Arne Duncan, the United States Secretary of Education favors a longer school year too. Both Obama and Duncan argue that the US shorter school year puts our future generations "at a competitive disadvantage," because countries such as China, India, and Japan have their students in school more.
The idea for longer school days isn't new in the US, but is beginning to gain attention with Obama's focus. In 2005, The Boston Globe reported that at least 20 school districts were moving forward with plans to extend the school days. Yesterday, ABC's The View debated the idea. Proponents said that their children are "bored" when school is not in session; opponents argued "parents don't have enough time to hang with their kids now." You can watch the full 3 1/2 minute debate on The View's website:
I feel our current educational schedule of an 180-day, 6-hour school year schedule is so ingrained in our culture that it will be challenging for people to think of compromising alternatives of either extreme to de-polarize the issue. However, when our current educational schedule was formed, our technology was not.
Our class content, including educational technology and universal learning design, is challenging me to think of new ways to conceptualize an educational schedule that will allow more flexibility for teachers and families that engage our children more throughout the year. I think educational technology specialists could be utilized to develop flexible learning to happen at home or in the school, which could address concerns on both sides of the issue. Everyone has valid points, and everyone has an invested interest. At this time my thoughts aren't bounded by harsh realities we face. I'm pretend that education is a higher priority with our local and national funding; the recession isn't an issue; and we reach a consensus to engage our children in education more throughout the year. If you acknowledge that everyone has valid points, and you don't let "harsh realities" limit your thoughts - how do you imagine we could expand the school year with educational technology?
I do think children should be in school longer. The fact is, alot of students in other countries do spend more time in school, which will make them more competitive in the job market when they get older. With today's technology, there is no reason why school years cannot be extended.
ReplyDeleteOne suggestion that I have, is to create online classes elementary and high school students can take during the summer. While most students will not want to be sitting in the classroom all summer, they can take their laptops to the pool or beach with them to complete their school work and participate in their online classes.
Also, I do realize that some students still do not have access to computers and the internet at home. While that can be inconvenient for the student, perhaps a system could be set up to where the students can pair up and meet with their classes together online and essentially share computers, or perhaps the students who do not have access to computers and the internet can physically go to school, and use computers at school to complete their class work. Maybe even a system could be set up to where the student can "rent" laptops and wireless internet from their school to complete their work.
There are many other options when it comes to taking online classes the opportunities students could have with Instructional Technology. I do think this is an idea the United States should strongly consider now though.
I am torn by the issue of extended school days. Even though I do support extending school hours, I am unsure of how this will be done during the current economic times. Personally, I feel that the educational systems should be one aspect of the government that money is not taken (as often) from throughout the hard economic times. In the state of Florida, the government's solution to educational budget cuts is to remove one of the school days and have a four-day school week. I do NOT think that this is the answer to the troubled economic times.
ReplyDeleteI have always been a positive supporte of year round school. I believe that the long summer break hinders a student's learning process. When trying to cover the vast curriculum in one year and then taking three months off, it is easy to "erase" the information from your mind if you do not continue to use it.
I also agree that with the use of more technological components students could become more actively engaged in learning at home. I understand the issue with online classes and some students do not have access, but with the increase in the new laptop programs, online classes could become a reality in the K-12 curriculum. I also like the idea of having students work in pairs or in groups to participate in online work. I do know a few students who take online classes from Old Dominion and other colleges in this manner. They have a set class time each week where they all get together to collaborate on assignments and class work. They also use webcams to interact with other students doing the same thing across the state of Virginia. Another concept that could be used to incorporate learning at home (for those that do not want to extend the school day) is to use programs such as Moodle (refer to Emmett's post for more information).
Overall, I do support Obama and others' ideas who feel that a longer school day is necessary to be a part of the competitive edge around the world. As a teacher, I know that a school day can be tiring, but if we were not "pushing" to get so much information to students in small chunks of time, the stress level would decrease. If the number of hours in a school day increases then educators will have more time to further engage students in the learning process.
