Monday, December 17, 2007

Extending the school day

I really hate this push to institutionalize the care of children. Academic gains are fine, but what about family life? Who is going to pay for it? Are they going to force families who don't need or want state "day care/school" to attend longer hours anyway?


Needs of new economy trump old school calendar

Students weren't thrilled at first with leaving school at 4:15 p.m. instead of at 2:20 p.m. But the added hours gave them more time for physical education and let them select special interest classes, in which teachers bolstered student skill deficits as revealed by testing. By the end of the year, student scores had risen by enough to enable Kuss to make the progress required under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The only surprise is that more districts haven't lengthened school schedules set decades ago to accommodate a farm economy rather the information economy of today.

New research suggests the time is ripe for a change:

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Technorati tags: public school, public education, children, education

2 comments:

Sharon said...

I was talking to my Dad about this, and he said that many working parents, who send their kids to public school would be happy if they would make it 5:30 or so, so they don't have to pay for babysitting.

So maybe the parents don't mind.

Janine Cate said...

I'm sure that many parents would welcome the change. I wonder if they will give the parents the choice or just legislate the longer school day so the others are trapped at school.