School kids love summer, and why wouldn’t they? Unfortunately, the long warm-weather break from the classroom contributes to a brain drain.
As research by the RAND Corporation found, “By the end of summer, students perform, on average, one month behind where they left off in the spring.”
The research also found that summer learning loss disproportionately affects low-income students.
Cabell County School Superintendent William Smith has seen the RAND study, and plenty of other research, that shows the traditional school calendar of nine months on and three months off is not efficient for learning, especially for kids from poor families.
“It’s impossible for them to catch up,” Smith told me on Metronews Talkline last week.
That’s why Smith wants to switch to a modified version of year-round school. The “balanced calendar,” as it’s called, breaks the year into nine-week periods with a shorter summer break of five to six weeks.
Cabell County will hold a series of public meetings over the next two months before making a final decision. Expect the usual grousing that comes with change, but credit Cabell County educators with challenging the existing condition in the best interest of students.
Hopefully, that mentality spreads throughout West Virginia, especially with the start of the 60-day Legislative session just a few weeks away. Governor Tomblin has promised to tackle education reform. He emphasized that during his inaugural speech last week.
“We have hard-working teachers. Per capita our education funding ranks among the best in the nation, but on our most important metric, student achievement, we are falling behind,” the Governor said.
Indeed we are.
Education Week’s Quality Counts report for 2013 gave West Virginia an overall B-minus, but that’s somewhat misleading. The score was propped up by higher grades in non-academic areas.
On K-12 achievement, West Virginia received an F for the third year in a row.
West Virginia gets the same grade from Students First, an education advocacy group founded by former Washington, D.C. School Superintendent Michelle Rhee. Students First “advocates that state leaders do away with antiquated policies that obstruct progress and fail to help children learn.”
There is more research showing that West Virginia public school students are not being prepared to reach their potential, but you get the point.
The good news is that the education reform movement, which has been gaining momentum across the country, is now catching on in West Virginia. The old way of doing things is being swept aside by educators, public policy makers, parents and community leaders who realize how high stakes are.
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Comments
wirerowe
Hoppy the Superintendent thinks that year around school is the way to go. It would be interesting to see reseach on the experiences and outcomes of school systems that have converted to a year around format
January 21, 2013 at 6:49 am | Report comment
a concerned educator
Hoppy
Once again, our education system wants to make a change without looking at the elephant in the room. Most research on year-round schooling has come out of Ohio State University, and it does not support the benefits of the change. In fact, it shows that year round schooling is more expensive than the traditional approach. In addition, it also indicates that students who attend traditional school years typically catch up with year round school students by October.
One big concern with year-round schooling is summer jobs for students in high school. Currently, many high school students work to make money for college. If the state goes to a year-round schooling model, most of these students will not be able to work in the summer, thus having less money for college. Isn't the state trying to encourage MORE students to attend higher education.
In addition, what impact will year-round schooling have on city and county parks that rely on kids to swim in their pools? I am sure that they will take a major hit financially.
One area that I do not see addressed when counties push for year-round schooling is the amount of time it will take students to get back on track after each break. I am sure that it will take a few days/week to accomplish this. After this time period, the students won't be any better off than students who use the traditional schedule, especially those students who have disabilities who need the continuous schedule for a set period of time.
Daycare will be another issue for many parents. It will be more difficult for parents to set up day care or babysitting coverage on the sporadic breaks as compared to longer summer ones.
There is also the aspect of coordinating sports programs. What happens if one county has year-round schooling and another doesn't? How will their sports programs coincide?
