archerovi wrote:After looking at the recent Charter School rankings and talking with Mary Cheh's staff and WTU President Saunders, I've become convinced that increasing teacher's time on task, whether through extended school days and/or removing distractions from teachers' school day, must become a top priority of DCPS. Unfortunately, what I found is that no one is really seriously looking into this.

I posted this GGW article on extended school days in DCPS this morning with the disheartening interviews that make this clear.

Anonymous wrote:KIPP DC Executive Director Susan Schaeffler says "extra time is meaningful only if it is accompanied by good teaching."

Sure, DCPS starts at 8:15, but ask any high-FARMS school teacher at what time the kids actually start learning. Is breakfast delivered to classrooms by 8:15 or are kids in the cafeteria eating breakfast at this time? And then when does instruction begin? And how much is taken up with trivia? And the dawdlers? An 8:15 official start doesn't mean teaching and learning begins at 8:15.

Anonymous wrote:This is a serious piece that deserves consideration. However, it is amusing to see it on the "Greater Greater Washington" website, which seems largely to cater to self-described "urbanist hipsters" who rank schools well down the list of DC priorities behind dog parks and a "vibrant" bar scene. In their vision of Washington, no one needs a car, single family home neighborhoods are obsolete and Manhattan is the ideal model for every planning question and social ill.