While reading through the posts, two words came to mind: digital divide. Yes, on-line classes sound like a great idea, but let's be real, you have schools who don't even have updated textbooks, let alone access to computers. You have secondary schools that teach biology and chemistry courses with no lab equipment. When I was growing up, I had to go to the city library to use the Internet for class projects and such, and I was fortunate enough to have transportation to even do that. If this were to work, then we need to pump more money into the educational system so that students of all socio-economic backgrounds have access to technological resources (hmmm...where's the money? That's another story for another blog post).
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, I do like the idea of year-round school versus extending the school day, because not only does it keep the learning process going, but it's also an avenue for students (who would have more time on their hands during the summer) to stay out of trouble.
Longer school days doesn't effect anyone. The point made that parents don't have time to spend with their children is bogus however. It's a shame that that would be the only reason for the support of "longer days". My question is how will you keep the focus of children in an 8-9 hour educational setting, especially when they aren't use to it?
ReplyDeleteThe curriculum of teachers would have to be changed as well. Students who will have more time to spend at school don't need to be bored. Also, what exactly can be taught 8-9 hours a day, or in a longer school year? Alot comes into thought when thinking of implementing this plan. The fact that there is some uncertainties about the value of the family possibly being taken away is obsured to me. I do agree with Chiquita, students will be able to stay out of trouble during the summer.
Longer school day and longer school year? Huh, count me out. From a teacher’s perspective, which works with children and speaks with parents daily, more time is not the answer. Parents are already complaining about the level of homework and the over-demanding schedule placed upon their teen-aged children. A successful student’s day just begins when school lets out at 3pm. Just like the teachers who grade, plan, and prepare for the next day after hours, students work, prepare, and pursue their long-term goals of continued education nightly. They are exhausted!
ReplyDeleteTechnology can help increase productivity, but Virtual Learning Environments are hardly a break from the rigors of school. Come on, we all notice how much more work and time VLE classes place upon us. Adding another bail of hay to the proverbial backs of the young will not just break them, it will crush them! If our goal is to decrease the 30% national dropout rate, how does lengthening the day and year aid us in the achievement of that pursuit? Teenagers have an attention span of 30-40 minutes, maximum (this says nothing of the younger children. We already sit them down for twice that much and ask them to digest, comprehend, and achieve more because of it. The extra time the four-by-four, or modified four-by-four schedule adds to the day has not improved student achievement scores. It is illogical and unscientific to think that spending more time, following the same failed model, will result in anything other than more failure.
Let us take a look at the holy grail of high school academics, sports. Whether you are a fan or not, studies demonstrate that students involved in sports perform higher, and achieve higher success, across socio-economic, gender, and racial divides, than students who do not. Lengthening the academic day will spell certain death to those programs and will prove to be the antithesis of President Obama’s goal. Speaking of President, will his children also see an increase, or is that just a plan for those of us on the public program? Is it not interesting that private schools are already not lengthening their day/year?
The President compares America’s “failure” academically with our economic rival Korea. Oddly enough, America still leads the world’s economies in production, productivity, and creativity, despite our archaic system. Could it be that the President’s problem with our current system is not that it fails to teach adequately, but fails to teach correctly? What better way to achieve global socialism than to have each country take its children at the tender age of four (mandatory pre-K) and indoctrinate them in a year-round, 8-10 hour day? “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” indeed! Our self-centered, self-serving, self-minded system may not produce the mindless obedient drones of the South East Asian continents, but we still manage to be their envy.
Take a look at our collegiate system. They do not go to school for any longer than six hours per class, per week and they do not stretch out the semester an inordinate amount of time. And yet, they are the destination of choice to all who gain entrance globally. They differ not in duration, but in choice.