The true answer to school reform has nothing to do with schedule change. First, parents need to be held accountable for their child's attendance. How is a teacher supposed to teach, and a child learn, when they are not in school? The legislature needs to establish laws that hold parents more legally accountable for attendance. Second, the Department of Education and various county schools.needs to eliminate needless paperwork that teachers must complete. Third, we need to establish a more thorough system of discipline in our schools that supports teachers' ability to set limits in their classrooms. Teacher's hands are really tied when it comes to dealing with discipline problems. Fourth, go back to a more developmentally appropriate education system where students are taught what they need to know, not some pie-in-the-sky curriculum that is way to high and way to fast for students to comprehend. The number one reason students quit school in WV is due to the ridiculous math requirements mandated by the Department of Education.Fifth, not every student needs, or wants, to go to college. There needs to be more vocational education starting at younger ages (i.e. 9th grade). This will reduce the dropout rate and allow students to pursue programs they are interested in. Finally, let's stop comparing our education system to that of other countries that only educate the rich, don't educate students with disabilities, who funnel students into vocational programs in 8th grade based on a test, and who go to school less time each day. Comparing apples to apples is one thing, but apples to watermelons is another.
In many ways, the answers are more simple than we allow them to be. Stop trying to make a fancy education system, and start using one that focuses on the basic needs of children. The system tries to cram so much unneeded information on children that they are unable to absorb it. Our students are burned out by the time they are in middle school. If I was going to build a house, I would much rather have a contractor who takes their time building a solid foundation than one who rushes through the job and gets me in the house sooner, just to have the house fall down in a few years.
January 21, 2013 at 8:05 am | Report comment
Perry
I started to post my own reply but read this first. There is nothing I can add that hasn't been addressed here.
January 21, 2013 at 9:18 am | Report comment
wirerowe
Thank you.
January 21, 2013 at 9:36 am | Report comment
A concerned Taxpayer
The true Elephant in the Room is Educators truly believe that throwing more money at a problem solves it. Eisenstein said that "Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting different results" - the Game has changed. It is now time for MAJOR changes in how the system operates. MAJOR.
January 21, 2013 at 10:21 am | Report comment
Dave Jackson
Who are you including in the term "educators"? I would not hope the classroom teacher, who only does what they are told to do from up on high The Ivory Tower. The WVDE sets The New Policy And Wheel Re-Design For The Year, the classroom teacher merely carries it out.
January 21, 2013 at 3:46 pm | Report comment
Thomas
Everyone wants new and shiny things...including education reforms. New ways, new methods, new, new, new. From the period of about 1890 thru approx. the mid-50s, our country passed all others in industrial advances, technology, and general student achievement. We were unsurpassed. Schools taught basics - arithmetic, some higher math, reading, writing skills, literature, history, geography, the true history of our country (prior to progressive revisionism's rise, at least), and our children did well. Perhaps trying to re-invent the wheel so often has been a big part of the problem. Getting back to the tried and true can often be the solution that is both easier and more effective, but the training in ideology that has permeated our teacher education programs has warped so many young minds into believing that schools should be the place to win minds to the collective/socialist worldview where the population doesn't question anything they are told, individualism is bad and government has all the answers. It's time to end the nonsense and get back to basics including...as was suggested above, more vocational training and less extraneous activities, more discipline and less truancy.
One small point. It may seem to be nit-picking, and I agree with most of what you state here, but it disturbs me greatly when an educator mixes up "to" and "too" twice in the same sentence. Details of this kind are important when teaching our children to communicate effectively. Had it happened once - accident. Twice - habit.
January 22, 2013 at 6:18 pm | Report comment
Just the facts
Well said, however when you talk about vocational education, don't forget about the Ag students and all the work that they do in the summer, along with the instructors. Summer school would kill such programs and prevent students from taking part in very wonderful leadership situations.
February 11, 2013 at 8:15 pm | Report comment
Tim
I don't of any school system in the state that has three months off. Most now start in mid August and end in the first half of June. When you and I went to school (I'm 55), we never started in August. " It's impossible for them to catch up." is a bias statement and also wrong. Mr. Smith should know that many children can and do catch up. We are looking in the wrong places for fixes. School choice mixed in with creative types of schools is a better start. Meet children at their needs not ours. Thanks Hoppy (PS You are doing a great job, even when we don't agree. :)
January 21, 2013 at 8:25 am | Report comment
Mac
Very true. I also imagine that WV offers ESY for students who are unable to catch up. I know the schools here in PA do through special education services.
