One obvious way to improve the nation’s educational outcome is to increase the time children spend in the classroom. It’s so obvious a step to take that it gets little attention when people talk about ways to better educate the nation’s youth.
Yet the concept behind it is understood on other matters. Want the football team to win more games? Spend more time practicing. Want to see the school building tidy at the start of each day? Spend more time sweeping, mopping and waxing the floors. Yet when it comes to getting students to perform better at reading, writing, mathematics and science, the “more time” option is set aside.
President Barack Obama recently argued that this option, though not without its challenges, must be explored.
“We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day,” the president said. “That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy.”
If the average school year in the U.S. of 180 days were increased to 200 days, the country would be on par with nations such as Thailand, Scotland and the Netherlands. Even at 200 school days each year, the U.S. would still trail Japan (243 days), South Korea (220), Israel and Luxembourg (216 days each). The challenges, of course, are that faculty and staff would justifiably want more pay. In these fiscally tight times, giving raises paid on the public’s dime are not politically palatable. Transportation, building maintenance and heat and lighting costs would also rise. And before- and after-school care issues would emerge for parents.
But there are many potential benefits.
Studies repeatedly have shown that students typically back slide during the summer, losing ground in reading, writing and mathematical skills. Retention of concepts and skills would increase. Curriculum could be broken into smaller pieces, so schools might plan six-week or seven-week sessions around a unit, followed by a week off to give students and teachers a break. Many students would welcome the opportunity to start each session fresh rather than slog through nine months of a subject and teacher they don’t like. Faculty also might enjoy working with different groups of students every six or seven weeks.
Another way U.S. schools could achieve better outcomes is to lengthen the school day. Even if an hour were added to the school day, student achievement might soar, especially if the additional hour were used wisely. A long daily study period in which students can get help from teachers has been shown to yield great results. And by spending more productive time in school, the homework burden could be lessened, thereby leveling the playing field between those homes where homework is supported and those where it is next to impossible to complete it.
In Maine, a few schools could voluntarily increase the length of the day or year as part of a pilot project. It’s a good bet that test scores will rise.