How long should the school year be?

[joderu95]

one of the big selling points of the teaching profession is the amount of time off one has available.

It was for me.

I'm not one who defines himself by a job though and so that large amount of time off is important to me. However, if it is decided that a longer school year is what is necessary to improve education I would not be adverse to the idea so long as I am being compensated accordingly.

I also wouldn't mind just trying a reorganization of the school year and the individual look of the school day first to see if that helps. Four day weeks with a four week summer is one idea that I've proposed, much to the chagrin of the conservative elements on staff. This would shorten that eleven week summer break and hopefully boost skill retention.

The school day itself might be altered too. Longer but fewer class periods, a formal route for vocational training earlier on, interdisciplinary classes, options for greater specialization and so on.

On yet another note, I am skeptical of Obama's idea for merit based pay for teachers. I don't know how this would operate, but if it is by standardized test scores I would have a problem with it. I think this plan would probably increase the already large gap between rich and poor school districts.

 

[SFG75]

On yet another note, I am skeptical of Obama's idea for merit based pay for teachers. I don't know how this would operate, but if it is by standardized test scores I would have a problem with it. I think this plan would probably increase the already large gap between rich and poor school districts.

There are a lot of reasons as to why this is not a solid idea as it may appear to be. If administrators determine that, you will run the risk of people earning higher pay simply because of their popularity with a given administrator. The best principals that I had were ones who didn't let their personal feelings about a person influence their evaluation of a given teacher. They knew the person was good at what they did and tried their best, not to allow personal feelings get in the way. I do know of schools were a full time employee only shows up half-time and doesn't have a full load of students. This person tanked at teaching, and was given a desk job to sort through paperwork. She tanked at that and now she has eight students throughout the entire day in a resource class. $50,000+ a year for what is essentially part time work. This person was the employee of the year of where she was at. How do you address that if you endorse merit pay and the people in charge think some folks can never do anything wrong?

Another problem is that students should be assessed according to their own test scores, not that of others. A kid who ends the year at an 80% in writing proficiency may appear to be mediocre. However, when you consider that the student started out at 50% or 60% at the beginning of the year, you have to admit that progress has been made. Individual talents and skills are exactly that-individual! Not everyone wants to attend a four year school. We need to get students working up to their fullest individual potential and stop comparing apples to oranges.

O.K., I'm off of the soap box now.

 

[SFG75]

Wow, one school doesn't start their day until 11:00 a.m. They go until 5:00, but still, that's three hours of valuable time going out the window.

 

[Gilgamesh]

I'm uncertain whether having longer school year would make our children be more knowlegeable. But, looking at this website, international test scores, U.S. is not doing a good job in comparison to other nations. There are many factors that influence education. One thing I would like to point out is that Swedes start their kids compulsory education, 1st grade, at age of 7. That's a year of difference from the U.S. In a way, I think that sending kids too early to school is not the best thing, especially for boys.

 

[Landslide]

Personally I don't think it's a good idea to end summer break. I also thought of it as a well earned time to rest from all the hard work done in the previous months.

Since I'm not familiar with the school system in the US, I'll talk about the portuguese one. IMO what's wrong with it is a question of quality and not of quantity. In the last years the government seems obsessed with having a higher passing statistic so they stopped caring about the quality of learning, they just want kids passing to the next grade so they'll look good in the EU statistics... And since they are the ones who make the curricula and give the guidelines, I don't think there is much the teachers can do...

Another thing that has been done, wrongly IMO, is extending the daily schedule of classes. This has been done mostly because mothers work and they had no place to put the kids after school. I don't think it's the solution. I would prefer a network of places with after-school activities where they could start on their homework but also play... Kids nowadays look tired because they have adult schedules and I don't think that is healthy.

So, to finish my already long post, I think working kids who do well in school should be awarded with summer vacations. The others, who spend all year long playing and who couldn't care less about school should have to go to summer school (which doesn't exist in Portugal).

 

[Polly Parrot]

Over here the summer holiday is from early July til late August/early September. I don't think a longer school year will help, I don't know what it is like in the US or anywhere else but over here there is a huge shortage of teachers so before talking about extending the school year, I think there should be more teachers. Maybe an increase of pay will help?

 

[Gilgamesh]

While surfing, I found this: Nations with the Most School Hours

(1) Chile 1,094 hours per year
(2) Italy 1,023 hours per year
(3) The Netherlands 1,000 hours per year
(4) Australia 978 hours per year
(5) Ireland 941 hours per year

*THIS LIST DOES NOT INCLUDE INFORMATION ABOUT U.S. SCHOOLS.