Time

1. Time A Presentation on Education Reform By Theresa Lemus Santos Tricia Rozumalski Andrew Snavely

2. Some Areas of Time Reform Year Round School Extended School Day Four Day Weeks Block Scheduling All Day Kindergarten Quality of time in school

3. 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 year- round schools 10 years ago Year-Round Schooling

4. Origins of School Year “Year-Round” is a misleading term Students in most American year-round school districts spend the same amount of days in class as students in traditional calendar schools – the days are just arranged differently. Traditional vs. Year-Round

5. Students requiring academic support don’t have to wait to go to summer school. Increase academic achievement scores • Students and teachers are refreshed by more frequent breaks (better attendance) • Not as much review in the fall • ESL students do not fall behind because they are not exposed to English PROS Year-Round Schooling

6. Scheduling issues can harm families Sports teams and competitions Only adopt in elementary schools • Too hard to fight tradition • Increased maintenance and operational cost • Higher pay for teachers CONSYear-Round Schooling

7. National Association for Year-Round Education (NAYRE) • http://www.nayre.org/ • Minnesota Association for Year-Round Education (MAYRE) • Other industrialized nations: Germany ~ 240 days Japan ~ 243 days China ~ 251 days LEADERSYear-Round Schooling

8. 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

9. Extending the School Day

10. Less time for “wasted” time outside of school Increase student achievement Working parents • More TIME: • Instruction • Students • Curriculum • Individualize …Less STRESS! PROSExtending the School Day

11. CONSExtending the School Day • BURN OUT! ~ Kids ~ Students ~ Teachers • The costs of extending the school time are disproportionate to any resulting instructional gain.

12. KIPP – Knowledge is Power Program Founders: Mike Feinburg and David Levin LEADERExtending the School Day 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/#

13. Four Day School Week

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Pros:Saves on Expenses Jackson uses the fifth day as half a day for teacher in-service. Teachers were able to meet and plan.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. Block Scheduling

22. 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

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. All-Day Kindergarten

29. 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.

30. 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

31. Why Is All Day Kindergarten Important?

32. 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

34. Who Benefits from All Day Kindergarten??

35. 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

36. 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

37. SCHOOLS No need for midday busses No need for midday crossing guards And Lastly...

38. The Students... Benefit Academically Socially Emotionally

39. Students...Academically More independent learning More classroom involvement Explore subjects in depth Flexible, individualized learning environment Individual, small group interaction with teacher

40. Students... Socially More productivity in working with peers More likely to approach the teacher Emotionally Express less withdrawl Express less anger Express less shyness

41. Lastly... • The demands of the curriculum

42. 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 parent-teacher partnerships offers a balance between small group, large group, and individual activites develop social skills

43. 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.”

44. If All Day Kindergaten Seems Ideal, Then Why Don't All Schools Implement It???

45. It all Boils Down To...

46. It Costs An Average of.... An additional $500,000 to run an All Day Kindergarten Program for one year.

47. How Can We More Effectively Use the Time We Have Now???

48. Present Quality Lessons Present lessons involving all 3! Brain Research (Dr. David Sousa) Look at Learning Modalities 1/2 Visual 1/3 Kinesthetic 1/5 Auditory

49. Primacy-Recency Effect Chunk Activity into 3 sections (Example 40 minute lesson) Down-Time 7 minutes Students working Students learn least Student led Prime Time 1 Teach new materials Students learn best 20 minutes Teacher led Prime Time 2 13 minutes Teach 2nd most important Students learn 2nd most Teacher or student led

50. Common Planning Time 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. Benefits