Jenny is a typical senior at River Valley Charter School , a very untypical school near San Diego , California . She has a full day of classes on Wednesdays and Fridays. Because of her flexible schedule, she has enrolled in a French class on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at the local community college. On Thursday mornings, she volunteers in kindergarten at a private school. Jenny hopes that this experience will allow her to discover whether she is truly interested in pursuing a career in early childhood education. On Monday mornings, she meets with the student government to plan school-wide social events. On most Monday afternoons she meets with her physics teacher for extra tutoring. Although Jenny usually studies at home, sometimes she comes to school to meet in a study group to prepare for a government test or to complete a literature project.

Traditionally, high schools are organized around seat time within classrooms – usually six or seven 50-minute periods, five days a week. Legislation gives charter schools flexibility to try innovative ways to improve student learning. River Valley Charter School , serving students from 7th to 12th grade, uses a “hybrid” system, in which students spend part of each week in classes and the remainder in various learning activities beyond the classroom. This includes extensive homework assignments, a weekly community volunteer project, the use of technology to extend learning experiences, individual tutoring, student-organized study groups, teacher-led review sessions, as well as many traditional extracurricular activities.

Students at River Valley attend each 75-minute core class twice a week. Because teachers teach every day, class sizes are halved, ranging from ten to eighteen students. This allows teachers to engage students more and maximize instructional time. All students participate in a volunteer project aligned with their career interest. Monday afternoons are reserved for tutoring when core teachers are available to meet with students individually or in small groups. Students also have time in their schedules to meet with specially hired tutors. When exams approach or a large project is due, students often work in groups in open classrooms or in the school's media center. In this program, students manage their heavy study schedules and are well prepared for the time management challenges of college.

Students are accountable for their time outside class because a significant part of their grade is based on the work produced independently. Rigorous classroom exams make them accountable for the expected learning. When students fall below a 2.7 GPA, teachers monitor their time more closely and require them to attend a study skills class. As a school with high expectations, River Valley is committed to the state standards; and measures its success, in no small part, by student success on the STAR tests. These school-wide learning results are presented to the sponsoring district every fall in an exhaustive analytical report.

The payoffs from these learning activities beyond the classroom include:

• Students taking responsibility for the work they do independent of the classroom
• Students having time to participate in the adult community in volunteer projects
• Students expressing less boredom with school because of the variety of experiences during the week
• Students engaging in more opportunities for one-on-one learning with teachers and tutors
• Teachers being provided with realistic and powerful teaching opportunities in small classes and one-on-one interventions that allow them to meet the needs of all students
• Increased student learning

Implementing this hybrid model has enabled River Valley to achieve one of the highest API scores in San Diego County : 862. For this achievement, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors proclaimed September 28, 2004, as River Valley Charter School Day throughout the county. This year, River Valley was recognized as a California Distinguished School . At River Valley , experiences beyond the classroom enhance the learning for all of its students.