From a personal level, I chose to teach for the quality of life that it assures. I never intended on getting rich in education, but I did intend and expect to have a life to live. If my ten-month contract is extended to twelve, and my workday is elongated to 8 with students, followed by the expected 1-2 I already give after hours for free, that quality disappears and so will I. Without the quality, there is no personal motivation to continue making less.
I would like to touch on the quality of life argument from a student’s perspective. When The Boston Globe article mentioned the school superintendent who said that students would have a hard time playing sports and taking music lessons, I was actually thinking of something that I find even more important that students would miss out on. Physical health and money make a huge difference in quality of life!
ReplyDeleteWhen in high school, I usually spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring breaks catching up on work, sleep, and personal tasks. I worked during the summers to save money to pay for college, which I continued to do as an undergrad. These breaks were crucial for me to be able to better myself. Also, the summer after I graduated from JMU as an undergrad was one of the most productive times of my life. I had loads of work to do that had been neglected for too long because I was so busy with school. I didn’t work a job that summer, but I did work on fixing my life, which was nearly in shambles. I was in such bad health from being overworked and stressed out that it took me nearly a year to recover. If I hadn’t taken that break I would have been in trouble.
I think Emmett hit the nail on the head. Students who are trying to make the most of their lives are already swamped, and if they are expected to be at school longer during the day, or year-round, they might not be able to withstand the pressure. Both curricular and extracurricular activities are important, not to mention financial self-support (for those who are of working age). It is not unreasonable for students to feel that they should be able to have a balance of all those things and still be able to take care of themselves, if they are willing to put forth the effort to do so.
I grew up in Great Britain, started school at five years of age, had the longer school year and school days that were in effect at that time in the mid 60's to early 70's (not sure what the UK is doing now) and when we moved to the United States it was clear that my early education experience had put me far ahead of students in my grade (unfortunately the US school systems that I was in for the next few years leveled the playing field) In retrospect, my sense is that the extended time may have had a small effect but probably not as much as the comparative quality of the British early education at that time. (again, I am not sure where this all stands today) My earlier comments on another blog posting regarding access to technology and those who have discussed the "digital divide" more recently still apply to this situation. There has to be fail-safe access to technology for all with the burden entirely on the school systems/government and until that happens then advanced technology is no more useful than a pencil to those who only have pencils.
ReplyDeleteI agree Emmett and Chiquita. There is a lot to consider when discussing longer school days and a longer year. As Chiquita mentioned there is the digital divide. We cannot expect that every child has a computer to use technology at home when school is not in session. I am not in favor of a longer school day or year. I see my kindergarten students from 8am until 2:40pm 180 days a year and that has been working well for me! I see why there is a push for longer days and school year it would allow students to spend more time on academics and be more competitive later on in life when they go out into the job market. I think the children get so drained though. By the end of the day my kids can barely keep their eyes open. They are 5 and 6 years old which makes a 6 hour and 40 minute school day hard on them. Also looking at these little guys they say your attention span is about the range of your age give or take a minute. So my kids can pay attention for 4-7 minutes before needing a break, imagine how hard that would be with a longer day. I think that school systems are getting crazy, there is also a huge push for eliminating recess to make the academic day longer. I understand the benefits but I think it would be extremely hard to do!
ReplyDeleteI think a good alternative would be summer school for students and parents who want this academic push for their students. These students could take extra class over the summer and advance through courses and content this way. There could also be mandatory readings and summer work for other students. If you want the students to keep learning and not get “bored” then they can be required to summer homework to be turned in at the start of the year.
Emmett made a great point when he said the students are already worked enough. Those that want to succeed pick up the outside clubs and sports to better themselves. There are so many other options out there that are better than extending the school day. Students can volunteer, tutor, take music lessons and other fun activities that the school day does not give them.
