Extended year for 11 schools. Is this a pilot for the rest of the schools?

[Anonymous]

Hard change to make for teachers and parents who are used to it. But educationally, long summer break makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Then why are they only doing it for low performing schools?

Cost, for one thing. But if it is best educationally why aren't parents of high performing students demanding it? Tradition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then why are they only doing it for low performing schools?

Cost, for one thing. But if it is best educationally why aren't parents of high performing students demanding it? Tradition?

The parents of the truly top kids know that balance is the key to life success, and they want their kids to be enriched during the summer in alternate formats they are 100% shut down my mandatory butt-in-seat classroom instruction in the summer. Residential academic camps, foreign travel, service learning, national park camping, theater camp, youth orchestra day-long intensives, geocaching, etc etc.

That said, the true percentage of actual elite parents in DC with kids in DCPS vs private isn't large. The cohort of double-income, middle/slightly upper middle class parents who would be grateful to save the money on camp-childcare is much larger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher in DCPS and the vacancy lists have been released for next year. Every extended year school has at least 12 openings next year. Many having 20 openings. I know quite a few teachers who signed the new contract that DCPS made teachers sign (by March 25 requiring them to stay at their school or be excessed) who are looking to go to Montgomery or PG. Many teachers signed this year knowing they can't be offered a 13 month contract next year and will transfer under normal transfer rules next year. Look for lots of turnover at these schools year to year.

PP was this only the extended year schools that had to sign? I'm at a DCPS and heard nothing of the sort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher in DCPS and the vacancy lists have been released for next year. Every extended year school has at least 12 openings next year. Many having 20 openings. I know quite a few teachers who signed the new contract that DCPS made teachers sign (by March 25 requiring them to stay at their school or be excessed) who are looking to go to Montgomery or PG. Many teachers signed this year knowing they can't be offered a 13 month contract next year and will transfer under normal transfer rules next year. Look for lots of turnover at these schools year to year.

I'm the HD Cooke poster. I know many of our teachers were concerned about their contract, but I haven't followed up with them specifically since the March 25 deadline.

Do you have any visibility into whether the turnover you're describing at these schools is unusual compared to last year or the year before? I know at Cooke, we are hiring for a couple of positions and were planning to do so before extended year was even announced, so that would account for a couple of the vacancies. It sounds like you're not a fan of extended year, and while I understand some of the reasons why that might be the case, I think that banging the gong and predicting doom and gloom is premature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher in DCPS and the vacancy lists have been released for next year. Every extended year school has at least 12 openings next year. Many having 20 openings. I know quite a few teachers who signed the new contract that DCPS made teachers sign (by March 25 requiring them to stay at their school or be excessed) who are looking to go to Montgomery or PG. Many teachers signed this year knowing they can't be offered a 13 month contract next year and will transfer under normal transfer rules next year. Look for lots of turnover at these schools year to year.

PP was this only the extended year schools that had to sign? I'm at a DCPS and heard nothing of the sort.

Yep. Only extended year schools required teachers to make a non reversible decision by March 25. It put a lot of people in a bad spot. They signed becuas they didn't want to be excessesed. And pretty much weren't allowed to transfer without a huge risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher in DCPS and the vacancy lists have been released for next year. Every extended year school has at least 12 openings next year. Many having 20 openings. I know quite a few teachers who signed the new contract that DCPS made teachers sign (by March 25 requiring them to stay at their school or be excessed) who are looking to go to Montgomery or PG. Many teachers signed this year knowing they can't be offered a 13 month contract next year and will transfer under normal transfer rules next year. Look for lots of turnover at these schools year to year.

I'm the HD Cooke poster. I know many of our teachers were concerned about their contract, but I haven't followed up with them specifically since the March 25 deadline.

