Sumner Elementary 45/15 Calendar MSBA Winter Conference Presentation January 17, 2014

1. Sumner Elementary 45/15 Calendar MSBA Winter Conference Presentation January 17, 2014

2. Sumner Elementary • 204 Students • Grades 1-4 this year • 40% Hispanic • 35% Caucasian • 17% Black • 8% Asian • 75% Free/Reduced Lunch • 36% English Language Learners • 15 Home Languages Represented

3. Four Generalized Reasons for Calendar Modification • Modified, balanced calendars can effectively maintain student interest in learning. • Students, learning differently, require different time configurations. • Intersession classes provide faster remediation and advanced enrichment. • Students learning a second language can benefit from the balanced calendar. www.nayre.org

4. The Research on Summer Learning Loss • At Best: Students show little or no academic growth over summer. At worst: Students lose one to three months of learning • Summer Loss: Greater in Math than Reading • Summer vacation increases disparities between advantaged and disadvantaged students reading scores • The detrimental effect of summer vacation increases as grade level increases • No particular differences because of gender or race www.nayre.org

5. Traditional Calendar Research • The bottom line is: • No studies demonstrate effectiveness of traditional calendar • No studies demonstrate academic harm in any of the modified/balanced calendar

6. Initial Considerations • Cost of air conditioning, food service, and bussing • HVAC renovation already planned prior to calendar change • Initial bussing study shows no additional costs because Sumner is on separate routes which would only have to run on Sumner school days • Food service is able to offer free meals during breaks using the “Summer Lunch Funding” used for the traditional calendar schools

7. Timeline for Change • Sumner Staff has organized into committees • Research • Community meetings • Media • Parent Meeting—all Sumner parents invited—free supper included! • Parent contact made for each family unable to attend • Parent Survey to be given to parents after informational meeting

8. Two years of Success 2011 fall benchmark data showed a significant increase in both reading and math Met all MMR/FR requirements for NCLB Waiver Celebration School honored by MDE during 2012-2013

9. Math MCA Data

10. Reading MCA Data

11. MCA Math comparison for ELL students

12. ACCESS Test Data

13. Impressions from Staff Sumner Students pick up routines and are able to get into the curriculum much more quickly in August Shared staff have noted that when working in both calendars there are notable differences in how quickly students “get started” into the curriculum at Sumner Behaviors have decreased since implementation of the 45/15 calendar Staff and students feel refreshed after breaks

14. Impressions from Parents Seeing results on their academic scores! Students feel less burned out due to breaks Enjoy the fall break Students jump back into school routine very easily in August Family vacations work well during breaks Summer vacation is a just right amount of time Students don’t lose as much learning Feedback from parents at Sumner Elementary

15. Impressions from the community Calendar makes good sense Questions about the rest of the district Suggestions about transporting students from other neighborhoods to Sumner Would it work with sports, vacations, etc… Still a misunderstanding about what a modified calendar “really” means

16. Closing the achievement gap matters! “Summer learning shortfall experienced by low-income children over the elementary grades has consequences that reverberate throughout children’s schooling, and can impact whether a child ultimately earns a high school diploma and continues on to college. (Alexander, Entwisle, & Olson, 2007a).

17. Sumner Elementary Austin Public Schools Sheila K Berger, Principal