New to FCPS - what was the rationale for starting and ending school a week early?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting to note that the states best known for top notch public k-12 education, like New Jersey, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Connecticut, etc. are all on the "start after Labor Day, out mid-late June" calendar. Not saying that these states have superior outcomes BECAUSE of that schedule, but the "but the standardized tests!!!!" argument holds very little merit when you consider this.

Totally agree. I do not consider the NJ kids where I grew up to be disadvantaged in the AP tests - And I didn’t consider myself to be disadvantaged with our start date when I took them there either.
Plus I think colleges are moving away from giving credit for AP exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting to note that the states best known for top notch public k-12 education, like New Jersey, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Connecticut, etc. are all on the "start after Labor Day, out mid-late June" calendar. Not saying that these states have superior outcomes BECAUSE of that schedule, but the "but the standardized tests!!!!" argument holds very little merit when you consider this.

You need to look a little closer at the data. First, Minnesota has very few SAT takers -- ACT is more common and the only kids taking the SAT are those who want to go to higher-end/East Coast schools. The same is true for Iowa (and it's SAT scores are even higher than Minnesota's) -- and look at Wisconsin and Mississippi's SAT average score for white kids -- sky high -- but very few kids are taking it.

OK, so let's get back to your allegation -- that states like MA, CT and NJ are doing really well on standardized tests (I assume you mean the ones that are national, b/c otherwise a comparison of "standardized tests" would be useless). We have to look at the average scores of kids different groups, and compare similar groups, otherwise, you are simply penalizing states that have a higher proportion of kids in disadvantaged groups. So, when we compare white kids to white kids in states where lots of kids take the SAT, looks like Maryland (when they were starting PRIOR to Labor Day) had higher average scores for white student than New Jersey, Massachusettes and Virginia (all of which started AFTER Labor Day when these SATs were taken).

I don't know if there will be any change now that Va is starting earlier. But, your premise is faulty. NY, MA, and CT == starting after Labor Day == have not historically been higher scoring than a state that started before Labor Day.

https://lesacreduprintemps19.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/sat-participation-scores-by-state-and-race.pdf (see p. 92).

How does start date affect SAT at all - it’s offered 7x a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not a troll

Have a few conversations with current high school students parents about academic teacher methodogy - how the kids are being taught content in their classrooms. The teachers are just phoning it in everyday. Scores remain fairly high because most FCPS families are well educated. The students do it all on their own or are tutored by parents and friends. That may work fine for your family, but the FCPS instructional institution remain vastly overrated.

Sports, theater, music extra curriculars are excellent, but daily academic instruction is exceedingly poor. It's a do it yourself - teach yourself curriculum

How is this even possible? Teachers must be present every day (not everyday). They simply cannot "phone it in." Go visit a classroom sometime.

This is an amusing post. Phoning it in means being physically present, but not really making an effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I much prefer Arlington's choice to open after Labor Day. The work schedule in DC is somewhat unique, in that business really dies down in August - it's much easier to get time off at the end of August than end of June.

Don't kid yourself.

People who are upset are upset because of swim team and the pools.

They don't care about the academic advantages and are grasping at straws to argue their point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting to note that the states best known for top notch public k-12 education, like New Jersey, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Connecticut, etc. are all on the "start after Labor Day, out mid-late June" calendar. Not saying that these states have superior outcomes BECAUSE of that schedule, but the "but the standardized tests!!!!" argument holds very little merit when you consider this.

The argument is NOT because of standardized tests.

The argument is because of AP tests, which are completely different from standardized tests in elementary.

AP tests are standardized and what I was referring to in my post.

Start date re: SAT doesn’t really matter bc the SAT is offered year round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I much prefer Arlington's choice to open after Labor Day. The work schedule in DC is somewhat unique, in that business really dies down in August - it's much easier to get time off at the end of August than end of June.

Don't kid yourself.

People who are upset are upset because of swim team and the pools.

They don't care about the academic advantages and are grasping at straws to argue their point.

NP, but if the overall amount of time spent in school is the same, there is no logical reason why the academic outcomes would be better if you start one week later or earlier. If you are arguing to lengthen the school year, that may hold water. But the week that you start? Has no bearing on outcomes.

[Anonymous]

I will probably get shot here, but I think regardless of whether you start earlier or later (although I think waiting til after Labor Day is ridiculous--most of us are not farmers), overall the US education system is abysmal.

10 to 11 weeks off every summer is horrible. Kids forget so much over such a long break. A lot of schools seem to phone it in the last month of school, particularly if the standardized tests are done in May. Why are they just teaching to the test? This is not how you teach the average citizenry to compete in the global economy.

Sure sitting in the more affluent parts of the country it's ok for the parents to all pat themselves on the back but that academic success is correlated to their wealth.

And while physical education and extracurricular sports are very important, there is way too much attention given to sports over education. I've seen that particularly in the South where they deliberately red shirt kids almost 2 whole years for size advantage in team sports, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I much prefer Arlington's choice to open after Labor Day. The work schedule in DC is somewhat unique, in that business really dies down in August - it's much easier to get time off at the end of August than end of June.

Don't kid yourself.

People who are upset are upset because of swim team and the pools.

They don't care about the academic advantages and are grasping at straws to argue their point.

+1 (and don't forget -- the vacation/beach homes that some are able to afford and want to use in late Aug. I feel bad for them. )