Alternative
School Calendars: Smart Idea or Senseless Experiment?
If American
students are to compete effectively in a global economy, do they need
to spend substantially more time in school? Would increasing the length
of the school year or school day raise students' achievement, or would
it be more advantageous to alter how we use the time we currently have?
Many school systems are experimenting with alternative instructional schedules
in an attempt to find out. Included: Year-round
schools, later start times, the four-day week, trimesters, and more!
Are American schools serving up a quality education for all students?
Although we provide students more years of formal schooling than any other
nation, our school year is short, usually only 180 days. The world's average
is 200 to 220 days per year, and Japan's is 243. (See "Give Kids More
School," USA Today, August 31,1992.) Over time, this difference
can add up.
International comparisons of student achievement seem to show American
students lagging behind their counterparts in other leading industrialized
nations. Would increasing the length of the school year or school day
raise our students' achievement or would it be more advantageous to alter
how we use the time we currently have? Moved by pressures of global competition
and domestic pressures to raise achievement, many American school systems
are experimenting with alternative instructional schedules in an attempt
to find out.
Today, alternative instructional schedules are not uncommon. "Why operate
on a calendar designed for the economy of the last century?" Kelly Johnson,
communications coordinator for the National Association for Year-Round
Education, asked Education World. "As we head into the 21st century, I
don't know of very many children who must work on family farms. So why
do we continue to implement a calendar which has no educational advantages?"
Whether it be a four-day school week, trimester schedules, year-round
school, extending learning time, or delaying starting times for secondary
schools based on the latest research about teenagers' sleeping and waking
behaviors, there are more options for school calendars than ever before.
YEAR-ROUND SCHOOLS
Although most of the nation's 52 million schoolchildren are still on
traditional schedules, about 2 million attend school year-round; they
attend school the same number of days as students on traditional schedules,
but they get shorter breaks throughout the year.
Supporters of year-round schooling say it relieves overcrowding, avoids
summer learning loss, reduces a parent's child-care burdens, and keeps
bored kids off the streets. Slower children, those with learning disabilities
or emotional problems, and those whose first language isn't English especially
benefit from shorter breaks. Additionally, proponents say, by staggering
students' vacations and schedules schools can increase capacity by 25
to 50 percent, avoiding the need to construct costly new buildings.
In reality, however, despite the areas in which year-round schooling
cuts costs, it also incurs additional ones: administrative, utility, maintenance,
transportation, and salary costs, and many enrichment opportunities occur
during the traditional summer break, making them unavailable to students
in year-round schools. So as quickly as fast-growing districts in Texas
and California adopt year-round education, educators in more stable districts,
citing among other reasons minimal if any improvement in test scores,
are reinstating the traditional summer break.
LATER START TIME FOR TEENS
After researchers found that adolescents actually need more sleep
than children and adults, physicians began to lobby for later school start
times for teens. Responding, several school districts adjusted their schedules,
some starting high schools almost an hour and a half later than they previously
had and middle schools almost two and a half hours later. Adolescents,
researchers discovered, actually need about nine hours of sleep a night.
Compounding that, puberty temporarily changes sleep patterns, prompting
teens to have difficulty falling asleep before 11 o'clock, and making
waking early even more problematic. As their weary parents have suspected
all along, teens are literally in another time zone; they just don't function
well before 9 a.m.! (See "Research Findings Show Impact of Later Start
Times," Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 25, 1998.)
Peter F. Flynn, superintendent of schools in Fayette County, Kentucky,
says that now that his district has adjusted school start times to accommodate
the students' physiological needs, "We're seeing our attendance is up
and our tardiness is down," Flynn stated in For
Whom the Bell Tolls, a special report published by the American Association
of School Administrators in the March 1999 issue of The School Administrator.
Kenneth Dragseth, superintendent of schools in Edina, Minnesota, says
that students in his school district who attend schools that start later
have higher grades than do students in schools with earlier start times.
He told Education World, "It has been the single most significant thing
we have done recently to improve student morale and attitudes. Sleep deprivation
creates nervous, anxious, and exhausted students, not the type our teachers
like to encounter in their classrooms."
"If I wanted to get the students at the high school to protest strongly
about an issue, all I would have to do is to change back to the early
start time at the high school," added Dragseth. "Students express that
they are less tired, are more focused, get better grades, and are more
alert throughout the day that under an earlier schedule. They comment
that it fits their biological clock and makes them more rested."
Parents like it too. "Parents comment on the lack of stress in the morning
at home due to a more leisurely preparation time for school," said Dragseth.
"They find their children less stressed and more focused on school."
Mary A. Carskadon, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown
University and the director of sleep research at Brown-affiliated E. P.
