We Don’t Need Longer School Days; We Need Smarter Ones.
I support the intentions behind DCPS’ A Capital Commitment: Better Schools for All Students by 2017. I salute Chancellor Henderson and Capital One for agreeing to a strategic plan, which sets ambitious goals for our most vulnerable students and schools. It’s not only the right thing to do, but also an effective use of time and resources. If we want to improve teaching quality and student learning within the 40 lowest performing schools, then we must devise, and adhere to, a strategic plan. Whereas I’m a fan of this enterprise, I’m skeptical about extending the school day for the lowest performing public middle schools – three of the four in Ward 8 alone – to bolster student performance.
My skepticism doesn’t stem from my desire to work less. I can assure you, I’m a workaholic with no desire to seek professional help. In fact, if an extended school day guarantees an increase in student learning, then I would be more than willing to “give it a go.” That said, if an extended school day is inadequately implemented, i.e. simply adding minutes or a class period the current school day, then this approach will exacerbate school specific challenges, and not diminish them.
Rather than risk creating more problems than solutions, we must focus on improving the current school day. We must focus on enriching instruction by increasing teacher collaboration and