Something we should consider here in New York State. Full year school sessions.
The Indianapolis School Board will vote on a proposal that would see year-round classes for pupils adopted in the city. I think this is something to watch.
If approved, pupils in Indianapolis would go to school in cycles of eight to 10 weeks, with between three to five weeks off in between, for the whole year.
The controversial idea would put them in the same position as a growing number of children in the U.S. who are going to school on 'balanced schedules'.
The Daily Mail article I found stated that Indianapolis has been criticized for low standardized test scores and high rates of dropouts over the last few years.
Haven't we gone through some tough times in recent years with school districts in the region? With a minor increase of 20 days added to the curriculum, there wouldn't be any reason to cry about the time invested by administrative and teaching staff. So why aren't we having the same discussion here?
Thoughts?
6 comments:
I asked a teacher friend about this and they told me that the school district wouldn't be able to support the raises that would be required for teachers.
All too often we complain about wasteful spending and increasing taxes. Usually without affect of the outcome. If I felt I was getting what I paid for, I'd accept my dutiful fee and carry on.
There is much to gripe about with our school & town taxes, but what if an extended school year produced a better student? How about the undocumented cost to the household during the 2.5 months the kids are watched in the summer while both parents work?
If older, they have the whole summer to get into trouble.
If a full year was doable andpositive results measurable, my taxes would be well spent.
This is a great idea, maybe we could get better results for our education dollars. With teachers making 100K + these days and only working 184 days, they should work more days for the same money. I would gladly pay extra for positive results, but not for the poor performance we have now. Our distric is paying 27K per student and still ranks low in the state. This is unacceptable, we could send the children to private school for less. We need performance based teacher pay. We will never get any changes with the NEA the most powerful union in the state.
Will State legislators have to work full time as well?
There are discussions going on now about County and State Legislators serving full time as we speak. Setting a pay rate to attract more qualified people and prohibiting outside work.
Having witnessed the disaster of knave for the last 40 years, this might be a significant change.
Placing teachers in a similar structure might change the dynamic in our schools for the better.
I think kids should go to school all year. I remember when I was in school the first few weeks of the year was all review of the material that people had forgotten during the summer. I think that making summer break 2 weeks instead of 2 months would be a great idea. As far as it being too costly because of the raises for teachers, that's just crazy. When you do the math of 184 days a year at 8 hours a day, though not that many teachers work as much as 8 hrs a day, it works out to a yearly average of about 28 hours per week. That's part time. Teaching is the only part time job that I am aware of that you can make over $100k and have amazing health coverage. According to the 2009 census, in Ulster County the per capita income was $20,846. Most teachers make 4 or 5 times as much working only have the year. So, yes school all year, No teacher raises.
Post a Comment