Reply to Extended School Year Approved for 2 MoCo Elementary Schools

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Reply to "Extended School Year Approved for 2 MoCo Elementary Schools"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here are the issues I have observed from the one year-round school in APS) it was a pilot program, but never expanded to other schools and has not shown results in the short-term as test s ore have actually gone down; as far as I know APS has not collected any longitudinal data to show a long-term benefit for the students as they move through secondary schools).

MC and UMC families opted out. It's a pain to manage two different calendars, so unless all the other schools in MoCo move to this calendar, people with agency will leave. It will also keep new MC and UMC families from moving into the boundaries with this calendar unless their kids are already enrolled in a private or magnet school with a traditional calendar.

It is more challenging to attract teachers. You've limited your potential pool of candidates to those who don't have children of school age.

MC and UMC families want summers, maybe not all 12 weeks, but more than 4. They would rather have their kids doing at least a few camps with the kind of enrichment activities that public schools rarely provide, and summer activities like swim and tennis. They don't want their kids doing test prep and work sheets for an extra two months out of the year, they might be okay with RSM or Kumon, but not two extra months basic stuff. They will opt out of the calendar, especially if the calendar is just implemented in a high poverty neighborhood school. Make it a lottery school, and maybe it has legs.

Low information families will accidentally opt out of the calendar. They won't realize school has been in session when they show up in September. This has happened every year for almost two decades at the one year-round school in APS. Or, they go visit their families for months at a time in another country and disregard the concept of year-round school to do that, even when their children are the intended targets of the extra time in school.

I don't think the answer is to do nothing, rather target the resources better. Instead of giving poor kids a different calendar, try to recreate what families with better resources and understanding of education routinely provide. That means free preschool at age 3. Provide free parenting classes and affinity/support groups for their parents. Obviously not all can or will avail themselves of this resource, but there are many parents who want the best for their kids but have no idea how to provide it because nobody ever taught them. Explicitly teach parents that they are their children's first and most important teacher. Then show them, explicitly, how to do it. Offer full-day enrichments camps and provide meals and bus service for income-qualified students during the summer. And do everything possible to desegregate schools by SES.

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These are good points, but most obstacles seem to stem from the 'pilot' nature of the program rather than the program, itself.  After a few years, the extended year would become the new norm.  And if other schools adopted the same system, you wouldn't have the issue with multiple calendars (which, indeed, seems to be a big problem).[/quote]

+1[/quote]

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