January 22, 2013 at 2:27 pm | Report comment
thornton
If you believe that year-long school will change the attitudes of students and parents, both of which go far to sucking the school day's richest marrow....then you are mistaken.
If you believe that year-long school will change the attitiude of the teacher's union in protecting bad teachers and a focus upon break rooms and power trips....then you are mistaken.
If you believe that year-long school will alter the draws and realities of society outside of a school's walls....then you are mistaken.
If you think the Greatest Generation would have been even greater without a break from school in the summer....then, think again.
January 21, 2013 at 8:34 am | Report comment
Jethro
After having 2 children come through the education system. I have felt the math teachers these days do not know how to teach these kids. These teachers are inept and once in the system are very difficult to get rid of
January 21, 2013 at 8:56 am | Report comment
CaptainQ
Well Hoppy, you are certainly consistant when it comes to 'crusading' when it comes to educational reforms in WV public schools. I can still remember many years ago when you were campaigning to get student's "butts in seats" relating to each county keeping the 180 day calendar. Your efforts did prove fruitful when the leadership of the two teacher's union FINALLY gave in to allow flexibility in the starting and ending days of the scheduled school year. This one concession by the unions now allows nearly every county school system to meet the 180 day mandate.
Now you are taking on the 'year round' scheduling issue. Lotsa luck with getting the leaders of the WVFT and WVEA on board with that. "A Concerned Educator" does have some compelling arguments to support the status quo on this. I also share the concern of others expressed here about the alleged 'benefits' of a year round school schedule over the traditional one. There's not even any real evidence of increased student performance relating to counties keeping the 180 day calendar.
If the 'year-round' calendar is such a great idea, why hasn't more school systems NATIONWIDE adopted it? The jury's still out on this issue, Hoppy.
January 21, 2013 at 9:11 am | Report comment
Thomas
Orange County Florida tried the year-round calendar for two or three years around the late 80s or early 90s and after the trial period opted to return to the traditional schedule. It created a multitude of problems not as much for teachers as for parents and students. Child-care, sports teams, not to mention air-conditioning costs, heating costs (yes, they have those even in FL), and trying to complete repairs and improvements without disrupting school activities. Seems like a great idea but it is fraught with pitfalls throughout.
January 22, 2013 at 6:25 pm | Report comment
Busy Mom
We're no longer a farm-based family society. Children's health, safety and nutrition are also safe-guarded and improved with year-round school. Parents struggle with summer childcare leaving them unatttended or putting them in activity-based camps the children have no intrest in.
Children need free-time for imagination, self-regulation and time management. But many of our schools don't have HVAC that's adequate.
But look at some of the successful education models...like where teachers have small class sizes and teach the same children year after year...(not many of us regularly get a new supervisor every year.) Let's move towards school uniforms (which are cheaper and easier) and get rid of the silliness of teachers NOT being able to administer sun-screen and get down to the "business" of educating our children so they are prepared for work. Too much ignorant litigation...and not enough focus on the desired goals of education. We're busy running around the maze and not looking at how to get out.
We know children aren't work-place ready. We need to help children by making school their "job." A shift towards individual performance (like the work-place) would mean a major-paradigm shift towards Montessori- styled individual learning. Let's shift towards giving children / families an annual bank of time off. The children either work ahead or catch-up after time off. Let's shore up the differences between the classroom and the expectations of the workplace and see if we can't simultaneously solve a lot of problems.
January 21, 2013 at 9:43 am | Report comment
Jim N Charleston
To quote the great Judeau Christian gospel singer & evangelist Alice Cooper, "Schools out for Summer" and it is for a reason. We can't call this the "Jim N Charleston 90 days off plan for the sake of the kids" even though I'd like to.
Children today need their 90 days of fun, rollicking, Tom Foolery, & ballyhoo to get away from the grind that is the WV public education system, otherwise known as the Harvard & Yale of public school systems (at least to those who don't know no better). It needs to be in our State Constitution children get their 90 straigjht days off. Otherwise our most precious resource could get overwhelmed, overworked, & over stressed. If that happens they could resort to burning the lettuce too frequently or even doing Meth.