Do you have any visibility into whether the turnover you're describing at these schools is unusual compared to last year or the year before? I know at Cooke, we are hiring for a couple of positions and were planning to do so before extended year was even announced, so that would account for a couple of the vacancies. It sounds like you're not a fan of extended year, and while I understand some of the reasons why that might be the case, I think that banging the gong and predicting doom and gloom is premature.

Raymond lost half its staff last year over extended year. This year it's losing half its staff again. And it's not just the veterans. Many of the new people are leaving after one year.

There are always vacancies but usually they are limited to under 5 or 6 unless there is some big issue happening at the school. I'm not predicting doom and gloom but if the amount of vacancies keep up like that each year the schools will have new staff every year. Which isn't what's best for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher in DCPS and the vacancy lists have been released for next year. Every extended year school has at least 12 openings next year. Many having 20 openings. I know quite a few teachers who signed the new contract that DCPS made teachers sign (by March 25 requiring them to stay at their school or be excessed) who are looking to go to Montgomery or PG. Many teachers signed this year knowing they can't be offered a 13 month contract next year and will transfer under normal transfer rules next year. Look for lots of turnover at these schools year to year.

I'm the HD Cooke poster. I know many of our teachers were concerned about their contract, but I haven't followed up with them specifically since the March 25 deadline.

Do you have any visibility into whether the turnover you're describing at these schools is unusual compared to last year or the year before? I know at Cooke, we are hiring for a couple of positions and were planning to do so before extended year was even announced, so that would account for a couple of the vacancies. It sounds like you're not a fan of extended year, and while I understand some of the reasons why that might be the case, I think that banging the gong and predicting doom and gloom is premature.

Raymond lost half its staff last year over extended year. This year it's losing half its staff again. And it's not just the veterans. Many of the new people are leaving after one year.

There are always vacancies but usually they are limited to under 5 or 6 unless there is some big issue happening at the school. I'm not predicting doom and gloom but if the amount of vacancies keep up like that each year the schools will have new staff every year. Which isn't what's best for kids.

Once again DCPS misses the boat by failing to provide enough information about what it will entail before asking staff to sign, just like LEAP. Does anyone have a clue what this will look like as it may also increase the school day for teachers at some schools. Some teachers may be interested in Extended Year, if they would only promote and provide information first and then let teachers transfer between school easily it will make everyone happy. Happy teachers make happy schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher in DCPS and the vacancy lists have been released for next year. Every extended year school has at least 12 openings next year. Many having 20 openings. I know quite a few teachers who signed the new contract that DCPS made teachers sign (by March 25 requiring them to stay at their school or be excessed) who are looking to go to Montgomery or PG. Many teachers signed this year knowing they can't be offered a 13 month contract next year and will transfer under normal transfer rules next year. Look for lots of turnover at these schools year to year.

I'm the HD Cooke poster. I know many of our teachers were concerned about their contract, but I haven't followed up with them specifically since the March 25 deadline.

Do you have any visibility into whether the turnover you're describing at these schools is unusual compared to last year or the year before? I know at Cooke, we are hiring for a couple of positions and were planning to do so before extended year was even announced, so that would account for a couple of the vacancies. It sounds like you're not a fan of extended year, and while I understand some of the reasons why that might be the case, I think that banging the gong and predicting doom and gloom is premature.

Raymond lost half its staff last year over extended year. This year it's losing half its staff again. And it's not just the veterans. Many of the new people are leaving after one year.

There are always vacancies but usually they are limited to under 5 or 6 unless there is some big issue happening at the school. I'm not predicting doom and gloom but if the amount of vacancies keep up like that each year the schools will have new staff every year. Which isn't what's best for kids.

Once again DCPS misses the boat by failing to provide enough information about what it will entail before asking staff to sign, just like LEAP. Does anyone have a clue what this will look like as it may also increase the school day for teachers at some schools. Some teachers may be interested in Extended Year, if they would only promote and provide information first and then let teachers transfer between school easily it will make everyone happy. Happy teachers make happy schools

I don't really understand what you mean by this.

