Transcript Time

Time
A Presentation on Education
Reform
By
Theresa Lemus Santos
Tricia Rozumalski
Andrew Snavely
Some Areas of Time Reform
Year Round School
Extended School Day
Four Day Weeks
Block Scheduling
All Day Kindergarten
Quality of time in
school
Year-Round Schooling
U.S. TOTALS =
384 School Districts totaling 3,206 school in all!
OHIO TOTALS =
7 districts in Ohio; 27 schools
Less than 4% of all schools in nationwide, but
it’s 4 times the number of students in yearround schools 10 years ago
Traditional vs. YearRound
Origins of School Year
“Year-Round” is a misleading
term
Students in most American yearround school districts spend the
same amount of days in class as
students in traditional calendar
schools – the days are just
PROS
Year-Round Schooling
Students and teachers are
Students requiring
refreshed by more frequent academic support don’t
breaks (better attendance) have to wait to go to
summer school.
Not as much review in the
fall
ESL students do not fall
behind because they are
not exposed to English
Increase academic
achievement scores
CONS
Year-Round Schooling
Too hard to fight tradition
Increased maintenance
and operational cost
Higher pay for teachers
Scheduling issues can
harm families
Sports teams and
competitions
Only adopt in elementary
schools
LEADERS
Year-Round Schooling
Other industrialized
nations:
Germany ~ 240 days
Japan ~ 243 days
China ~ 251 days
National Association for
Year-Round Education
(NAYRE)
http://www.nayre.org/
Minnesota Association for
Year-Round Education
(MAYRE)
Extending the School Day
What is the first thing we should do to
help our children learn? Answer: Give
them more time at school each day.
In the United States, the typical school day
lasts 6 hours. In contrast, other nations
provide up to 8 hours of schooling a day
OR MORE!
Extending the School Day
PROS
Extending the School Day
More TIME:
–
–
–
–
Instruction
Students
Curriculum
Individualize
…Less STRESS!
Less time for “wasted”
time outside of school
Increase student
achievement
Working parents
CONS
Extending the School Day
BURN OUT!
~ Kids
~ Students
~ Teachers
The costs of
extending the school
time are
disproportionate to
any resulting
instructional gain.
LEADER
Extending the School Day
KIPP – Knowledge is Power Program
Founders: Mike Feinburg and David Levin
They maintain that a major problem facing the U.S. today is lack of sufficient
time to learn.
KIPP is a special group of charter schools.
Reformers recognize that they are competing for children’s time and attention
and the competition is fierce.
KIPP keeps kids so involved with school that they have limited time to do
anything else.
Students aren’t the only one held to these standards, parents and teachers are
as well.
http://www.kipp.org/#
Four Day
School Week
Four Day Week
Participating Schools:
In Kentucky: Webster County schools,
Jackson School District
East Grand, Colorado
Saratoga, Arkansas
Various rural districts in the mountains
or desert of the west.
Pros:
Pros:
Saves on Expenses
Buses:
Jackson uses 520 gallons of diesel per day. A savings
of 20% on fuel took place.
Webster County saved $150,000 on transportation,
overtime, workers’ compensation, and pay for
substitutes.
An additional $167,000 was saved by cutting a few jobs
and changing bus routes.
Pros:
Saves on Expenses
Extra Activities:
Saratoga, Arkansas saved enough to implement
tutoring on the fifth day (which was Monday for them)
Teachers were paid by the hour and was on a voluntary
basis.
Students were chosen based on the lowest 50th
percentile on the standardized test.
At first, bus transportation was not offered and turnout
was slim
For the second semester, enough money had been saved
to provide transportation and attendance increased.
Pros:
Saves on Expenses
●
Jackson uses the fifth day as half
a day for teacher in-service.
Teachers were able to meet and
plan.
Pros:
Saves on Expenses
Out-of-school benefits
Teachers and students called off less. This improved
student attendance and reduced spendature on
substitute teachers.
Both teachers and students could plan doctor’s
appointments, … on this day.
