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?

[Deborah Dickerson]

I am not a teacher, but am in the school quite a bit and help with our school's elementary school science labs. I was astounded last spring when I helped with a 3rd grade lab two weeks before TCAPS, and was told that the teachers had asked that we really emphasize some particular concepts of the lab, as the children would be tested on these concepts but were not due to cover them in class until after the testing. No matter when the school year starts and ends, we should not be testing kids on subject matter that they haven't yet had time to cover in school! I agree with Heather - TCAPS should be given LATER, not earlier, in the school year.

[momto3]

You'll need to take it up with the Department of Education. As of now, they have moved TCAP testing a week early for next year, not later.

[Darlene Hunter]

However, I would like to point out that there are some parts of the TCAP that students do not even go over during the school year they take the test. Example...3rd grade is the first year for "officially" taking TCAP. However, there are science questions that they learned about in first grade! Two years earlier and not at all the year they take it.

[Debi]

I hope the AYP reports are open to the public more than two weeks before the start of school. Two weeks is not enough time to seek out an alternative school or prepare a child for the move if your school is the one found to have choice. Not that we did seek out other schools during the years we had school choice, but part of that was because there wasn't enough time to consider it...which may be why we get the information so late.

[momto3]

I would say that I agree with your opinions on testing after winter break. The tests are not taken immediately upon returning to school but 2 to 3 weeks later. Test scores across the nation show that ending the semester before winter break or after has no real measurable effect on a child's performance. In the states where a later start date as been implemented most recently (SC, FL, and TX) all statewide test scores, ACT and SAT scores have gone up, not down. In addition, psychological studies show that the biophysical makeup of the brain and how it retains information would lend itself to ending the semester after winter break.

I also like that with a semester ending after winter break the two semesters are evenly divided. In Knox County the fall semester is several days shorter than the spring because of the determination to end fall semester prior to winter break.

No one on here will be surprised by my support of a late school start date. For a myriad of reasons and given the economic situation we are in, to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted utility costs. It seems ridiculous that in a time when thousands of East TN residents are losing their jobs our school systems are not doing everything they can to eliminate wasteful spending. Moving the end of the semester to after winter break would allow for a much later start date (while still ending school the first of June) which would save hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[granma2]

Brain research also shows that high school should start after 10:00 a.m. because teens have different circadian rhythms than preteens and adults, but when KCS attempted to do that last summer to save money, there was a wild uproar.

Also, what data show that increased ACT scores are from a later school start date? I believe increased test scores are much more tied to other initiatives that are more academic than changing a start date or testing after winter break.