Adept at Adapting

new event—the Panther Parade. Students and their families were the entertainment as a line of cars wound around the school and teachers cheered for students, blew bubbles, and waved Marburn foam hands from the parking lot. In addition to the joy it brought us to see our families at the school again, it also allowed students to pick up any materials left at school and drop off items to be returned.

Our second Panther Parade launched the 2020-2021 school year as families again joined in the fun while picking up supplies for the start of school. After a difficult decision to start the school year remotely for the first four weeks, the Panther Parade was a fun celebration that allowed our faculty and staff to meet students and families.

summer prOgrams When Marburn was forced to cancel its heralded Summer School program, and with the realization that some students in our day school may be falling behind in their studies due to distance learning, an idea was born.

Interim Head of School, Scott Burton, asked the academic and Summer School teams to find a way to extend educational support and community engagement throughout the summer at no cost to families. Three main offerings were developed to build community and review essential concepts for each grade level.

Book Clubs and Guided Math were both offered twice a week. Book Clubs allowed students to use text to guide comprehension, extend vocabulary, and explore forms of writing. Small groups read and discussed age-appropriate books, and teachers led discussions about assigned reading at each club meeting.

Guided Math offered students the opportunity to participate in math sessions with Marburn teachers. To limit learning loss of key concepts, teachers provided live videos that covered the essential skills needed for each grade level. In each video, the teacher walked students through conceptual and procedural understanding. Then, students had a chance to complete similar problems while receiving guidance and review from a teacher.

After each set of three concepts were reviewed, students were offered interleaving practice: a mix of problems requiring different solving strategies designed to help with retrieval and improve retention of key concepts.

Adaptations and tools are a critical part of Marburn’s academic program. Some students use adaptations and tools to manage the challenges associated with their learning differences, while others use them to better focus in class.

Marburn offers access to adaptations and tools to students in any division and gives students the autonomy to determine if they want or need to use them. Students have access to and use assistive technology tools on iPads and laptops including Speech to Text, Grammarly support for writing, Read Write Gold, and so much more. In addition to tools that are used throughout our environment, students are also coached on

Lower Division students use dictation and Siri on iPads to speed up the typing process, and cameras are used to respond to prompts rather than responding in writing.

Students were also offered the option to continue teletherapy with Marburn Speech Language Pathologists to support language needs throughout the summer.

COvId-19 EmergEnCy Family assistanCE prOgram While the long-term effects of COVID-19 are yet to be fully understood, we recognized immediate need for families who were suddenly presented with significant financial hardship due to the crisis and identified countless students whose education could suffer due to the complexities of remote learning and home life challenges.

As leaders in the education space, we wanted to ensure students and families who needed us most could continue to access uninterrupted services. In response, Marburn Academy created the COVID-19 Emergency Family Assistance Program to help mitigate temporary financial hardship due to the global pandemic. It includes opportunities for qualifying families to receive an option for a payment deferral, an extended or modified payment plan, and/or additional financial aid for the 2019-2020 school year and/or 2020-2021 school year from the Family Emergency Assistance Fund. To date, 38 families and counting have received benefits from the program.

how to ask for adaptations or tools to support their individual learning and have access to items like noise-canceling headphones, wobble stools, standing tables, and fidgets to help them stay on target in class.

Most importantly, students develop the self-advocacy and independence to know who they are as a learner and how to use strategies and tools to succeed far beyond their time at Marburn.

Seeing an urgent need to share relevant and timely resources with our community during the closure, the Outreach department created a series of responsive webinars to help families navigate a new normal. More than 1,300 participants in our community and beyond registered to attend the series of seven webinars. Below are the topics and speakers from those webinars. A recording of each webinar can be accessed at marburnacademy.org/recorded-seminars.

APRIL 9, 2020: Send Help! How Do I Manage the “New Normal” for My Student Who Learns Differently?

Presented by: Alison Hickman, School Counselor, Marburn Academy and Kelly Hunter-Rice, Dean of Students, Marburn Academy

APRIL 16, 2020: Helping Our Children Cope with Stress and Frustration: Proactive and Reactive Strategies

Presented by: Dr. Cheryl Chase, Clinical Psychologist, Chasing Your Potential

APRIL 30, 2020: Parents’ Guide to Executive Function in the Age of Coronavirus: A Guide to Not Pulling Your Hair Out!

Presented by: Dr. Bill Benninger, Psychologist and Dr. Steven Guy, Pediatric Neuropsychologist

MAY 7, 2020: Support During Coronavirus: Strategies for Students with Language Difficulties (Think Like a Teacher!)

Presented by: Kelly Dunlevy, High School Faculty, Marburn Academy and Archana Ramanujam, Speech Language Pathologist, Marburn Academy

MAY 14, 2020: Support During Coronavirus: Ways to Use the E+R=O Framework

Presented by: Scott Burton, Interim Head of School, Marburn Academy and Scott Daly, Director of Training, Focus 3

JULY 16, 2020: Transitioning Back to School in the Time of Coronavirus

Presented by: Stephanie Royal, Director of Outreach, Marburn Academy, Samantha Paulin, Behavioral Health School Based Therapist, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Dr. Tina Schneider, Counseling Psychologist

AUGUST 12, 2020: Effective Strategies for Distance Learning

Presented by: Dr. Paul Riccomini, Associate Professor of Education, Penn State College of Education and Dr. Bill Benninger, Psychologist Specializing in the the Diagnosis and Treatment of ADHD

Access the series of

Marburn’s recorded COVID-19 webinars at this QR code.w