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DC Public and Public Charter Schools
Longer school days at DCPS?
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Anonymous
| If school goes later, I would more likely run into rush hour traffic at pickup time, or afterschool activities |
Anonymous
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I would be in favor of the longer day if there are some qualifications for how that time can be spent, like teacher planning and additional outside time for kids. I am a bit pessimistic though and believe this will just be used as more time for drill and kill for testing.
BTW, I don't know if any of you all remember this but years ago DCPS students only had about a week for winter break. At some point, the break was extended to two weeks for kids (although teachers and staff still only had one week.) I recall hearing that this was a way to gang the professional dev. days for teachers so that PD would not interrupt the school weeks and so that multi-day programs could be held for teachers. Well . . . We still have the two week break but now teachers are off during both weeks and PD and other days off are so frequent that we rarely have a full week of school. Don't know about you but I would rather have less time for winter break and get out of school earlier in June or start later in August. |
Anonymous
I totally agree with this. I feel like the days off have definitely crept up since the beginning of the 2-week winter break. The days off in October, November, January, and April are many. The the pp who said that private school kids are in school for less time (even though their days are longer) that is partially true - the kids I have in private school start after Labor Day, but they go to school until the middle of June, and they have *far* fewer days off then my child in public school. It is difficult to satisfactorily program the days off during the week and - truthfully - I resent them. |
Anonymous
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In classroom time is one part of the picture. But it seems like DCPS "out-of-school time" is a major issue. The variance in quality of aftercare and after-school activities is troubling. Many working parents have no idea what actually happens, the amount of TV, unskilled staff, etc. I've turtored at a couple of schools and saw some kids actually regressing academically from chaos of aftercare environment. Rhee's comprehensive staffing model includes "professional" aftercare coordinators and an impressive brochure on DCPS website. But basically it's still haphazard and a haves/have nots situation.
Do other cities do it better? Which schools do it best? |
Anonymous
| 30 extra minutes? 8:30 to 3:30. Before I moved here from the midwest, I had no idea schools didn't start at 8 o'clock like they did at almost every school where I grew up. |
Anonymous
| I would be ok with a longer school day if the extra time was spent either outside or in enrichment classes, such as art of music. What I would really be in favor if is a longer school year - cannot see any good reason why kids need 3 months off school and since most kids end up in summer camp anyway, I think the time would be better spent in school. The added benefit of a longer school year is that formal instruction could be spread out which may reduce burn-out. |
Anonymous
| The summer breaks are too short and there are too many days off in the school year. Other than that, I for one, do NOT want to see a longer school day. Traffic, work patterns, the drill and kill... no thank you. |
Anonymous
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I don't think most kids could really focus for a longer day
I would only support that if homework were reduced |
Anonymous
| Its only 30 more minutes. |
Anonymous
Ditto. My dc is in school 2 hours longer than DCPS. |
Anonymous
Is this about the parents' time or the children's education. DCPS students have the shortest school days in the region. DCPS also is at the bottom or damn near the bottom in effectively educating its students. Is there a correlation? I have no idea. However, it might be something to consider when discussing the improvement of DCPS. As parents we will make the traffic and work patterns work. Right! |
Anonymous
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"DCPS also is at the bottom or damn near the bottom in effectively educating its students. Is there a correlation?"
It's the poverty stupid. Look at the test scores for the white (read:rich) kids. They do just fine with the present school day. Until the poverty gets addressed, the DCPS schools will continue to fail. |
Anonymous
Disagree. It has to be more than that. Look at DCPS schools like Cleveland, Langdon, and Noyes with high proportions of low-income kids, but high test scores (and no or almost no white kids). Personally I am for 30 minutes more in the school day, better-quality aftercare, and fewer days off in the school year! |
Anonymous
We can't continue to sit by and continue to blame poverty, lack of parental involvement and other societal ills for the failure of public schools. Our schools need to work DESPITE these societal problems. Until we get this point, our schools go nowhere. And some kids will continue to get a crappy education and not have the skills to do better and contribute. It has been proven over and over again that given the opportunity, kids who aren't in the best circumstances can succeed. Kids who have better economic circumstances may do better - but how do they compare with kids in other countries? |
Anonymous
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Funny, I think we can't sit by and let the poverty go unaddressed.
But it's easier to fire teachers, so I suppose we should stick with that? |