Testing after Winter Break: What is the Ideal Schedule?

[Kit]

I want to discuss the ideal school schedule...not just the calendar, but the ideal schedule for academic advantage, family and community, and cost. We've struggled to adapt to Knox County's schedule in the years since moving here. Our former school year began September 1, and was divided into semesters with the first ending January 31. When the semester was completed, my oldest son had a thorough understanding of the subjects. He was able to enjoy the break with very little, if any studying, then return to school for a month of continued instruction prior to tests. He survived and thrived and is now a sophomore studying engineering at a competitive university. The current School Matters survey implies that the school districts who test after the holidays do so immediately after the kids return to school. Do any school districts do this?My younger son is now in high school here in Knox County, and having experienced both schedules we prefer post holiday testing for academic reasons. With this current schedule, he has nowhere near the mastery of the subjects that his older brother did. It seems much more of a "teach to the test" philosophy, and I worry the instruction is not digested, just quickly regurgitated to complete a test.I'm curious what the experts have to say. Is there evidence of academic, budgetary or other advantage by testing prior to winter break? I'd be also be curious to see how School Matters members would respond if the the survey had been worded differently. (Testing 3-4 weeks after winter break). Any thoughts, research, expert opinions?

[granma2]

Was your former school on block scheduling? Also, it's likely your school year didn't end on May 25 either. Personally, I don't care about the schedule, but there is a big push in Knoxville by the Save Our Tennessee Summers people to start school after Labor Day. That's fine, and many school systems do that, but they don't get out in late May. They end the second semester in late June. I don't see the difference between starting early in August or ending in late June. The important thing is that kids shouldn't have a two week break where they have to return to testing as soon as they get back.

[Cathy McCaughan]

Summer is the same length of time regardless of when it starts and ends. The tourism industry just wants students to start school after Labor Day to boost travel.

[Kit]

Well, they called it block scheduling but it was completely different than the Knox County version. The school year ended between June 5-10 and included 180 instruction days, a 4 day weekend fall break, a 4 day weekend at Thanksgiving, 3-4 days for various holidays and conferences and a week long spring break in April.

[Heather Marshall]

And that is exactly what happened this year. Finals at the high schools were the Thursday and Friday before winter break. If a student was absent for finals they were to make them up on the 1st Monday in January, the day before school started for the rest of the students. In my opinion, it would have been better for high school finals to be the Wed & Thur before the winter break with make up tests on the Friday before the winter break.

[Phua Tashie Xiong]

Honestly, students should be responsible for their own missing work. If they know they're going to leave early to go on vacation, they should ask the teacher to take the exam beforehand.

[BP]

High school students do not want to take exams after the break--they would forget a lot over winter break and teachers would have to spend more time reviewing. This means less instructional time. No teacher wants to take the time to review either, but would rather start fresh.

[momto3]

If they forget it they haven't learned it. And just because students may want to finish the semester and test prior to winter break doesn't mean it's the best for them. Don't adults have a better understanding of what is best for student's when it comes to their early education? I'm sure high schoolers might like to start school at 10:00 AM so they can sleep in, but we recognize their desires may not always be in their best interest.

There already is less instructional time in fall semester because of ending it prior to winter break. I would hope every teacher takes the time to review, it's a way to bring back into a student's mind concepts that were first presented several weeks earlier.

Why would anyone believe that reviewing is somehow a negative? Don't we all review over materials that we haven't looked at in a while? In the case of student in high school some of these concepts where presented in early August. Reviewing is a valuable tool to refresh a student's mind and bring forth materials not seen for months.

[momto3]

Block scheduling doesn't effect when you end the semester. Under our current system our fall semester is days shorter than our spring semester because we end our fall semester before winter break.

Ending fall semester after winter break would mean students are tested immediately at the end of the semester. Review would also occur a week before exams. This review is valuable, it allows a teacher to see what concepts students clearly understand and what areas further instruction is needed. Reviewing is not a waste of time.

Ending the fall semester after winter break would allow for a more even split of days between the two semesters. School would not stretch into mid-June. A last week of August start date would still allow for schools to finish by June 3. The semesters would be more evenly divided between fall and spring. Student's taking a particular class in fall semester wouldn't have fewer days of instruction than those who take it during spring semester as happens currently. It's just a shift, that's all.

A shift that would mean more money in our school system but no adverse effect to student learning. In fact, Texas, South Carolina and Florida have all seen their standardized test scores and SAT/ACT scores increase since their shift to late August start dates. This just indicates that there is no negative academic impact.

Yes, the tourism industry would make more money with an end of August school start date. Their high school workers wouldn't be leaving to return to school before the season ends and they wouldn't be forced to cut back hours or close before summer was over (many tourists that come to East Tennessee come from states that don't start school until late August or after Labor Day).

All that extra revenue for the tourism industry translates into more tax revenue, 72% of which finds its way directly into our schools. That's in addition to the amount of savings on utility costs. I don't know why anyone would demonize the tourism industry's interest in this matter when ultimately it ends up putting more money in our schools and doesn't adversely affect a student's academics in the slightest.

[Pamela Treacy]

Momto3,

Does this mean the Save Our Summers folks are going to continue to push for an after labor day date, after the recent compromise was reached?

[momto3]

We are not going to push anything in Knox County. This moved to the state level long before the Knox County school board got around to voting on it. There are hundreds of parents working on making changes at the state level, it's not about Knox County.

There are several issues that have come to the forefront this year, AYP reports being due to the LEAs two weeks BEFORE school starts, moving TCAPS to two weeks earlier in April, overwhelming budget deficients, wasted money within the school systems, etc.

Frankly, I don't think that the bill will be asking for an after Labor Day start, but that's months away from being hammered out, and it's not my decision to make.

[Heather Marshall]

What is the reasoning for moving TCAPs to two weeks earlier in April? I would think that they should be given as late in the school year as possible to reflect everything actually learned in the classroom.

[momto3]

Well, that's what most people would think because it is logical, but the state department of education is trying to move them earlier in April to allow the AYP results to get to the LEA's prior to school starting.

Most parents complain that after TCAPs are given things become fairly lax in the learning department. I know that our teachers are still working but there is no longer the pressure of getting ready for TCAPs. I don't know if specific curriculum requirements are still in place at that time or not.

Perhaps any teachers on here could comment on that?