School Shutdown Days Still a Bad Idea
Hard budget times are upon us. Maine’s public schools are knee deep in debate over how to deal with cuts. Schools are being asked to cut hundreds of thousands of dollars to make ends meek. Many districts have put a freeze on all non-essential spending. Things like trips, staff development, new equipment, and non-essential overtime have been put on hold. School shutdown days are one solution that keeps popping. After reading the findings of a new study, superintendents may want to rethink furlough days.
Back in September, we covered the suggestion by Education Commissioner Susan Gendron that school shutdown days might be one solution budgetary pains. At the time, many agreed that shut down days would cause more harm than good. A newly released study conducted by the National Center on Time and Learning confirms this. The report tracked 655 schools who had “broken from the conventional school calender”. The schools offered 25 percent more time on average than the national average of 180 six-hour days. Data collected found that students in schools with extended time, on average, outperformed their peers. The NCTL does say that they will be continuing further research, updating the school database as needed.
This is an interesting development. The US Department of Education has noted extended school time as a concern(PDF Warning) for Race to the Top funding. There are a lot of points at stake. Every one counts, though the US DOE is not looking for simply extra seat time. A more meaningful impact on student learning must accompany extended time or it is worthless. School shutdown days are a quick way to cut back education budgets. Maine’s students cannot afford that “savings”.
You can read the report here(PDF warning) and view the NCTL database here.