Pros:
Saves on Expenses
The school day was only increased by 90 minutes. Younger
students had extended recess and snack times. Students had
more time for lessons and to work on homework.
Parents found that it was better to find sitters for all day on
one day than two hours everyday of the week.
One school board voted to return to a five day school week. At
the next election, every member of the board was voted out.
The public tends to support this, once they understand it.
Cons:
Most states advocate more school days, not less.
A four day week would not fit into this criteria
Many districts believe that a four day week would
not provide any benefits to the students. Students
need more instructional days, not less.
Some districts are planning ahead for diesel fuel
increases in order to be on the safe side.
Block
Scheduling
Block Scheduling
What is Block Scheduling?
The restructuring of the school day from
traditional seven or eight 50-minute periods to
four 90 minute periods.
Who is implementing Block Scheduling?
Various schools throughout the United States
and Canada.
Ex. Ontario high schools; Appleton, Wisconsin School District;
Pierre, South Dakota
History of Block Scheduling
In 1959, J. Lloyd Trump proposed eliminating the
traditional high school schedule and instituting classes
of varying lengths in accordance with the instructional
needs of students. The Trump Plan allowed for a class to
meet for a 40-minute lecture, a 100-minute lab, and a
20-minute help session each week, whereas other classes
could be short periods of 20 or 30 minutes. Trump
encouraged teachers using his design to experiment
with a variety of instructional strategies.
History of Block Scheduling
In 1990, Michael Fullan reiterated the idea that the
traditional high school schedule had become a powerful
myth, ceremonially adopted whether or not it was
efficient or effective. Even today, despite awareness of
problems with the traditional schedule, the power it
exerts causes some educators to resist any change in the
schedule and others to choose to return to an unblocked
format.
History of Block Scheduling
In 1993 Tom Donahoe argued that restructuring should
include the formal rearranging of the use of time in schools
in order to promote an active culture that would improve
student learning. He believed that this would bring about
the creation of new kinds of American schools. One year
later, the National Commission on Time and Learning
published its report, Prisoners of Time, which warned that
schools must be reinvented to focus on learning, not time.
The Commission recommended using block scheduling to
give teachers the time to engage students in active
instruction.
Pros
Science teachers prefer the block scheduling for extra
teaching and labs.
Less time is spent in the halls switching classes.
More time is available for student-teacher interaction.
Unless teachers try to cover twice the material within
the 90 minutes, there is less stress for the teachers.
Statistically fewer failing grades.
More time is allotted for off-site work experiences.
The drop out rate is reduced.
Cons
Junior/Senior High counselors are reporting on having to
deal with more problems with scheduling.
Students are not retaining the information so the Appleton,
Wisconsin School District made a 20% cut in the curriculum.
The students do not have the attention span needed for this
length of time.
In most situations, students learn a years worth of curriculum in
a semester. In addition, time passes before they are
re-introduced to the subject matter.
One 90 minute class has 10% less time than two 50 minute
classes.
Difficulty making up work when school is missed.
All-Day
Kindergarten
History of All Day Kindergarten
Kindergarten was generally all day until...
World War II
Due to...
Lack of Space
Shortage of teachers
Heightened birth rate
Kindergarten transformed from all day to half day.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s…
There became a renewed interest
in all day kindergarten with the
success of programs such as...
Head Start
Why Is All Day Kindergarten
Important?
Why Is All-Day Kindergarten
Important?
Students are coming to kindergarten unprepared…
Some don’t know the names of letters
Some cannot count to 20
Some don’t know colors or shapes
Also there are…
Gaps between low income and higher income
Gaps between racial groups
Gaps between English speaking and non-English speaking
households
Who Benefits
from All Day
Kindergarten??
Parents
Lower child care costs
Opportunity for lower-income families to
enroll in quality early education program
Less difficulty scheduling child care and
transportation
Can get involved more in classroom and
communicate with teacher
Teachers
Reduced ratio of transition time to learning
time
More time spent with students individually
More time getting to know and
communicating with parents
More time to assess students and
individualize their education
Fewer total students
SCHOOLS
No need for midday busses
No need for midday crossing guards
And Lastly...