Bradley Hospital, cautions that changing school start times "cannot be
done successfully without also teaching students, parents, and teachers
about the importance of sleep. … Students need to be educated about the
need to stick to a reasonable bedtime, even if school starts later in
the morning. Otherwise, many kids will say, 'Oh great, I can stay up an
extra hour and a half,' and students will again be sleep deprived." (See
"Sleep Research Sparks Eye- Opening Interest," The School Administrator,
March 1999.)
FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK
When faced with soaring transportation costs and students on buses for
as long as four hours each day, some rural school districts pared the
fifth day of instruction into fourths and tacked this time onto the end
of the remaining four weekdays, creating a four-day school week. Although
implemented primarily for fiscal reasons, a four-day school week has many
unexpected educational benefits, many people realized.
Lewis Diggs, superintendent of schools in Saratoga, Arkansas, found
when his school district went on a four-day week, in addition to saving
more than $40,000, his students' achievement scores actually rose one
point. Diggs reports his findings in Why
Four Days a Week Makes Sense for Us(The School Administrator,
March 1999.)
In The
Four-Day School Week, another School Administrator report,
Jack McCoy, deputy director of learning services at the New Mexico Department
of Education, said in his district's case attendance for teachers and
students improved while scores on standardized achievement tests remained
stable. Additionally, the attractiveness of a four-day workweek made staff
recruitment easier. On the downside, with such long school days, a four-day
school week might not be as attractive a choice for younger students as
it could be for those who are older.
THE TRIMESTER PLAN
The school year for the 500 students at Westfield (Indiana) High School
is divided into three parts, or trimesters. Those students have fewer
classes but longer class periods. Teachers love it because they teach
only four courses per trimester and a third fewer students.
Since instigating the trimester plan, Mark Keen, superintendent of Westfield-Washington
Schools, told Education World that student attendance and achievement
are up, discipline problems have declined, and many students now have
the time to enroll in advanced courses, apprenticeships, mentoring, or
internship programs. Others opt "to take a part-time load their senior
year and work to earn money for college. They amass more credits than
needed and still work."
ACCOMMODATING SPECIAL EVENTS
Many school districts around the country tailor their calendar around
events when there would be high rates of absenteeism otherwise. In West
Virginia, most districts are closed for the entire week of Thanksgiving
to accommodate both the holiday and hunting season, in the New Orleans
area schools close for Mardi Gras plus the day before and after it, and
in Aroostook County, Maine, high schools take a three-week break so students
can work the local potato harvest.
EXTENDED LEARNING TIME
Recently, several districts toughened their academic standards, stipulating
that students who can not pass exit exams will not pass. From Seattle
to Florida, students -- especially those with academic deficiencies --
face the prospect of more school.
A Seattle Times story, "Tougher Academic Standards May Require
More Time in Class," presents the possibilities of before- or after-school
instruction, evening or vacation-time instruction, Saturday and summer
sessions, or a longer school year. Departing from the long-held belief
that all students can be educated in 180 six-hour days -- or fewer in
states that include days devoted to staff development in that total --
many educators now believe that some students need extra time to succeed.
As those students face the prospect of additional school time, high-achieving
students may best benefit from a more flexible schedule, one that allows
them time to pursue other activities (such as college courses) that might
enhance their education.
In addition to increasing the use of technology, and increasing flexibility
in scheduling, some schools are considering the most controversial change
of all: Devoting the entire school day exclusively to academics, meaning
clubs and other activities would have to occur outside of school hours.
Cost estimates for increasing allocated time in school vary by state,
but by one estimate it would cost approximately $50 million annually for
each district in California to add a single instructional day. Another
estimate, prepared for the National Education Commission on Time and Learning,
predicted that increasing the school year nationally to 200 days would
cost between $34.4 billion and $41.9 billion annually. (See WestEd's 1998
report, Improving
Student Achievement by Extending School: Is It Just a Matter of Time?.)
IS IT REALLY A MATTER OF 'TIME'?
Some countries whose students outperform ours actually have a shorter
school year than we do. According to the Third International Mathematics
and Science Study, in four of the seven countries that outperform the
United States in mathematics, students spend less time in class per week
than U.S. students do and also less than the international average. In
Sweden, for example, whose students were among the high performers at
the senior-high level, the school year is only 170 days long. Does that
mean that it is not the time spent in school that matters most?
Some educators propose that the amount of time spent in school matters
less than how much or how little of that time is devoted to appropriate
instruction. Research indicates when instructional time is mainly devoted
to academic subjects, when classroom time is well managed, and when curriculum
and instruction is provided at a level of difficulty appropriate to the
individual student -- the subject matter matched to the readiness of the
students to learn -- then students will learn. It is not the quantity
but the quality of education time that is the critical determinant of
how much students learn.
