocky Mount Early College High School participate in an annual design challenge, where they work in collaborative groups. The current challenge is centered on an economic development problem in Nash County. It culminates in a public exhibition to key community leaders with a collaborative product. This year, the school is incorporating service-learning into their design challenge.

In the Gregorian calendar, the years that are not Leap Years are known as “common years.” Let’s not settle for the status quo but rather commit to producing a leap in the number of students we prepare for success in college, careers and life.

Willow Alston Socha is an Instructional Coach with NC New Schools/Breakthrough Learning.