The Students...
Benefit
Academically
Socially
Emotionally
Students...
Academically
More independent
learning
More classroom
involvement
Explore subjects in
depth
Flexible,
individualized learning
environment
Individual, small
group interaction with
teacher
Students...
●
Socially
●
Emotionally
More productivity in
working with peers
Express less
withdrawl
More likely to
approach the teacher
Express less anger
Express less shyness
Lastly...
●
The
demands of
the
curriculum
An Effective Kindergarten Program Must...
integrate new learning with past experiences in project work
through mixed
ability and mixed-age grouping
involve children first hand with objects, other children, and adults
emphasize language development
work more with parents to share information and enhance parentteacher partnerships
offers a balance between small group, large group, and individual
activites
develop social skills
Interview With A Teacher
●
Danielle Baltzer, Former First Grade Teacher
“When we switched to all-day kindergarten, the students
were better prepared to begin first grade. They could handle staying
in school for the entire day because they were used to it. They
also were ready to begin reading.”
Colleen Skirtich, Kindergarten teacher
“With all-day kindergarten, the children ALL were ready to
enter first grade – even the children who began the year at an
academic disadvantage. Now, with the Ohio State Standards,
it is difficult to fit in all the materials in only a half-day school day.”
If All Day Kindergaten
Seems Ideal,
Then
Why Don't All Schools
Implement It???
It all Boils Down To...
It Costs An Average of....
An additional $500,000
to run an All Day
Kindergarten Program
for one year.
How Can We
More Effectively
Use the Time
We Have Now???
Present Quality Lessons
Brain Research (Dr. David Sousa)
Look at Learning Modalities
1/2 Visual
1/3 Kinesthetic
1/5 Auditory
Present lessons
involving all 3!
Primacy-Recency Effect
Chunk Activity into 3 sections
(Example 40 minute lesson)
Prime Time 1 Down-Time Prime Time 2
Teach new materials
Students learn best
20 minutes
Teacher led
7 minutes
Students working
Students learn least
Student led
13 minutes
Teach 2nd most important
Students learn 2nd most
Teacher or student led
Common Planning Time
Benefits
Teachers can discuss lessons and “iron out kinks”
before the lessons are presented.
Teachers can design thematic units so material is
repeated throughout the various content areas.
The teachers can discuss the students, their
grades, and what strategies work best for
each student.
Resources
Year Round School and
Extended School Day
http://minecu.govt.nz/print_doc.cfu?layout=document&documentid.htmlht
tp://edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=art_1313&issue=jun_05htt
p://www.ericdigest.org/pre-922/year.htm
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec01/year-round.html
Matthews, Jay. (2005) Let's Have a 9-Hour School Day.
The Washington Post: Washington D.C.
http://www.pbs.org/makingschoolswork/sbs/kipp/time.html
Resources
–4
Day Week and
– Block Scheduling
●Http://news.kypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051004/
NEWS02/510040380/1014
http://content.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin073.shtmlhttp
://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/12719269.htmhttp://w
ww.jefflindsay.com/Block.shtmlhttp://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k
que0011.htm
Resources
All Day Kindergarten
and Quality of Time
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200211/13_pugmiret_alldayk/
●http://www.detnews.com/2001/schools/0103/03/schools-194865.htm
●http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content3/full.day.kinder.p.k12.3.html
●http://www.thisweek-online.com/2004/September/24mp191k.html
●http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0129/p01s03-ussc.html
●http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/2001/clark01.html
●http://www.nwrel.org/request/dec2002/textonly.html#studies
●htt[://www.teachersworkshop.com/twshop/sousa.html
●http://www.ed.gov/pubs/SER/index,html#USES%20OF%20TIME
●http://www.ed.gov/pubs/SER/UsesofTime/index.html
●