SO IF TIME ISN'T THE ISSUE, WHY ARE WE BEHIND?
School assemblies, disruptive announcements over the public address
system, passing between classes, disciplinary activities, ineffective
instructional techniques, inappropriate curriculum, student inattention
or absence -- all disrupt learning. Add to those things the inefficient
classroom management practices used by teachers; by one estimate, 70 percent
of U.S. teachers need to improve their classroom management skills! All
those things add up to lots of squandered teaching time.
"In cases where time is not already well utilized, increasing allocated
time is not likely to produce substantial gains in student achievement,"
stated the WestEd report. "In such cases, the first step should be to
improve the quality of existing time."
Cooperative, small-group learning environments, encouragement to students
to try to improve personal performance instead of performing better than
classmates, peer tutoring, specific feedback on student work, clear expectations,
parental involvement, and homework have beneficial effects on achievement,
the report said.
Other factors such as how students spend their free time can also affect
learning outcomes. For example, watching too much television or working
too many hours per week can be detrimental, and extracurricular activities
such as internships, community-service activities, part-time jobs, and
sports can enhance student learning opportunities.
Alternative instructional scheduling can improve students' achievement,
but there is a factor that matters even more. What seems to matter most
is providing curriculum and instruction geared to the needs and abilities
of students, engaging them so they will return day after day, and continuing
to build on what they have learned. What matters most is not how much
time a student spends in school, or the type of schedule in which he or
she participates, but whether or not educators use effectively every hour
that the student is there.
GET A COPY OF THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR
We've linked to on-line copies of a number of stories included in a
special issue of The School Administrator devoted to a study of
the school calendar. If you would like a copy of that special issue, call
toll-free 1-888-PUB-AASA.
MORE ON-LINE 'CALENDAR' RESOURCES
Improving
Student Achievement by Extending School: Is It Just a Matter of Time?
Written by Julie Aronson, Joy Zimmerman, and Lisa Carlos, this 1998
WestEd report frames the research on the complex relationship between
time and learning, focusing primarily on the empirical evidence about
how time affects student achievement. The report reveals that though
the amount of time spent in school does matter, how much or little it
matters depends on the degree to which it is devoted to appropriate
instruction.
For
Whom the Bell Tolls This School Administrator story (March
1999), from the American Association of School Administrators, details
how adolescents who attend schools with early start times are frequently
extremely sleep deprived. Districts from Virginia to Alaska have made
or have contemplated making changes to the start time of the school
day.
A
Minneapolis Suburb Reaps Early Benefits from a Late Start In this
School Administrator story (March 1999), the superintendent of
Edina (Minnesota) schools describes what happened when his school district
of 6,700 changed high-school start times from 7:25 to 8:30. Students
attending schools that started later had higher grades than students
in schools with earlier start times.
Why
Four Days a Week Makes Sense for Us In this School Administrator
story (March 1999), superintendent of schools Lewis Diggs discusses
how his school district implemented a four-day school week.
The
Four-Day School Week A School Administrator story (March
1999) discusses how several school districts in different states implemented
a four-day school week and the results of the programs.
"Research Findings Show Impact of Later Start Times," by Kim Schneider,
Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 25, 1998. This article
explores the results a study on later start times. High-school students
who started school later said they felt less depressed, missed less
school, and earned higher grades than did students in other districts.
"Give Kids More School," USA Today, August 31,1992. This
article is part of a debate on improving education. The article's
view is that spending more time in school and less on vacation pays
off.
"Should Kids Go to School Year-Round?" by Cesar G. Soriano, USA
Weekend, May 29-31, 1998. Today, 2,460 U.S. schools are on a
year-round calendar. This article explores whether year-round schooling
is a smart idea or a senseless experiment.
"Three Semesters for Learning," by Mark F. Keen, The School
Administrator, March 1999. The superintendent of Westfield-Washington
Schools in Westfield, Indiana, discusses how his district's 500-student
high school has benefited from a school year divided into three
semesters, or trimesters.
"Sleep Research Sparks Eye-Opening Interest," by Millicaent Lawton,
The School Administrator, March 1999. After describing some
research on adolescent sleep patterns, this article cautions that
schools must also teach students and parents about the need to stick
to a reasonable bedtime, even if school starts later in the morning.
Otherwise, many kids will say, "Oh great, I can stay up an extra
hour and a half," and students will again be sleep deprived.
Alternative
School Calendars: Smart Idea or Senseless Experiment?