DCPS Survey - Increase Instructional Time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't need a longer school year. DCPS needs to stop having 4 day weeks. 1/2 day for records keeping? An entire day off for parent-teacher conferences that are 15 minutes long and don't start before 8am or occur after 5pm? I think there was only one full week of instruction in the month of October.

I am a parent and DCPS teacher and our conferences always start at noon (I sometimes meet with parents before if need be because I am always there by 10am on those days) and our conferences go until 7pm. This is the way it has ALWAYS been when I worked WOTP and EOTP.

You are proving my point. If the conferences don't start until noon, why give the entire day off? But my real gripe is that the conferences are at times that are very inconvenient for working parents. Those coveted spots before 9am or after 4pm go fast and it's not always easy to stop working in the middle of the day to travel back to your neighborhood school for a 15 minute meeting. This is assuming you are one of the list cry ones with backup care for the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't need a longer school year. DCPS needs to stop having 4 day weeks. 1/2 day for records keeping? An entire day off for parent-teacher conferences that are 15 minutes long and don't start before 8am or occur after 5pm? I think there was only one full week of instruction in the month of October.

I am a parent and DCPS teacher and our conferences always start at noon (I sometimes meet with parents before if need be because I am always there by 10am on those days) and our conferences go until 7pm. This is the way it has ALWAYS been when I worked WOTP and EOTP.

You are proving my point. If the conferences don't start until noon, why give the entire day off? But my real gripe is that the conferences are at times that are very inconvenient for working parents. Those coveted spots before 9am or after 4pm go fast and it's not always easy to stop working in the middle of the day to travel back to your neighborhood school for a 15 minute meeting. This is assuming you are one of the list cry ones with backup care for the day.

Because the teacher in this case is working until 7 pm?

[Anonymous]

Some Charter already have a long school day and doesn't produce great outcomes. Perry Street prep school day is from 8am til 4pm and the academics are terrible.

For DCPS I would say extend the day til 4pm to ensure kids get enough recess/play time in the upper grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some Charter already have a long school day and doesn't produce great outcomes. Perry Street prep school day is from 8am til 4pm and the academics are terrible.

For DCPS I would say extend the day til 4pm to ensure kids get enough recess/play time in the upper grades.

With before school, after school, weekend academy, homework clubs ... it begs the question what is the purpose of school and why should children be spending all this time in a school building? Who benefits, or is it for the convenience of parents who have to work and can't afford to have someone pick up and drop off their children at earlier and later hours. If it really isn't going to benefit children academically and there is little research to say it does as most highly effective countries have children spend less time in school already, then lets make it optional.

[Anonymous]

All schools don't have before care; ours doesn't (DCPS). A longer day wouldn't be that far off base considering we use after care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some Charter already have a long school day and doesn't produce great outcomes. Perry Street prep school day is from 8am til 4pm and the academics are terrible.

For DCPS I would say extend the day til 4pm to ensure kids get enough recess/play time in the upper grades.

With before school, after school, weekend academy, homework clubs ... it begs the question what is the purpose of school and why should children be spending all this time in a school building? Who benefits, or is it for the convenience of parents who have to work and can't afford to have someone pick up and drop off their children at earlier and later hours. If it really isn't going to benefit children academically and there is little research to say it does as most highly effective countries have children spend less time in school already, then lets make it optional.

Honestly, what's wrong with making a decision to help families who "can't afford to have someone pick up and drop off their children at earlier and later hours"? That's the vast majority of DCPS kids. Why shouldn't DCPS be planning around the needs of those families?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't need a longer school year. DCPS needs to stop having 4 day weeks. 1/2 day for records keeping? An entire day off for parent-teacher conferences that are 15 minutes long and don't start before 8am or occur after 5pm? I think there was only one full week of instruction in the month of October.

I am a parent and DCPS teacher and our conferences always start at noon (I sometimes meet with parents before if need be because I am always there by 10am on those days) and our conferences go until 7pm. This is the way it has ALWAYS been when I worked WOTP and EOTP.