Today they not only need to learn the 3 R's of rollicking, running, & romancing, they also need to learn the 3 T's of texting, tweeting, & not forget about television. Otherwise kids in WV & in the USA could become not able to stay in that #1 ugh 7 (that's #17) ranking globally in education. More close to Mountain Mama we wouldn't be #1 in teenage pregnancy if our 18 or more accurate 20 & under crowd didn't have 90 days off for summer.
And in closing just imagine how the cast of Buckwild would've been impacted had they not been able to have their 90 days of summer fun. Sissonville and wolf pen hollow would never have its national acclaim.
January 21, 2013 at 10:13 am | Report comment
mntnman
The balanced schedule needs to be discussed. It, along with many ideas to improve education in West Virginia, need to be on the table. We need to keep an open mind, be thoughtful in our support and objections, and then move forward with the best possible ideas.
Education is an economic development issue. Some companies avoid WV because of an undereducated population. Education is a social issue. The facts are that the better educated a person, the higher their chance for success. If they succeed, their children will likely succeed and we break the chain of poverty. Education is a state budget issue. If we educate our children and they succeed, they stay out of jail, pay taxes and avoid the use of welfare and medicaid. That in turn helps the bottom line on our state budget. Education is the key to the future. We know that if we succeed in educating our children, then their future will be better, which means our future will be better when we retire. Education is the key to our states success. Period.
Every idea should be on the table. While I disagree with some ideas floating around (merit pay, differential pay) I am willing to listen to them if they can improve achievements and student outcome. If they can't, then throw them away and lets look at other ideas. We don't need anymore fluff, and we don't need anymore tinkering around the edges. We need real, substantive change directed toward improving our children's education, their opportunities and their success. These changes need to be thoughtful and done with careful consideration. We do not need to do this all in one session. (A mistake, I think, to rush headlong into change for changes sake.) Getting it right is more important than the speed at which we do it.
As for the balanced calendar (still 180 days, spread out differently), research is not clear that it significantly improves overall student achievement or outcomes. (It does seem clear that the balanced schedule does help the economically disadvantaged youth.) Nonetheless, it does provide some benefits, including reducing learning loss, particularly if there are intercession opportunities (remedial and tutoring during the breaks). It can also reduce the loss of snow days and the cost of heating buildings in the winter.
What the data does show is that higher expectations along with longer school days and longer school years do increase achievement and outcomes. So, I am more in the group wanting to see the school year extended by 5 days and/or lengthening the day by 1/2 hour. (That 1/2 hour would equate to an additional 90 hours of school, or another 11 days of school.) The data clearly shows that time on task is very important in outcomes and achievement. Of course, this means more cost to the system. A big issue with this idea. On the other hand, if we do this right, over time, our overall costs will go down significantly. So we discuss it.
In the end, if we all work together, keep open minds and engage in real debate directed toward achievement and outcomes, then our children will succeed. And our state and her people will be the better for it. So lets roll up our sleeves and get this right.
January 21, 2013 at 11:20 am | Report comment
Just the facts
So, does 181 days make all the difference? And 179 equal failure... Since when can we put a time limit on intelligence, really?
February 11, 2013 at 8:20 pm | Report comment
Jedi1
We've been doing the same thing in this state for 70 years. It's time for change. If a balanced schedule doesn't work over the next five years, we can always go back. If it can improve test scores and make our kids better prepared for college, then they won't have to work as much to get there. If we can create a climate of achievement, then maybe our underperforming teachers will decide to step up and become stronger educators. My two kids' experiences in school are really no different than mine 25 years ago. There are some really good teachers that inspire and there are others that need to find a different line of employment. No matter what, change can be good.