There are 2 programs: extended day and extended year. At Cooke, we have extended day now but will not have it next year. We are having extended year instead. I am not certain whether this decision was made by our school leadership, or whether it was an either/or situation, but one way or another, our principal believes that having both would burn out both teachers and students. So unless you are talking about increasing the day for teachers outside their schedule, I don't really see how extended year would increase the teachers' days. If there is something I'm missing, I would love to learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is desperate. They are trying anything and everything except the obvious...the inclusion classrooms DON'T WORK! It's a stupid idea. Take the really at risk kids and give them the services they need so that everyone, including at risk kids can get the damned education that they deserve!

We don't need an extended school year. We need a system that works instead of this sad veneer of success over a rotten infrastructure.

Agreed 100%!

An extended year just gives the kids a longer time to muck around and fail.

Extended time in a failing school makes no sense. Especially when there are very very successful schools that are not extended. How are they successful? It's exactly what you've said. They don't try to pretend and play games. They get right to the heart of the issues and actually serve the CHILDREN. DCPS spends too much time serving leaders by manipulating numbers and passing kids along so they can boast about the graduation rate. That's why you can have a 100% graduation rate in DCPS but fewer than 10% of the children passing the standardized test showing simple proficiency in math and English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is desperate. They are trying anything and everything except the obvious...the inclusion classrooms DON'T WORK! It's a stupid idea. Take the really at risk kids and give them the services they need so that everyone, including at risk kids can get the damned education that they deserve!

We don't need an extended school year. We need a system that works instead of this sad veneer of success over a rotten infrastructure.

They are following the model that's been successfully done at charters with similar populations (DC Prep and Kipp, to name a couple).

Also I think you need to look up what inclusion means - it has NOTHING to do with at-risk kids.

Not the PP but I disagree with this post.

In DCPS most of the inclusion students are indeed at-risk and they severely compromise everyone else's education. Many bring horrible, anti-sociable behaviors into the class with them.

And while the extended year model may have been done with similar populations, I'm willing to bet those students don't exhibit behaviors similar to those in DCPS. If they did, they'd be OUT!!!! I suspect there's more family support and administrative support for classroom teachers as well. They truly want to educate students and create an atmosphere in order for that to happen. All DCPS does is blame teachers for every bad behavior a student exhibits. Teachers were just told during a meeting at one school on Thursday that the reason the students come to class and cuss them out and challenge them to fight is.... Of course, teachers in that particular room had been cussed out and invited to rumble by the students. But were the students punished? No, because according to DCPS lore, it's the teachers' fault. Forgot the fact that these were new teachers (the turnover is serious) and those same kids had been behaving that way long before these teachers arrived. I can't imagine those successful charters would allow that type of behavior, much less justify it.

Soooooooo

An extended year in a DCPS school will mean more fights, more anti-sociable behaviors and more failing and/or passing kids along who won't be able to write a paragraph once they've graduated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is desperate. They are trying anything and everything except the obvious...the inclusion classrooms DON'T WORK! It's a stupid idea. Take the really at risk kids and give them the services they need so that everyone, including at risk kids can get the damned education that they deserve!

We don't need an extended school year. We need a system that works instead of this sad veneer of success over a rotten infrastructure.

They are following the model that's been successfully done at charters with similar populations (DC Prep and Kipp, to name a couple).

Also I think you need to look up what inclusion means - it has NOTHING to do with at-risk kids.

Not the PP but I disagree with this post.

In DCPS most of the inclusion students are indeed at-risk and they severely compromise everyone else's education. Many bring horrible, anti-sociable behaviors into the class with them.

