Why is the law mandating schools' starting time after Labor Day bad for kids, especially those in Baltimore City? - Entrepreneur Generations

A few days ago, I received a wonderful e-mail from a student last year who, since graduated, received 3 courses worth of credit at University of Baltimore because she did well on her IB exams last year: "Just wanted to thank you for all the effort you put in to preparing us for the IB Exam even when we got tired of doing it and slacked off. I was able to get credits towards English, Anthropology and my History so I won't have to take them. Thanks again!"

Do you think she would've appreciated five days less of instruction? She already had to deal with missing 6 days of class in 2nd semester because of snow. The exams were May 3 and 4, and they're international, unchanging dates. With the new mandated schedule, this student would have had eleven days less instruction than she had last year. She earned, literally, hundreds of dollars, perhaps thousands, worth of college credit for doing well on these exams. This matters.

I'm a teacher who bristles at "teaching to the test," but the IB exams are excellent exams that hone in on students' different strengths and really provide excellent preparation for both college and many other life skills. Taking away these students' instructional time is the last thing I want. 

Beyond this, kids in Baltimore City and highly concentrated poverty areas generally have less opportunities for summer learning than suburban kids. If we are replacing August days of instruction -- which are key learning days -- with days in June, when kids and teachers are tired of hot buildings at the end of the school year, then kids are hurt by just having less days of learning. I know some teachers in Baltimore City who only have a handful of students in June. They are days on the calendar, but they are much softer days on the schedule than the start of the year. 

In addition, as aforementioned, kids in Maryland would get less time to prepare for national tests like SAT, AP, etc., than in other states, lessening their potential for college credits. 

In short, any moves that emphasizes the summer and takes scheduling flexibility away from districts is worse for kids in poverty because their summer slide of skills is more pronounced because of lack of learning opportunities. It's suburban parents who like this law so much because (a) it's what they remember from when they went to school, so obvious things are fine with it; and (b) they're the ones going to Ocean City for vacation during the last week of August, largely not city kids

Looking at the bigger picture, American schools in general are behind other industrial countries because we have such a huge break in the summer, and because of the summer slide of skills. This doubles down on that. We should be looking at making our schedule more flexible, not less.

And the reason? So families can go on vacation during the last week of August instead of, say, the third week of June (this past school year, starting on August 28th, students were in school until June 21... imagine what it will be like starting after Labor Day). It doesn't make sense, especially with the harm done to our students, particularly the most vulnerable. 

from Epiphany in Baltimore http://ift.tt/2bzupoT Why is the law mandating schools' starting time after Labor Day bad for kids, especially those in Baltimore City? - Entrepreneur Generations

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