After years of falling test scores, the Chicago Public School district wants to make some serious changes. Having survived the closing of a $712 million deficit, the idea of extending the school day from 5 ¾ hours to 7 ½ hours raises questions about cost, purpose, and priorities.
There seem to be more questions than answers with this plan. As an educator, I strongly believe that children must be in school, and that we must maximize the minutes we have with our students. Much like life, though, it’s not the quantity of time spent that equals proficiency, but the quality.
The Chicago Public Schools propose to lure teachers out of union contracts by offering bonuses to those who are willing to teach an extended day. One can’t help but wonder if some teachers, recently denied a pay raise, are choosing to do it just for the money. Is that really the kind of motivation we want our educators to have? Will the district really be attracting the highest quality of teacher? Or will they be encouraging teacher burn out by making educators work harder and longer just to increase their pay?
While the idea that increasing instructional minutes to improve test scores may have merit, the curricular offerings are also an important consideration. Throwing more time at a subject isn’t necessarily going to improve student learning; in fact, increased seat time may have the opposite effect. Students who spend hour after hour passively learning eventually disengage. With new state standards even physical education has more ‘sit quietly and listen’ time than actual physical activity. Some Chicago schools have instituted a 45-minute recess, which offers the opportunity for exercise yet causes concern over staff supervision and safety.
With a well thought out and creatively constructed plan put in place, increasing the instructional day could have some positive, far-reaching effects for students. For parents, the more minutes kids stay supervised in school versus unsupervised on the streets is a good idea. For students, providing a positive, engaging environment at appropriate developmental levels could elevate morale and performance. Sensitively and carefully considering budgets to maximize the benefit of increased hours with increased spending is of utmost importance.
So how could this work for Chicago schools? What if students were able to spend part of their increased time making a connection with their community through service opportunities? Alternatively, perhaps offering high school students career training during the school day could lead to employment during their non-school hours. Younger students could buddy up with older kids, allowing mentoring relationships to form and flourish. Instead of having teachers volunteer to teach extended days, perhaps the district could stagger teacher schedules, allowing them to overlap instead of becoming overwhelmed. Creating balance between strict academic seat time and active learning could lead to increased student engagement and better buy in towards school. More buy in by students leads to enhanced focus, resulting in improved attention and retention of learning.
Improving the quality of service to Chicago students is a wise consideration over simply quantity of minutes served. In times of tight education budgets, we must all work together to creatively problem solve complex education issues. Parents, teachers, districts and students know it’s not just about the number of minutes spent, but how the minutes are spent that really matters.
Rebecca Vevea, “Making Longer School Day Happen May Have a Budget-Busting Price Tag”
Sarah Schulte, “CPS: Recess mandatory during longer school day”