The Observation Deck

During the 2014-2015 school year, 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. The committee's charge is to gather input from all stakeholders in the community. Please take the following survey to help the committee focus its work and gauge reactions to a variety of calendar ideas:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7R56SCS

Christine Gordillo
Communications Coordinator
Lakewood City Schools

Think about it.

This copy of the LTA Contract might help:

How do you get to the top 20?

http://www.dispatch.com/content/pages/d ... 0301269412

Personally, I feel that a longer school day would not be helpful - my daughter is exhausted at the end of the day currently. She cannot focus on homework or anything when she gets home and is too tired to do much of anything; I think that making the school day longer would not yield much in the way of results. I think the best change would be a change to the school year, going to a year-round type calendar where there is a short break of 2-3 weeks every quarter rather than 8-10 weeks all at once. Recovering from summer break, getting back into routine and 'catching up' to get started on new learning is a long process - it's a lot of time that could be spent more effectively on new learning. I don't know how those types of calendar years fare in other school systems, if it would be an improvement or not. I've heard of districts that have schedules like that, but no experience with it personally - does anyone else have any direct experience with it? Even though that's what I would prefer, from a parents' perspective (because August and September are hell getting my daughter back into the school routine) I can't see something that huge actually changing.

What are the benefits of being a Top 20 school district?
What are the costs of getting there?
What does that mean in terms of what the students are really getting out of it versus a Top 100 school or where we are now?
Do we as a district agree that the metrics used to determine these rankings are looking at the most important factors?
Do we agree that the testing accurately measures these and that the formulas/calculations are meaningful and sensible?
Would the time, effort and money used to chase a Top 20 title be better utilized in other pursuits? (More art/music? More phys ed? Help for immigrants/refugees? Additional classes/clubs? Technology or green job instruction?)
Why is more instructional time for all students the focus? Is this the only variable that has been shown to impact these tests?
Have considerations been made for the impacts of sleep, nutrition, schedule, stress, physical activity and so on? (Will students do better simply by moving the start time back or doing 20 jumping jacks before each class?)
Just a few of the questions that come to mind.

I'm not sure how you get to the top 20 or how you measure success but it's a worthy goal.

One way to get there is by offering more advance placement classes. However, the Department of Education says that advanced placement classes are illegal:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index ... ct_in.html

Here is the correct link:

https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/ ... -school-di

I'm finding it hard to take this survey.

I find it disturbing because it is only concerned
with making sure students spend more time
getting ready to be tested so they achieve
better test scores for the District.

Is there any connection with providing the kids
with a good education? Are we meant to assume
that higher test scores mean the students are
better educated?

They already spend a long time in school and
a long time - more time- on homework
every night AND on weekends because
of CORE requirements.

Kinda feels like we're bowing down to it
before figuring out whether it's actually
good for our children.

Maybe I'm reading it too narrowly.

Here's the survey (if you want to take it
there is a link on here.)

During the 2014-2015 school year, 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 the State of Ohio. The charge of this committee is to gather input from all stakeholders in the community. Please take the following survey to help us focus our work and gauge your reactions to a variety of calendar ideas.

*1. I am a stakeholder for......
Choose all that apply
I am a stakeholder for......
Choose all that apply Elementary School
Middle School
High School
Lakewood City Academy
Other (please specify)

*2. I am a.....
Choose all that apply
I am a.....
Choose all that apply Student
Employee
Parent
Interested Community Member
Other (please specify)

*3. I am aware that the move to the Common Core Curriculum brings with it more frequent and complex testing.
I am aware that the move to the Common Core Curriculum brings with it more frequent and complex testing. Strongly Agree
Agree
No Strong Feelings
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

*4. Because of the increased rigor of the Common Core Curriculum, students will benefit from increased instructional time.
Because of the increased rigor of the Common Core Curriculum, students will benefit from increased instructional time. Strongly Agree
Agree
No Strong Feelings
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

*5. Students will benefit if more of the school year occurs prior to state mandated testing.
Students will benefit if more of the school year occurs prior to state mandated testing. Strongly Agree
Agree
No Strong Feelings
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

*6. Rank these school calendar options that would positively impact student achievement:
Longer School Day
Increase instructional time
Increased Built-In Time for Teacher Collaboration and Professional Development
Increase Time for Extra Help for Students
Most of the School Year Occurs Before State Mandated Testing

7. What concerns do you have about changing the school calendar?
What concerns do you have about changing the school calendar?

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Betsy Voinovich

How do you know whether someone is getting a good education without testing, or somehow evaluating what that person can do?

One of my complaints is that the schools spend to much time on material that is irrelevant. It almost seems that the teachers, and the people who cooked up CORE, decide that they have to teach a certain subject, and their first consideration is how they will be able to test the students on that subject.

We all have been in a class where they try to make us memorize all the state capitols, then gave a test where we had to list them. But seriously, why do we need to know the capitol of Texas? If we suddenly develop a need to know that information, we can look it up. But it is a lot easier to cover a list of capitols than to teach young children the function of a state capitol. And if you do teach the function of a state capitol, how do you test whether you were successful. I recall a domestic history class where we had to memorize the list of Presidents, most of whom are dead, and many of whom didn't do much. But it is easy to test on the list, and harder to teach what they did, and test on that.

Betsy, I have similar concerns. Which is why I think my original argument, changing the summer break system, is something that would make more time available for new subjects or covering things more in depth without adding to kids' already overwhelming schedules.

What do the teachers think of the options? That's really the questions - will an extra 30 minutes a day be worthwhile for students, and how much more of a teachers' after school time will be cut into? Are the results they want possible with such a slight modification to a schedule, or are there other issues to be addressed? I don't know anything about the testing requirements - what are the tests, which grades do which tests, how long are they, how many are there, what subjects do they cover and why are they being administered, do they overlap, etc... I have a lot of questions, not sure how to address the survey questions without the basic information first.