Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the knee jerk rejection of it. Why would you "organize against" this without learning what it is and how it will impact you directly?

I also don't understand the obsession with "hours of instruction". If this year has taught me anything, it is that hours of instruction is a poor proxy for learning, and that kids need a lot more variety in their schedules in order to learn (including breaks and independent study time and opportunities to talk to their classmates in an unstructured way). I feel like a half-day on Wednesdays would be a great opportunity to not only provide teachers with professional development time (which they need and deserve -- who doesn't want their kids' teachers to be growing and improving?), but could also really benefit kids, especially those who need acceleration. But I could also foresee this being an opportunity for non-academic interest groups, literacy tutoring with volunteers, and other enrichment activities. Or just a break from academics to play and be active in aftercare.

Why is everyone automatically assuming this is bad? I don't get it.

Is this a serious question? Because I KNOW how it would affect me: it would reduce instructional time and regular routines at exactly the time we need to get those things back. Kids don't need "acceleration" right now (by which I assume you mean remediation, but we're not allowed to say that anymore) - those kids need regular, in-class instruction, possibly LONGER days and a longer school year.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the knee jerk rejection of it. Why would you "organize against" this without learning what it is and how it will impact you directly?

I also don't understand the obsession with "hours of instruction". If this year has taught me anything, it is that hours of instruction is a poor proxy for learning, and that kids need a lot more variety in their schedules in order to learn (including breaks and independent study time and opportunities to talk to their classmates in an unstructured way). I feel like a half-day on Wednesdays would be a great opportunity to not only provide teachers with professional development time (which they need and deserve -- who doesn't want their kids' teachers to be growing and improving?), but could also really benefit kids, especially those who need acceleration. But I could also foresee this being an opportunity for non-academic interest groups, literacy tutoring with volunteers, and other enrichment activities. Or just a break from academics to play and be active in aftercare.

Why is everyone automatically assuming this is bad? I don't get it.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the knee jerk rejection of it. Why would you "organize against" this without learning what it is and how it will impact you directly?

I also don't understand the obsession with "hours of instruction". If this year has taught me anything, it is that hours of instruction is a poor proxy for learning, and that kids need a lot more variety in their schedules in order to learn (including breaks and independent study time and opportunities to talk to their classmates in an unstructured way). I feel like a half-day on Wednesdays would be a great opportunity to not only provide teachers with professional development time (which they need and deserve -- who doesn't want their kids' teachers to be growing and improving?), but could also really benefit kids, especially those who need acceleration. But I could also foresee this being an opportunity for non-academic interest groups, literacy tutoring with volunteers, and other enrichment activities. Or just a break from academics to play and be active in aftercare.

Why is everyone automatically assuming this is bad? I don't get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. We have definitely had this discussion at our academic leadership team meetings. From what I understand this is a serious proposal being discussed at central. There has not been any formal decisions, but we are putting plans in place so we are prepared. We have been told it is for select students to receive “acceleration” learning from outside providers. Teachers will be receiving anti-bias training and more training on “accelerating” the learning of all students.

This is jaw droppingly absurd.

Honestly, this sounds fake since DCPS generally doesn’t care about “accelerating” students since so many are below grade level. Unless “acceleration” is another word for remediation (since we know DCPS is Orwellian when it comes to language.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. We have definitely had this discussion at our academic leadership team meetings. From what I understand this is a serious proposal being discussed at central. There has not been any formal decisions, but we are putting plans in place so we are prepared. We have been told it is for select students to receive “acceleration” learning from outside providers. Teachers will be receiving anti-bias training and more training on “accelerating” the learning of all students.

This is jaw droppingly absurd.

Anonymous wrote:A poster mentioned DCPS is considering half-days on Wednesdays for teacher PD. Does anyone know if this is really a proposal?

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. We have definitely had this discussion at our academic leadership team meetings. From what I understand this is a serious proposal being discussed at central. There has not been any formal decisions, but we are putting plans in place so we are prepared. We have been told it is for select students to receive “acceleration” learning from outside providers. Teachers will be receiving anti-bias training and more training on “accelerating” the learning of all students.