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CLAS Little Red School House Award
Dr. Mark Sullivan Receives 2025 CLAS Little Red School House Award
Dr. Mark Sullivan, Superintendent of Birmingham City Schools, has been honored with the 2025 Little Red School House Award at the CLAS Convention. This award celebrates innovative programs that significantly enhance educational opportunities for Alabama’s students. Dr. Sullivan was recognized for his visionary leadership in launching Intersession: The Pathway Forward, a groundbreaking academic recovery and enrichment initiative.
The Birmingham City Schools (BCS) intersession program has attracted national attention from The New York Times, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, and Forbes for its effective and creative approach to post-pandemic learning challenges. Held during traditional school breaks, these intensive instructional sessions offer students additional learning time in key subjects such as reading, math, science, social studies, and ACT preparation.
Through this model, students have access to up to 30 extra instructional days each year, roughly the equivalent of six additional weeks of learning. The program was designed by Dr. Sullivan to support academic recovery without changing the traditional school calendar. It provides targeted academic reinforcement, helps strengthen foundational skills, and offers engaging enrichment opportunities that motivate students to participate.
The program’s popularity continues to grow, with more than 7,000 students attending the most recent fall intersession. “That’s 7,000 students in school, learning when they don’t have to be,” Dr. Sullivan said proudly. Beyond academics, the intersessions include a wide range of activities such as dance, robotics, wellness, coding, E-sports, career and technical education explorations, ACT prep, and Advanced Placement prep.
The results speak for themselves. Birmingham City Schools has seen measurable improvements in student achievement: 86 percent of third graders earned a passing score in reading, math proficiency rose by 3 percent, and more schools moved into the A and B performance categories. Perhaps most striking, the number of schools receiving an “F” grade dropped by 46 percent.
Dr. Sullivan’s leadership has transformed a moment of crisis into a model of innovation and opportunity. His work through the intersession program exemplifies the purpose and spirit of the Little Red School House Award.
