This has been a particularly mild winter in West Virginia. County school systems have closed, on average, only a day or two because of bad weather.
That should be a good thing because schools can meet the state requirement of a minimum of 180 days of instruction. Historically, a majority of West Virginia counties fall short of the 180 days because of bad weather.
However, counties built snow days into their calendars, so now they’re adjusting the school schedules to include student, teacher and staff days off for the snow days that were not taken.
Consider what that means for instructional time, particularly in counties that have decided to take time off now, rather than end the school term early.
For example, in Monongalia County, schools were closed for two of the five Fridays in March. In April, students will have only 11 full days of instruction out of a possible 21 days because of spring break, days off for snow days not taken earlier this year, one faculty senate and tutoring day, and one teacher-parent conference day.
In Marion County, students will not have a full week of school the rest of the year for one reason or another. In April, spring break, days off for snow days not taken, and a faculty senate and tutoring day, will limit instruction to 12 of a possible 21 days.
Most weeks, the schools are closed on Friday. “Folks seem to like it,” Marion County administrative assistant Randy Farley told the Charleston Daily Mail.
I’m sure they do.
Meanwhile, all counties are getting ready for the standardized WESTEST later this term. Anecdotally, I hear that not much happens in many classrooms after the tests. In many cases, students and teachers are ready to pack it in for the year.
Perhaps that’s why most counties are tagging unused snow days at the end of the year and simply closing early.
A few years ago, the Legislature removed the arbitrary start and end dates of the school year in hopes of improving the chances of reaching the 180 days. However, there is clearly a loophole when, in some counties, students will be out of school almost as much as they are in school during April.
Once again, we see how West Virginia’s school calendar is like a dysfunctional Rubik’s Cube.
Earlier this year, West Virginia released a comprehensive independent audit of the state’s public school system. It pointed out that 180 days of instruction is really a minimum, especially when compared with other industrialized countries which require 200 or more.
The audit was careful to point out that time in school alone does not improve outcomes, but it is a factor.
According to the report, “A study completed by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy finds that ‘the correlation between time and achievement increases when students are given more instructional time, and is even greater when students’ academic learning time increases.’”
The public school calendar is not the biggest problem with public education in West Virginia, but it is emblematic of how the state is failing to live up to the Constitutional requirement of “providing for a thorough and efficient system of free schools.”