And while the extended year model may have been done with similar populations, I'm willing to bet those students don't exhibit behaviors similar to those in DCPS. If they did, they'd be OUT!!!! I suspect there's more family support and administrative support for classroom teachers as well. They truly want to educate students and create an atmosphere in order for that to happen. All DCPS does is blame teachers for every bad behavior a student exhibits. Teachers were just told during a meeting at one school on Thursday that the reason the students come to class and cuss them out and challenge them to fight is.... Of course, teachers in that particular room had been cussed out and invited to rumble by the students. But were the students punished? No, because according to DCPS lore, it's the teachers' fault. Forgot the fact that these were new teachers (the turnover is serious) and those same kids had been behaving that way long before these teachers arrived. I can't imagine those successful charters would allow that type of behavior, much less justify it.

Soooooooo

An extended year in a DCPS school will mean more fights, more anti-sociable behaviors and more failing and/or passing kids along who won't be able to write a paragraph once they've graduated.

Are you the DCPS teacher who posted earlier, or another DCPS teacher? I wonder what skin you have in the game. It sounds like you are a DCPS teacher at a school that will have extended year next year, so I'd imagine that you are familiar with the summer learning loss, which affects students from all income levels if they do not read over the summer holiday but affects low income students more profoundly than their middle- or high-income peers. Summer is a hard time for low income parents because camp is expensive, particularly in this area. While summer holiday sounds like an idyllic enrichment time of swimming and family time, for a lot of kids in DC, that isn't what happens. Some go to day camp where they may do art projects and go to parks, but many will stay home by themselves or with an older relative or friend, unsupervised.

Based on your description, it sounds like you consider summer to be a time when you get a break from your students. What about what the students need?

[Anonymous]

Didn't read the previous responses so please forgive if already addressed...yes, those are pilot schools where the teachers had to agree to work on an extended day schedule. It is not part of the union contract however so it won't be made district wide unless they can negotiate with the union. Also, I doubt the JKLM schools will buy in. It is really more for the 40/40 schools.

Anonymous wrote:
School Year 2016-2017 Calendars

The DCPS calendar for next school year is now available online for your reference. Please find a color copy online at dcps.dc.gov/page/dcps-calendars.

As you may have seen in the news or on our website, 11 schools will have an extended-year model in School Year 2016-2017. The extended year includes an additional month of instruction, bringing the school year to 200 academic days, with an additional two weeks provided for a subset of students to get targeted support, as well as breaks in October and June to accompany the normal winter and spring breaks. The 11 extended-year schools are:

• Garfield Elementary School (Ward 8)
• H.D. Cooke Elementary School (Ward 1)
• Hart Middle School (Ward 8)
• Hendley Elementary School (Ward 8)
• Johnson Middle School (Ward 8)
• Kelly Miller Middle School (Ward 7)
• King Elementary School (Ward 8)
• Randle Highlands Elementary School (Ward 7)
• Raymond Education Campus (Ward 4)
• Thomas Elementary School (Ward 7)
• Turner Elementary School (Ward 8)

Are they just trying to see how it works and will implement in the rest of the schools the year after?

[Anonymous]

What the children need is a teacher who is not stressed out, not burned out, and has time to take professional development workshops, attend conferences, update license requirements, and simply breathe and enjoy life without having to worry about what DCPS will come up with next to make life miserable. Summer school is an alternative but DCPS has decided that fresh out of school kids with out teaching experience are best suited to teach the kids who qualify for summer school. As the PP said, fix the problems that already exist before creating new initiatives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is desperate. They are trying anything and everything except the obvious...the inclusion classrooms DON'T WORK! It's a stupid idea. Take the really at risk kids and give them the services they need so that everyone, including at risk kids can get the damned education that they deserve!

We don't need an extended school year. We need a system that works instead of this sad veneer of success over a rotten infrastructure.

They are following the model that's been successfully done at charters with similar populations (DC Prep and Kipp, to name a couple).

Also I think you need to look up what inclusion means - it has NOTHING to do with at-risk kids.

Not the PP but I disagree with this post.

In DCPS most of the inclusion students are indeed at-risk and they severely compromise everyone else's education. Many bring horrible, anti-sociable behaviors into the class with them.

