Next school year, Chicago Public schools plan to extend the school day an additional 90 minutes. Fifty schools have made the change this year, with teachers voting to amend union terms and take financial incentives to compensate for the additional hours at work. According to the New York Times and Huffington Post, funding this dramatic change will place an undue burden on the city’s already thinly spread finances. However, the district is willing to re-balance its budget for what they believe to be a step toward fixing the achievement gap and allowing for more enrichment and opportunities.
As an educator, I believe that while extending the school day is a step in the right direction, it needs to be managed appropriately if it’s to be at all effective.
There is no question that there is a lot wrong with our education system. Test scores have become our benchmark for achievement and students are expected to succeed, even though classes are large, constant testing doesn’t leave much time for learning, and small group instruction is few and far between.
Having taught in a public school, I’ve seen students shuttled from one practice test to another with barely enough time to learn anything in between. I’ve seen kids who need intense instruction passed off to an instructional aide because the teacher is too busy. Additionally, on most days, the children inhale their lunch, and in some cases recess is cut short or cut out, because there isn’t enough time to learn, let alone play.
So clearly, our students need more time. However, adding time is not just the simple solution. If students are given an extra twenty minutes a day of reading, but they are taught by an instructional aide who doesn’t have specific training to teach reading, the time is wasted. If students are given extra time for math but are just given problems to practice at their seats, the time is wasted. Therefore, the extra minutes need to be clearly accounted for with authentic lesson planning and small group instruction. Unfortunately, doing what needs to be done costs money, and that will be a challenge for an already struggling district like Chicago.
Extending the school day will also benefit students outside of academics. As discussed in an article, “School Recess and Group Classroom Behavior,” in the Pediatrics journal, students benefit from recess just as much as academic classes. An extended day will allow for the schedules to relax and give kids a chance to slow down and soak in the rest of their day; a critical component for learning. With a calmer schedule, students may be less stressed when they return home, and more able to tackle extra-curricular activities and homework.
However, this is only the beginning of a long solution to a complicated problem. If not handled correctly, the additional minutes will just fade away into more busy work, and the district will be back where it started with kids who are in desperate need of highly qualified instruction in order to succeed.
Sources:
Romina M. Barros, MD, Ellen J. Silver, PhD, Ruth E. K. Stein, MD, “School Recess and Group Classroom Behavior,” Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/123/2/431.abstract
Joseph Erbentraut “Chicago’s Longer School Day: Much-Needed Reform or Political Cynicism?” Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/16/chicagos-longer-school-day_n_962848.html
Rebecca Vevea, “Longer School Day Brings Promise and Questions,” NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/us/longer-school-day-in-chicago-brings-promise-and-questions.html