Virginia Run principal outlines 'Viking' schedule to protect daily intervention time, reports test‑score gains

Dave Kirschner, principal of Virginia Run Elementary School, told the audience the school changed its planning cycle and daily schedule to make earlier, targeted intervention possible. "How do we make sure no student falls through the cracks?" Kirschner asked, framing the shift toward spring planning and more structured intervention time as the central question that drove the redesign.

School staff described a new "Viking schedule," introduced over the summer, that protects a daily block of intervention time for every grade and coordinates ESOL and special education services to reduce overlap and ensure consistency. Kirschner said teams created reading plans, matched programs and selected progress‑monitoring tools at the start of the year so instructional interventions could begin immediately.

Kirschner and presenters reported measurable gains after the changes. A staff presenter said English‑learner progress and proficiency increased by 12.8 percentage points — placing the school 7 percentage points above the division average — and that the share of kindergarten–3rd grade students at low risk on vowel skills rose from 36% to 46%. "These numbers represent real students whose learning paths changed because adults work together with intention," Kirschner said.

The principal emphasized progress monitoring as a daily, schoolwide practice: teachers collect intervention data regularly, enter reading data monthly, and review progress at every Collaborative Learning Team meeting so referral data link to grade‑level spreadsheets and inform timely problem solving. School leaders credited collaboration among teachers, specialists and families for the improvements and closed the presentation with a community affirmation: "Viking strong. We are 1."