You are proving my point. If the conferences don't start until noon, why give the entire day off? But my real gripe is that the conferences are at times that are very inconvenient for working parents. Those coveted spots before 9am or after 4pm go fast and it's not always easy to stop working in the middle of the day to travel back to your neighborhood school for a 15 minute meeting. This is assuming you are one of the list cry ones with backup care for the day.

What you mean is it is inconvenient for YOU because there are hundreds of parents who make it their business to note ahead of time when conference days are and make the necessary arrangements. It needs to be a whole day because the teach is not just meeting with YOU. They are meeting with all of the parents. YOU don't have to take the whole day off if plan ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some Charter already have a long school day and doesn't produce great outcomes. Perry Street prep school day is from 8am til 4pm and the academics are terrible.

For DCPS I would say extend the day til 4pm to ensure kids get enough recess/play time in the upper grades.

There are some schools that don't (didn't under a previous principal) allow the upper grades to have outdoor recess. Then wondered why the kids acted up in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't need a longer school year. DCPS needs to stop having 4 day weeks. 1/2 day for records keeping? An entire day off for parent-teacher conferences that are 15 minutes long and don't start before 8am or occur after 5pm? I think there was only one full week of instruction in the month of October.

I am a parent and DCPS teacher and our conferences always start at noon (I sometimes meet with parents before if need be because I am always there by 10am on those days) and our conferences go until 7pm. This is the way it has ALWAYS been when I worked WOTP and EOTP.

You are proving my point. If the conferences don't start until noon, why give the entire day off? But my real gripe is that the conferences are at times that are very inconvenient for working parents. Those coveted spots before 9am or after 4pm go fast and it's not always easy to stop working in the middle of the day to travel back to your neighborhood school for a 15 minute meeting. This is assuming you are one of the list cry ones with backup care for the day.

Because the teacher in this case is working until 7 pm?

+1

[Anonymous]

I am a DCPS teacher. I've got about a decade of experience in the district, and I have been rated highly effective for nearly the entire time IMPACT has been in effect. If DCPS implements an extended school year, I will leave.

There's been a lot of discussion on this board about how teachers aren't the only people with stressful jobs, and how those people don't get summers off. That's true. It's also true that I don't have one of those jobs, in part because I know myself well enough to know that I can't maintain that level of stress without a significant break without burning out.

If they add four weeks of school to the school year, I will burn out. I will not be highly effective anymore. I took a summer job last summer that had me working for four weeks with children in a far less stressful job than teaching, and when I returned to school this fall I realized that doing that was a mistake. I am good at my job partially because I do have the opportunity to recharge, and I didn't have that opportunity this summer. I won't do it again.

Maybe all of this makes me lazy, or a bad teacher, like many people have suggested. I don't think that I am, but I'm not going to argue with people who think that teachers are entitled whiners. But I'm also not going to put myself into a position where I cannot be successful, and where I can't serve the kids that I love as effectively as I can right now.

If the proposal was for year-round school, I'd be all for that. I think longer breaks throughout the year and a shorter summer break is a far better model than what we currently have, both for students who don't have the summer slide and for teachers who never reach the end of school level of burnout because they can recharge throughout the year. But extended school year--no.

For the record, I also think this is a terrible idea for students. Anyone who has been in a school building in June can tell that the students are burnt out too. It's not just because they know the school year is basically over and the days are full of fluff activities--I've been in buildings where academics continue right up to the end, and the kids are still out of control. They need time off. They need time to play and be kids.

[Anonymous]

Great post, 14:02. Thanks for offering your perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a DCPS teacher. I've got about a decade of experience in the district, and I have been rated highly effective for nearly the entire time IMPACT has been in effect. If DCPS implements an extended school year, I will leave.

There's been a lot of discussion on this board about how teachers aren't the only people with stressful jobs, and how those people don't get summers off. That's true. It's also true that I don't have one of those jobs, in part because I know myself well enough to know that I can't maintain that level of stress without a significant break without burning out.

