The Associated Press (@AP) tweeted on Sun, Dec 02, 2012: 5 states plan to announce addition of at least 300 hours of learning time to some school calendars in 2013: http://t.co/t3lsGPkd -RJJ
Associated Press WASHINGTON — New York is among five states planning to add at least 300 hours of learning time to the calendar for some schools starting next year.
The three-year pilot program is intended to boost student achievement and make U.S. schools more competitive on a global level. The other states participating are Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Tennessee.
Schools will work with parents and teachers to decide whether to make the school day longer, add more days to the school year or both. (https://twitter.com/AP/status/275364708222115840)
As a Bronx state legislator, I sponsored bill expanding the NYS school calendar by 20 days (at least, 100 hours of additional instruction time). At the time, NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein claimed additional instruction days would increase costs. City schools bureaucracy gets a ton of money that’s mispent on wasteful non-instructional items. Schools need added value and students need more instruction time.
Push your local NY state legislator to increase the school calendar beyond the three-year federal pilot program permanently.
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More time is not the answer. More preparation and readiness for school is part of the answer. Less B-crats in teacher business and more parental training is part of the answer. It is not about quantity, but quality, not about tests, but wholistic learning, and not about scholastics before emotional intelligence is accomplished. Children come to school not knowing how to follow adult directions or play. More time for math is only going to add up to more time in conflict. It is simple math, but even adults and legislators seem unable to perform it.