Alice Cooper's "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks..." echoes the sentiments of kids from coast to coast as we roll once again into summer break, a tradition that harks back to America's 19th century Agrarian days. But can it, should it, last forever?
The push is on to both lengthen the school day and year. Indeed, just this past April, Senator Tom Harkin proposed the Time for Innovation Matters in Education Act of 2011. If passed, it could ultimately increase the total number of school hours by at least 300 hours each year. Since the typical school day is about 7 hours long, that would translate to an additional 42 days. In other words, kiss the 180-day school year goodbye. Thumbs up or down?
In defense of such a measure, the usual seven hours for 180 days a year are considerably less than those mandated in many high performing countries. Indeed, Chinese students are hard at work from 7:30 in the morning until 5:00 p.m., from the beginning of September to mid-July. Meanwhile, South Korean students are at it from 8:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m.-with many staying later. Plus their school year runs from March to February, divided into two semesters.
Ironically, however, top scoring Finnish children don't start school in earnest until age seven, attending for 190 days a year, but only for four to seven hours a day.
Still, the argument remains that more time in class translates to more learning, hence higher standardized test scores-both state-mandated and international. Even President Obama subscribes to such thinking, saying that by increasing the number of hours/days our kids are in school, the better the United States can compete with such countries as China, Korea, and Finland that consistently outscore us.
However, warns Duke University's Harris Cooper, "Additional time can have a positive impact, but the added time has to be significant enough to change the way instruction is delivered. That's the collective wisdom of those who have studied the issue."
Taking all that into consideration, some 1,500 to 2,000 schools have already extended class time in some way. Take, for instance, the Cincinnati Public Schools, which added one month in an effort to improve test scores. That non-mandatory "Fifth Quarter" takes place in June and combines morning academic lessons with academic-enrichment activities every afternoon.
The upshot: both teachers and students prefer the longer school year over adding time to the day, saying that kids wear out by day's end and still have homework waiting to be done.
Even so, there's no shortage of proponents for a longer day-again, including President Obama. He, like may others, refers to the improved student performance at such charter schools as the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and Harlem Success Academy with their extended day and mandatory weekend and summer sessions.
Says Jennifer Davis, president of the National Center on Time and Learning, "The bottom line is that the length of the school day is no longer realistic when you consider the amount of content kids are expected to learn today compared to 30 years ago. Across the country, we're hearing that teachers don't feel like they have time to cover the curriculum or meet the needs of individual students during the length of the school year."
Moreover, it's no secret that learning erodes over the summer months for all too many kids, especially those who receive little enrichment at home. Known as "summer learning loss" and the "summer slide," it takes quite a toll. In fact, according to Dr. Cooper, on average, all students lose about a month of progress in math skills, and low-income children can slip by as much as three months in reading comprehension.
The antidote: pull the plug on all screens-TV, smart phone, computer, game consoles, and Wii, too--and hook your child up with books, aiming for at least five or six by summer's end. The library awaits with free reads, or shop online or at your local bookstore.
Need some help selecting? Children's favorite titles are available on such online sites as about.com and besttoysguide.com. Meanwhile, Scholastic is running its annual Summer Challenge whereby kids log in the number of minutes they read each day for a chance to win a Super Summer Book Pack. Plus the 20 schools with the most summer reading minutes will be featured in The 2012 Scholastic Book of World Records.
For starters, here's Amazon's list of their top ten kid reads:
1. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt
2. The Boy under the Bed, by Preston McClear
3. Hobbit or There & Back Again, J.R.R. Tolkien
4. The Wonderful Flight of the Mushroom Planet, by Eleanor Cameron
5. The Dog Days of Arthur Cane, by T. Ernesto Bethancourt
6. The Sailor and the Sea Witch, by Preston McClear
7. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis
8. Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson
9. Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
10. The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein
And, of course, you can't go wrong with Newbery Award winners, a complete list of which is posted online. Most recently named:
2011 Medal Winner:Moon over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool
Honor Books:
- Turtle in Paradise, by Jennifer L. Holm
- Heart of a Samurai, by Margi Preus
- Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, by Joyce Sidman
- One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia
2010 Medal Winner: When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead
Honor Books:
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice,by Phillip Hoose
- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly
- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin
- The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg,by Rodman Philbrick
In other words, since our most school districts have yet to be swayed to modify either the length of their school day or year, it's up to us parents to shore up the learning---reinforcing and enriching it all summer long and throughout the year, as well. Start with books and take it from there, adding a road trip or two along the way, so there's no sliding whatsoever-only growth and motivation.
Carol is a learning specialist who worked with middle school children and their parents at the Methacton School District in Pennsylvania for more than 25 years and now supervises student teachers at Gwynedd-Mercy College. Along with the booklet, 149 Parenting School-Wise Tips: Intermediate Grades & Up, and numerous articles in such publications as Teaching Pre-K-8 and Curious Parents, she has authored three successful learning guidebooks: Getting School-Wise: A Student Guidebook, Other-Wise and School-Wise: A Parent Guidebook, and ESL Activities for Every Month of the School Year. Carol also writes for examiner.com; find her articles at http://www.examiner.com/x-6261-Montgomery-County-Wise-Parenting-Examiner For more information, go to http://www.schoolwisebooks.com or contact Carol at carol@schoolwisebooks.com.
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