January 21, 2013 at 11:42 am | Report comment
WV Patriot
Hoppy, keep up the good work. We love ya in the Eastern Panhandle! So we discussed this issue around the breakfast table this morning. We all related our math and science experiences from our days in school to what we have observed from our children who have now completed high school. The same story applies. For whatever reason, none of us were prepared to complete the math or chemistry homework by simply attending class. It required private tutoring for me in the 70's and which I had to provide to my children just to pass. I never mentioned excel. I don't know who to blame. But simply attending class, receiving the quick demo from the teacher and then being sent home to do homework or study for an exam was not enough. Oh and by the way, when I asked my sons chemistry teacher if he could provide after or before school tutoring he stated "I am the track coach and I don't have time for that". Unbelievable. Too much time is spent on extra curricular activities!!!! Weightlifting before school, practices (including band, drama, etc) after school. When are our kids supposed to focus or get tutoring???
January 21, 2013 at 11:52 am | Report comment
Sampeer
The problem in education isn't summers off. If that were the problem it reared it's head long before now.
The problem with public education is three fold. First, the politicians and teacher;s unions using public education to line their pockets and increase their power base. They also use public education to indoctrinate children into their particular agenda.
Secondly, there is absolutley no discipline in the classroom, none whatsoever. Having two family members who taught, they'll tell you that samething. You have administrations that lack the guts to support discipline or support teachers when they do use any discipline.
Third and most importantly, 90% of parents don't give a crap about their kid's education. All they care about is that the kids are out from under foot or that they excel in some sport. Oh by the way, don't discipline their kids because they'll yell and scream. You see little Johnnie and Suzie who the parents want out from under foot, can't do any wrong,
You want to straighten education up get the politicians out of the process. The only way to do that is a strong private and home school system
January 21, 2013 at 12:34 pm | Report comment
HMAALLTHEWAY
I somewhat agree with concernededucator on most of the points but some of the ways they are trying to teach math these days boggles my mind and math is a big part of what i do for a living.
I do agree with the vocational aspect that was metioned. I believe in 20 years the real earners will be tradesmen. There is such a push for everyone to go to college but not everyone is cut out for it. Who will build the houses, wire them, lay the bricks and plumb them in 20 years?
Final point, almost all professional positions today are advanced and given pay increases based on job performance. I am not a teacher but I don't think that is how it works in public education field.
Teachers are professionals that CAN have a huge impact on our childrens futures. Some though, I fear need to understand when choosing to be a teacher what a commitment you are making.
They spend more time with our children than we do during the school year and can have a positive or negative influence on them. Molding the minds of future adults is a great responsiblity and not just a job where we get our summers off !
God bless all of you teachers who are in education for the right reasons.
January 21, 2013 at 12:34 pm | Report comment
GregG
I'm all for brainstorming, but I do have a promblem with "year round" schooling. When I look back at my school years when we got out at the end of May and didn't start back until September I can say that having 3 months off for summer had any impact on our education. What I feel impacted our education was the fact that the nine months we were in school we we LEARNING.
January 21, 2013 at 1:10 pm | Report comment
thornton
"...we were in schoool, we were LEARNING..."
That is the point....more and more we, our children, are being held to what is required by the lowest common denominator.
Two trump cards in schools today...those being either the very brightest or the most challenged. The rest are lumped along as contributing little, requiring less and receiving proportionately....unless they can throw a football, of course.
Kids have poor food at home therefore...year-round school.
Kids can't retain information therefore year-round schools.
Parents need babysitters therefore year-round schools.
It goes on...and on.
January 21, 2013 at 5:15 pm | Report comment
takemetoemstar
hop~ not convinced modified year-round school is a great idea. this state relies heavily on tourism industry and a lot of the work force come from part-time staff members that are school aged. not to mention, the tourist themselves have school-aged children that are the traget audience of a lot of our destinations. the would hurt a lot of the tourism businesses in the state that rely on this workforce. and in full circle, once these students graduate, if they decide to enter the workforce, where will they gain employment if we have aided in closing a business that relied on a part-time student workforce?
January 21, 2013 at 4:05 pm | Report comment