Comments on: Time for School? http://educationnext.org/time-for-school/ Education Next is a journal of opinion and research about education policy. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:17:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Common sense, data, and school days « Independent Educator http://educationnext.org/time-for-school/comment-page-1/#comment-1396 Common sense, data, and school days « Independent Educator Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:17:27 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631187#comment-1396 [...] Dave E. Marcotte and Benjamin Hansen add add educational data to the discussion in their article Time for School?. The article is based on end-of-year test scores and the small year-to-year differences in [...] [...] Dave E. Marcotte and Benjamin Hansen add add educational data to the discussion in their article Time for School?. The article is based on end-of-year test scores and the small year-to-year differences in [...]

]]> By: Aubrey Heusser http://educationnext.org/time-for-school/comment-page-1/#comment-1228 Aubrey Heusser Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:26:14 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631187#comment-1228 This study does not take into account that kids (especially the littlest ones) can only absorb so much at a time before they shut down. Even now, schools waste much of their year with assemblies and pep rallies and "muffins with mom" events for a half day or more each week. Kids already spend too much of their childhood trapped in an institutional building. The tiny percentages supposedly gained in these studies are not worth the opportunity cost of all the other things those children could be doing with that time. Instead of lengthening the school day or year, let's cancel all the nonsense and let those children actually be part of their families and communities. This study does not take into account that kids (especially the littlest ones) can only absorb so much at a time before they shut down. Even now, schools waste much of their year with assemblies and pep rallies and “muffins with mom” events for a half day or more each week. Kids already spend too much of their childhood trapped in an institutional building. The tiny percentages supposedly gained in these studies are not worth the opportunity cost of all the other things those children could be doing with that time. Instead of lengthening the school day or year, let’s cancel all the nonsense and let those children actually be part of their families and communities.

]]> By: Chris Gabrieli http://educationnext.org/time-for-school/comment-page-1/#comment-1204 Chris Gabrieli Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:59:26 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631187#comment-1204 The authors are to be commended for a terrific addition to the research base on time and learning. Their ingenious idea to focus on the natural experiment driven by snow days allows us to glean critical support for the point that time for learning is one of the core variables in learning outcomes. It would be especially hard to do such an experiment on a prospective, ramdomized basis. The Massachusetts Initiative mentioned at the end of the article actually expands the length of days, not the year. This is the crucial alternative expanded time opportunity which offers, I believe, some significant advantages from a cost-effectiveness point of view (all of the money goes into instruction, not buses and lunches and overhead for each extra day), from a public acceptance point of view (summers are sacred to many!) and from a pedagogical effectiveness perspective. But we certainly need more experiments to find out what is best. Lastly, I think it is important to highlight the research by Caroline Hoxby, sumamrized in Education Next in the past, that shows that by far the most highly correlated school attribute, from a list of about 20, with high performance among NYC charters is expanded learning time. Considering that KIPP, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools and many of the other leading charter schools identify expanded learning time as one of their core design features producing impressive gains for high-poverty students, I believe the question of whether expanded learning time CAN be a powerful tool is pretty well settled. The question of how readily it can be spread to other schools and what other conditions must be in place for the time to be as well used as it is at these great proof point charters remains to be proven. Chris Gabrieli Chairman National Center on Time & Learning The authors are to be commended for a terrific addition to the research base on time and learning. Their ingenious idea to focus on the natural experiment driven by snow days allows us to glean critical support for the point that time for learning is one of the core variables in learning outcomes. It would be especially hard to do such an experiment on a prospective, ramdomized basis.

The Massachusetts Initiative mentioned at the end of the article actually expands the length of days, not the year. This is the crucial alternative expanded time opportunity which offers, I believe, some significant advantages from a cost-effectiveness point of view (all of the money goes into instruction, not buses and lunches and overhead for each extra day), from a public acceptance point of view (summers are sacred to many!) and from a pedagogical effectiveness perspective. But we certainly need more experiments to find out what is best.

Lastly, I think it is important to highlight the research by Caroline Hoxby, sumamrized in Education Next in the past, that shows that by far the most highly correlated school attribute, from a list of about 20, with high performance among NYC charters is expanded learning time. Considering that KIPP, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools and many of the other leading charter schools identify expanded learning time as one of their core design features producing impressive gains for high-poverty students, I believe the question of whether expanded learning time CAN be a powerful tool is pretty well settled. The question of how readily it can be spread to other schools and what other conditions must be in place for the time to be as well used as it is at these great proof point charters remains to be proven.

Chris Gabrieli
Chairman
National Center on Time & Learning

]]> By: Do school closings hurt your child’s performance? | csmonitor.com http://educationnext.org/time-for-school/comment-page-1/#comment-1058 Do school closings hurt your child’s performance? | csmonitor.com Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:17:20 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631187#comment-1058 [...] Other researchers have found similar results in other states. [...] [...] Other researchers have found similar results in other states. [...]

]]> By: Benjamin Hansen http://educationnext.org/time-for-school/comment-page-1/#comment-808 Benjamin Hansen Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:34:09 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631187#comment-808 It is up to the discretion of individual local education agencies on when to cancel school. The question of non-random selection is a good one and important one. However, I think it really bowls down variation in cancellations over time rather than levels of cancellations. If you looked at snowfall patterns in Colorado and Maryland, it snows a lot more at the rich schools in CO and the poor schools in MD, because selection of residence isn't random. But the variation, the change from one year to the next, in snow is independent of variation in income, pupil-teacher ratios, you name it. So even if a school district superintendent is super tough now, the variation of cancellations within his or her school over time will be independent of changes in staffing or other factors that would likely bias the results. It is up to the discretion of individual local education agencies on when to cancel school. The question of non-random selection is a good one and important one. However, I think it really bowls down variation in cancellations over time rather than levels of cancellations. If you looked at snowfall patterns in Colorado and Maryland, it snows a lot more at the rich schools in CO and the poor schools in MD, because selection of residence isn’t random. But the variation, the change from one year to the next, in snow is independent of variation in income, pupil-teacher ratios, you name it. So even if a school district superintendent is super tough now, the variation of cancellations within his or her school over time will be independent of changes in staffing or other factors that would likely bias the results.

]]> By: School time is money — and learning « Joanne Jacobs http://educationnext.org/time-for-school/comment-page-1/#comment-802 School time is money — and learning « Joanne Jacobs Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:20:30 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631187#comment-802 [...] less school time means less learning, conclude Dave Marcotte and Benjamin Hansen in Education Next.  A number of researchers have found [...] [...] less school time means less learning, conclude Dave Marcotte and Benjamin Hansen in Education Next.  A number of researchers have found [...]

]]> By: Robert Liang http://educationnext.org/time-for-school/comment-page-1/#comment-799 Robert Liang Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:46:09 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631187#comment-799 This is really an interesting study. I agree that weather is outside the control of school districts, however, the decision whether to cancel the class or not because of the weather is I guess the autonomy of the district. I am wondering if there are hard and clear rules for districts to cancel the classes with a cutoff amount of snowfall or certain weather conditions. If not, the self-selection problem may still remain. This is really an interesting study. I agree that weather is outside the control of school districts, however, the decision whether to cancel the class or not because of the weather is I guess the autonomy of the district. I am wondering if there are hard and clear rules for districts to cancel the classes with a cutoff amount of snowfall or certain weather conditions. If not, the self-selection problem may still remain.

]]>