Could a longer school day help to improve the educational gap in America?
Well, this question has been on my mind for a while. We have discussed it in many of my courses and I have talked about it with my friends. Last week, I went to get my daughter's report card and we had to fill out a survey. On the survey, was a question about if we would need a longer school day. I feel that a longer school day would be exceleent only if the studfents are indeed engaged in meaningful activities after 2:30. As we all know, anything after the normal school hours is considered babysitting to some people. I read Failing Schools See a Solution in Longer Day in the New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/us/26schoolday.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&ei=5087%0A&em&en=44b5bae90175362c&ex=1175054400.
The article was about schools that were considering having longer school days. I felt the article provides viewpoints from various which allows others to constructively weigh their options. One point mentioned in the article was that year round schools would take away from family time. I personally do not agree with point because many families are not together until later in the evening anyway (if at all). Another point was that children would have to walk home in the dark. Well, I see children outside anyway snd they are not doing anything constructive. I would prefer if a child has to be out, they are doing something worthwhile. Besides, a longer school day could just mean going to school until perhaps 3:30 or even starting school earlier. I do not believe children would be in school until 5 or 6 pm everyday.
I also visited http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-922/year.htm. This article, too, was about the longer school day option. This article goves breakdowns on many subjects that may prove to of interest to those who are considering a longer school day. One point, I felt very relevant was thta an additional 60minutes of reading instruction can help improve test scores. The article says many of the points I had previous stated. The longer school would only be beneficial if the hours were used wisely. If the students are simply just socializing or doinng their homweork, well it may not be as effective. If the teachers impovised their lessons accordingly and the state supported teachers, then the idea would definitely have a great impact. Afterall, the USA has one of the shortest school days in the world and our children are not being prepared forthe masses, so if it takes an extra hour a day to bring the USA back to the forefront, I say go for it .
I agree with you that an important point is that extension of the school day would only be useful if there were meaningful activities taking place. It would be most useful to fit that extra hour in as a natural extension of the day and not an extra period tacked on. My day is so tightly scheduled as it is- an extra hour would allow me to give a little extra time to each subject, which would help students. We lose so much time in the day as it is moving around the building from class to class and with other interruptions that an extra hour would make up for that lost time. Or, I could fit in a period of advisory or something. As a middle school teacher, I often feel like there isn't time in the day to address critical social-emotional issues my students are having that may not be addressed elsewhere. The "extra" time in the day could help us in so many ways. I'm not sure that this would be appropriate for very young children in primary grades, but certainly in my experience older students need to be in school more and running around on the streets less.
ReplyDelete"more of the same" (that is, more drill and kill) ain't gonna increase educational achievement or learning among students, although it may do quite a bit to increase the drop-out rate.
ReplyDeleteso, yes, we need changes in the ways we USE the school day, before we simply lengthen it.
A transition to a longer school day would be difficult for many teachers who are used to the shorter days and especially those teacher who fill their days drilling the students with worksheets. But Laura made a great comment that is could be used to fill time lost throughout the day and focus on the students social emotional issues that are affecting students' classroom success.
ReplyDeleteI know schools also face many oppositions when they try to change the school hours. Every person in the community has an opinion to share and then the union has to agree on the changes.