If they add four weeks of school to the school year, I will burn out. I will not be highly effective anymore. I took a summer job last summer that had me working for four weeks with children in a far less stressful job than teaching, and when I returned to school this fall I realized that doing that was a mistake. I am good at my job partially because I do have the opportunity to recharge, and I didn't have that opportunity this summer. I won't do it again.

Maybe all of this makes me lazy, or a bad teacher, like many people have suggested. I don't think that I am, but I'm not going to argue with people who think that teachers are entitled whiners. But I'm also not going to put myself into a position where I cannot be successful, and where I can't serve the kids that I love as effectively as I can right now.

If the proposal was for year-round school, I'd be all for that. I think longer breaks throughout the year and a shorter summer break is a far better model than what we currently have, both for students who don't have the summer slide and for teachers who never reach the end of school level of burnout because they can recharge throughout the year. But extended school year--no.

For the record, I also think this is a terrible idea for students. Anyone who has been in a school building in June can tell that the students are burnt out too. It's not just because they know the school year is basically over and the days are full of fluff activities--I've been in buildings where academics continue right up to the end, and the kids are still out of control. They need time off. They need time to play and be kids.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a DCPS teacher. I've got about a decade of experience in the district, and I have been rated highly effective for nearly the entire time IMPACT has been in effect. If DCPS implements an extended school year, I will leave.

There's been a lot of discussion on this board about how teachers aren't the only people with stressful jobs, and how those people don't get summers off. That's true. It's also true that I don't have one of those jobs, in part because I know myself well enough to know that I can't maintain that level of stress without a significant break without burning out.

If they add four weeks of school to the school year, I will burn out. I will not be highly effective anymore. I took a summer job last summer that had me working for four weeks with children in a far less stressful job than teaching, and when I returned to school this fall I realized that doing that was a mistake. I am good at my job partially because I do have the opportunity to recharge, and I didn't have that opportunity this summer. I won't do it again.

Maybe all of this makes me lazy, or a bad teacher, like many people have suggested. I don't think that I am, but I'm not going to argue with people who think that teachers are entitled whiners. But I'm also not going to put myself into a position where I cannot be successful, and where I can't serve the kids that I love as effectively as I can right now.

If the proposal was for year-round school, I'd be all for that. I think longer breaks throughout the year and a shorter summer break is a far better model than what we currently have, both for students who don't have the summer slide and for teachers who never reach the end of school level of burnout because they can recharge throughout the year. But extended school year--no.

For the record, I also think this is a terrible idea for students. Anyone who has been in a school building in June can tell that the students are burnt out too. It's not just because they know the school year is basically over and the days are full of fluff activities--I've been in buildings where academics continue right up to the end, and the kids are still out of control. They need time off. They need time to play and be kids.

This is the key point. I voted for "longer school year" under the assumption it will be something more akin to year-round school. Take the 10 week summer break and make it 6. Spread three weeks of vacation around during the year: an extra week off in fall, winter and spring. Maybe even break up the 6-week summer holiday to be one week off, a few weeks more of school, 4 weeks off, then resume school again. Winter and summer should have breaks longer than one week; fall and spring should instead have two different one-week breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I voted for "longer school year" under the assumption it will be something more akin to year-round school.

They want to add between 10 and 20 days to the year.

[Anonymous]

This goes to the key problem DCPS has - apples and oranges kids and schools. At our high performing JKLM, there is no way in hell that an extended school year would accomplish anything except burn out the teachers and make the kids hate school. As it is, curriculum at our school essentially ends by Memorial Day, and the rest of the year is mostly spent on field trips, assemblies and field days.

But on the other side of the coin, there are schools in DCPS full of kids that need meals, guidance and support, and enrichment, all of which more school days can accomplish (assuming staff and programming were well-chosen).

Personally, this would push us further towards the move to VA/MD decision . . .