Not all of the success at the Minnesota Center is due to the calendar. This misunderstood modified school calendar has some educational advantages for all students. Most communities and many teachers either oppose it or are afraid to try year-round education. In Minnesota there are 27 year-round educational programs. They are succeeding wherever they've been started.
Most school boards shy away from it, because it is controversial and little understood by parents.
The Cambridge elementary and middle year-round schools operate side by side with little controversy, due in part to strong school board, administrative and staff support. The middle school, called the Minnesota Center, grew out of a need for space. Today 144 students in grades five through nine attend the year-round program, easing the need for space in the district's other two middle schools. The elementary year-round school, however, evolved from a grant and parental desires. It is housed in the same building with the regular elementary program in Isanti.