And while the extended year model may have been done with similar populations, I'm willing to bet those students don't exhibit behaviors similar to those in DCPS. If they did, they'd be OUT!!!! I suspect there's more family support and administrative support for classroom teachers as well. They truly want to educate students and create an atmosphere in order for that to happen. All DCPS does is blame teachers for every bad behavior a student exhibits. Teachers were just told during a meeting at one school on Thursday that the reason the students come to class and cuss them out and challenge them to fight is.... Of course, teachers in that particular room had been cussed out and invited to rumble by the students. But were the students punished? No, because according to DCPS lore, it's the teachers' fault. Forgot the fact that these were new teachers (the turnover is serious) and those same kids had been behaving that way long before these teachers arrived. I can't imagine those successful charters would allow that type of behavior, much less justify it.

Soooooooo

An extended year in a DCPS school will mean more fights, more anti-sociable behaviors and more failing and/or passing kids along who won't be able to write a paragraph once they've graduated.

Are you the DCPS teacher who posted earlier, or another DCPS teacher? I wonder what skin you have in the game. It sounds like you are a DCPS teacher at a school that will have extended year next year, so I'd imagine that you are familiar with the summer learning loss, which affects students from all income levels if they do not read over the summer holiday but affects low income students more profoundly than their middle- or high-income peers. Summer is a hard time for low income parents because camp is expensive, particularly in this area. While summer holiday sounds like an idyllic enrichment time of swimming and family time, for a lot of kids in DC, that isn't what happens. Some go to day camp where they may do art projects and go to parks, but many will stay home by themselves or with an older relative or friend, unsupervised.

Based on your description, it sounds like you consider summer to be a time when you get a break from your students. What about what the students need?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher in DCPS and the vacancy lists have been released for next year. Every extended year school has at least 12 openings next year. Many having 20 openings. I know quite a few teachers who signed the new contract that DCPS made teachers sign (by March 25 requiring them to stay at their school or be excessed) who are looking to go to Montgomery or PG. Many teachers signed this year knowing they can't be offered a 13 month contract next year and will transfer under normal transfer rules next year. Look for lots of turnover at these schools year to year.

I'm the HD Cooke poster. I know many of our teachers were concerned about their contract, but I haven't followed up with them specifically since the March 25 deadline.

Do you have any visibility into whether the turnover you're describing at these schools is unusual compared to last year or the year before? I know at Cooke, we are hiring for a couple of positions and were planning to do so before extended year was even announced, so that would account for a couple of the vacancies. It sounds like you're not a fan of extended year, and while I understand some of the reasons why that might be the case, I think that banging the gong and predicting doom and gloom is premature.

Raymond lost half its staff last year over extended year. This year it's losing half its staff again. And it's not just the veterans. Many of the new people are leaving after one year.

There are always vacancies but usually they are limited to under 5 or 6 unless there is some big issue happening at the school. I'm not predicting doom and gloom but if the amount of vacancies keep up like that each year the schools will have new staff every year. Which isn't what's best for kids.

Once again DCPS misses the boat by failing to provide enough information about what it will entail before asking staff to sign, just like LEAP. Does anyone have a clue what this will look like as it may also increase the school day for teachers at some schools. Some teachers may be interested in Extended Year, if they would only promote and provide information first and then let teachers transfer between school easily it will make everyone happy. Happy teachers make happy schools

I don't really understand what you mean by this.

There are 2 programs: extended day and extended year. At Cooke, we have extended day now but will not have it next year. We are having extended year instead. I am not certain whether this decision was made by our school leadership, or whether it was an either/or situation, but one way or another, our principal believes that having both would burn out both teachers and students. So unless you are talking about increasing the day for teachers outside their schedule, I don't really see how extended year would increase the teachers' days. If there is something I'm missing, I would love to learn.

What LEAP option did your school choose for next year?