I lean more towards the idea of extending the school year as opposed to the day. I don't see where adding extra hours to the school day, regardless of the medium used to do so would be beneficial. However, I do see a need for longer school years because as stated many times before, other countries are well ahead of us concerning this matter. Moreover, I think that longer school years will better prepare students for the ideas of continuious learning that we all know is so important to learning as an adult. I think that it will eliminate some of the laziness associated with their becoming used to having extended summer breaks that range for months at a time and bear no resemblance to the way that things are in the real professional world where vacations are a week to to weeks long, generally speaking. I also think that extended school years with breaks in between (otherwise known as year around schooling) would help to decrease the memory lapse that takes place over the summer months. Kids tend to forget, especially at the younger ages where there are no summer reading lists and parents may not feel inclined to work with children over the summer, much of what has been learned in previous years thus time is used to get kids back "up to speed" before they can expand upon prior knowledge. This is a problem that definitely needs to be fixed in school systems and I think Obama's idea to extend the school year offers a possible solution.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Chiquita's mentioning of a digital divide. We can't assume that at any given moment students will have access to the technology required.
While I understand where Emmett is coming from in saying that students are worked hard, I still believe there to be room for imporvement. Why are we so quick to put barriers upon all of our society based upon few. There will always be those people who won't do because they do not want to, those who drop out and choose to fail. We can't however limit others because we think that something is too hard based upon those that can not reach the mark. There is a medium to be found somewhere here that stretches the abilities of students and proves that they are capable of doing more hard work than we give them credit for.
I agree with those who have said that students are already pushed hard enough. In my post I did support longer school days. However, with the longer school day I felt that schools and teachers would have the ability to provide students with recess and other important activities such as band and art classes. I feel that if we increased school day hours it would give the school more opportunity to offer these "extra" classes. On the other hand, if schools are simply going to add more "serious academic" hours then no it would not be successful due to the students "shutting down" due to academic overload.
ReplyDeleteTime is an interesting element - on a productive day, I get a great deal done in a short period of time and on a not so productive day, I work long hours and have accomplished nothing of substance. So ... it depends on 'what' you do with that time. Massachusetts has tried to legislate an expanded school day based on a weak study done of 9 schools. If you looked at the schedule - there was no more time given to reading, math, etc - but instead PE activities such as swimming were added to the week. Crazy!
ReplyDeleteAlso, if we really care about what we know works in education - its not about the amount of time during the day. In fact, we learn more when we have shorter periods of study with many breaks. Knowing this - we know that schools spend 1-2 months 'catching' up on what students forgot during the summer. Why not create a year-round school (which is no more than the current 180 days) but divided into the healthier short study and breaks? This is being done with great success in many US schools (including some in Virginia).
How many teachers choose to teach for the convenient schedule? Will we lose many teachers (good or bad) if the school day and/or year is/are lengthened? Or will we just loose the teachers who are in it for the schedule? Is this necessarily a bad thing? (Taking into consideration the demand for teachers.)
ReplyDeleteI do not know the answer to these questions, but from experience with the elementary schools that my mother has taught for, the teachers who care are there long hours anyway. If the school day/year were expanded, they would have more work to do. Could more planning time be incorporated into the day to accompany the extended teaching time?
I think technology used wisely and moving towards IEPs (Individualize Educational Plan) for all could help counter the need for a longer school day. Better structuring the time students spend in school could lead to better results. The argument for quantity over quality is usually wrong.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is important to meet students where they are and expand from there. I’ve learn (through research) what a difference a child-centered classroom that takes the student’s cultural background into consideration and adapts the classroom environment to the cultural and personal needs of the student is the most successful. The student-centered teacher that meets the child where they are, expanding the traditional method of implementing a scripted lesson plan for all is an example of this. This type of teacher must be able to tailor the lesson to different groups of students based on their levels and select books/materials that appeal to their backgrounds and interests. For example in a reading lesson, each group’s lesson would include both comprehension and vocabulary instruction on the group’s level. Pulling from the student’s background knowledge allows for a better connection, better comprehension and over-all stronger results.
More time spent on quality discussions and thoughtful explanations versus time spent listening and taking test would be a positive change in our school systems, a change that could be made regardless of the length of the school day or year.
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