CNN reported Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, is studying programs that keep kids in school longer to boost their academic achievements. He states, "Where students have longer days, longer weeks, longer years -- that's making a difference.
Thirty percent of high school students drop out before graduation, and another 50 percent won't finish college, according to Education Sector, a nonprofit think tank. http://www.educationsector.org/ Secretary Duncan says, "We have to get dramatically better." More time in school is one of several ideas under consideration within his Education Department.
This idea doesn’t make Duncan very popular with students, or even some teachers and parents, but I wholeheartedly agree with the idea. The article states the “lazy days of summer may become a thing of the past...” In my opinion there haven’t been lazy days of summer for at least a generation of students. Kids are in so many activities, clubs and classes to keep them occupied while their parents are at work that many have longer, more scheduled days during the summer than they do during the school year.
ND has one of the lowest numbers of student contact days in the nation. We require our students to be in school for 173 days each year. The 2009 legislature acknowledged the research and recognized that this has put us at a disadvantage. In 2010-2011, ND school districts will be required to have 174 contact days, and in 2011-2012 it will increase to 175 days per year. http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/61-2009/bill-text/JARF1000.pdf
This is a step in the right direction, but we are still behind other states, not to mention the rest of the world. 34 states and the District of Columbia now require a minimum of 180 school days and only four states require fewer than 175 student contact days.
I actually support year-round schools. Speaking on behalf of two districts I know about, if Bismarck School District and Mandan School District were to move to a year-round calendar we would be able to combat two of our biggest problems; summer learning loss and space issues.
BPS saw a record high enrollment last year for its summer school sessions at all of its levels, elementary, middle and high school, and its expects the same this year. The sad thing is that the students who need the additional instructional time the most don’t often have parents who care to get them registered.
I believe the last month of school gets too crazy with the many final reports, final tests, final this, and final that. Important teaching time is consumed by “closing-down clerical tasks” that could be eliminated. Then we use more instructional time at the beginning of each year for "start-up clerical tasks” and review. It would be much better to promote students when they are ready to advance and not put an “End date” on learning. A school district in Colorado is experimenting with this idea. It will be interesting to see the results. http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0210/p01s01-ussc.html
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As an educator in the Bismarck school system I am in favor of year-round school. After my students took the spring MAP test, we began planning for the next school year. The last six weeks of school I was gone at least one day a week attending planning days for next school year. I am not comfortable with the amount of learning that took place in my classroom the last six weeks of school. Once the MAP test is taken all of our focus went to the next school year and the next group of students we will be teaching. This is not fair to the students that were in my classroom. Year round school would help eliminate this planning and preparation time. A team member of mine taught in Colorado for year at year round school. She raves about the success an educator can have with a student going year round. She talks about the fact that information is not "lost" over the summer. You don't spend the first two months reteaching material.
ReplyDeleteMy school did not may AYP for the second year in a row. As part of our school improvement plan we proposed to extend our school day by thirty minutes. What a controversy! Parents and staff were upset about the idea of thirty more minutes of core instruction. I can't imagine what the battle will be if we would try to have school all year round.
I think it will be years before North Dakota would consider going year round. A big shift in thinking needs to occur among the people of ND for year round school to be successful. My wife and I disagree about year round school.
One of the things I have found funny in the 4 years I have taught is the number of people outside the profession of teaching who are seriously hung up on the "summers off" concept. Of course, as teachers, the first thing we know about this is it's at least half false. How many of us literally take the summer off? Not me, and I doubt many of you do either. there is training, classes, in service and plenty of time spent in our rooms getting ready for the next year. So on the face of it, it's false. But I have also encountered a good number of people who border on being angry over it. As if I am stealing from their pocket by not being in school during the summer. They seem to forget a person cannot go to work if there is nothing to do there and we do not decide when and if there is something to do. The state does, and here's the funny part I talked about at the beginning: all of this angst and anger because of summers off and I, and a whole lot of teachers I know, favor year round school. I had a guy literally yell at me for about 5 minutes about this once and when he finally let me talk, all I said was "I agree. We should have year round school". He looked like I slugged him in the stomach or something.
