"Ask Roxann" Looking At The School Calendar

LO: A lot of parents have questions regarding the District's idea about extending the school day which was described as, "a committee is studying the concept of a longer school day and/or a modified school calendar to provide opportunities to reach our goal of becoming one of the Top 20 school districts in Ohio.” This idea was recently explored in a survey sent to parents & stakeholders of the Lakewood City Schools. While taking the survey it becomes clear that much of a longer school day would be devoted to preparing students to take new tests that come with the Common Core requirements.

Many residents are asking what benefits come to the students from doing better on these tests and from attending a Top 20 school? Does this improve the quality of their lives and or their education?

RR: The Lakewood Teachers Association and Administration have a mutual interest in providing the highest quality educational experience to Lakewood students. Early in 2014 both groups collaborated to find innovative ways to reach our learners outside of a traditional calendar and school day. After several days of brainstorming we felt that we needed to gather a broader array of opinions and sought to do that by involving more stakeholders in the discussion in order to make a well-informed decision; thus the survey.

In August 2014, a committee of teachers and administrators formed to study our school calendar, and our first task was to take the pulse of our Lakewood community. The survey opened in early November and the district sought comments throughout the month. We were very pleased with the volume of feedback we received as it continued to confirm the interest and support of our community. Most recently the data was organized and presented to the committee for review, and these results will also be shared with all stakeholders prior to the winter break.

Feedback from multiple community stakeholders revealed that respondents had questions pertaining to the motive behind making changes to the traditional calendar. While there is not a succinct answer, we are able to answer many of the questions submitted to the Lakewood Observer. There were essentially three themes contained in the questions: Testing, Common Core and overall student achievement and well-being.  

It would be hard to ignore the fact that the State Legislature has made significant changes to the testing schedule for the 2014-2105 school year and beyond. There are two testing windows. The first window opens in mid-February and the second opens in mid-April. All state-required assessment concludes May 15, 2015. While this is a significant reason to look at providing more instructional time to students prior to the beginning of the testing window, there is more to consider when innovation, technology and more rigorous standards have been infused into a more traditional schedule.

While the topic of Common Core has become a political lightning rod, the reality is that rigorous standards set forth for all learners can only improve learning opportunities for all students. There has been a considerable amount of educational research on what constitutes effective instruction. While most instruction improves student outcomes, some instructional strategies help students make larger gains. Researchers have coined the term “effect size” to describe how large or small the impact of the strategy has on student achievement.

For comparison purposes, an effect size of 0.0 has no impact (good or bad) on student outcomes whereas an effect size of 1.0 has a profound effect. An effect-size of 1.0 is typically associated with:

•Advancing learners' achievement by one year, or improving the rate of learning by 50%

•A correlation between some variable (e.g., amount of homework) and achievement of approximately .50

•A two grade leap in GCSE, e.g. from a C to an A grade

•An effect size above 0.4 is above average for educational research

If an effect size of 0 shows no effect and an effect size of 1.0 is clearly enormous, as a parent consumer of educational quality when should you start to think that the payout is worth the cost? The general rule of thumb is that if an educational effect is .40 or greater it is worth an investment.

Developing high expectations for each student has an effect size of 1.44. High expectations refers to students expectations for and beliefs in themselves. Teachers need to provide opportunities for students to be involved in predicting their performance. Making the learning intentions and success criteria transparent, having high, but appropriate, expectations, and providing feedback at the appropriate levels is critical to building confidence in taking on challenging tasks. The Common Core embodies higher expectations for all students, while allowing local school districts the freedom to set forth the pathways to reach those significant learning goals, and allowing the teachers’ professional autonomy.

While more information will be forthcoming regarding the results of the calendar survey, I would welcome additional dialogue and questions so that we can partner to find creative and innovate ways to use instructional time to give all Lakewood students a well-rounded, individualized, rigorous, and socially and emotionally appropriate education. 

References: http://www.teacherstoolbox.co.uk <http://www.teacherstoolbox.co.uk/.

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Volume 10, Issue 25, Posted 5:13 PM, 12.09.2014