ReplyDeleteI am fully in favor of year round school and a longer year. I think it would be incredibly helpful to our kids. How much to they lose over the summer? It seems like they come back mentally empty and we have to spend a month or so just getting them back up to speed. Personally, I think we all would be better served by something like 200 contact days with a month one/week off pattern or something like that. Give them 5-6 week breaks sandwiched between 4-6 week runs of school. They would get their breaks, we would have serious time for prep and other things, and the retention rates would soar.
Here in Maryland we do require 180 days of school per school year. I do agree that by the end of the year there are too many tasks required of us to “close up shop” for the summer. Between the many end of year tasks and end of the year parties, a lot of educational time is wasted. I can see how year-round school would benefit students in that they would not face “summer amnesia” but personally I feel that by the end of the school year I need that time off to refresh myself and possibly the students do as well. If year-round school did occur, I think we would need at least two weeks off in between each quarter to refresh. This would help to contain teacher burnout as well as student burnout. I also think that teachers would need to be compensated more being that summer would be no longer. I think a lot of teachers see summers off as a positive to teaching and help some to make it more worth their time and patience.
ReplyDeleteI also believe in year-round school. I talked to a parent recently that said they are going to give the district (Bismarck) an ultimatum next year. Their child spent the last 1 ½ weeks of school watching movies, going on field trips, playing games, etc. They are going to request that they are allowed to have that student for those days so that educational learning can take place. They said if the state requires so many days of teacher/student contact then that contact should be meaningful hours not wasted hours.
ReplyDeleteI see, also, an awful lot of students taking summer school than ever before. Some are doing it to get ahead and others to just catch up. With a full term of summer school, students end up with only 4-5 weeks break before the regular school term starts again. Maybe we should require summer school and then pay teachers with a pro-rated amount from their contracts. This gives teachers and students a chance to refresh and relax, but the amount of time is not so long that students forget a lot of material.
Beth
I do not support going year around because I personally like doing odds and ends jobs while spending time with my daughter over the summer. Lets get something clear, if required to do it, I would do it to the best of my ability. But will I raise my hand for volunteering, no.
ReplyDeleteThink about your classroom. You have kids, who will use the summer wisely, that will come into the year without skipping a step. Then you have the others, who will go back to square one. What this proves to me is that you have a case of the haves, and the have-nots. We live in a “survival of the fittest” world and I think that it is an injustice that we don’t want to teach our students that.
We don’t need year-round school, we need parents who step up, bosses who refuse to honor ignorance with jobs, and kids to give a whoot (in order).
I see both the good and the bad in year-round school and agree, North Dakota is no where near accepting the possibility of year-round school. Thinking of my school district in particular, I think year-round school is necessary. We had students whose only solid meals were the two (breakfast and lunch) they got at school. There are also many incidences of students going unsupervised during the summer break and let's face it, Fort Yates doesn't have much in the way of summer activities for students. Not to mention the struggle we are having education-wise. While I would like a summer break (a true summer break, no trainings, etc.) it wouldn't have to be as long as it currently is. As it stands, I will only have what I consider a break between mid-July and mid-August.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting issue. I really liked the article and then reading all the different blogs I was trying to figure out how I felt about the issue. With each persons comments I found myself nodding my head saying that I agreed with that and also that found different people’s comments to be how I felt as well. In the end I don’t think I can pick a side. I feel strongly about having some time in the summer to enjoy being outside and have fun “being a kid.” Sometimes we get so stressed about making AYP, improving our MAP scores, and raising our grades that we forget that we are teaching children to be responsible adults. Part of that learning does not take place in the classroom. I can’t teach a child how to be independent and set up a lemonade stand first making the product, selling the product, counting the change, and interacting with the customer. I really don’t feel like the child is going to get the same experience if I were to play store in my classroom. However I do agree that the last few weeks of the school year seem to be a waste and the first few weeks of fall are a review. I do think the summer kind of rejuvenates me and makes me want to start fresh and be a better teacher. It is a hard issue that I am not sure will ever be perfect for me to decide on.
ReplyDeleteI am behind you... I think implementing year round schools would address the two issues you targeted in your post. I think another problem that would be solved is the time needed for teacher training and implementing effective PLC's. ND is far from reaching this point, but with great advocators like you...we might stand a chance! I just think about what my Title I student loose over the summer. I send summer stuff home and try to maintain contact with parents because of our small community/school size. Working with individual students on a daily basis... one part of me says go and be a kid for summer now... the other part of me knows that in the fall, we are back at square one! I feel your pain.
ReplyDelete