20 More Days (of the same?)

D.C. Superintendent Clifford Janey is proposing to extend the school year for a group of low-performing schools, as reported by the Post. This would mean a 200-day school year, reducing summer break by nearly 20 days and giving these students more time to learn. This isn't a bad idea, given research that shows low-income kids fall behind their more affluent peers during the long summer break. "Summer learning loss", as it's called, and the achievement gaps it helps to create, are worth tackling with more time. But I'm not convinced that more time in D.C.'s lowest performing schools is going to do the trick. I worry that this is a policy of last resort, a concern that is only heightened by the Post's reporting that Janey is adding the time because he says he's "running out of options to help students in low-performing schools."

I also wonder how D.C. plans to assess this program, and to sustain it if it proves effective. It is possible, I guess, that Janey has been contemplating and studying this idea for some time, and that D.C. has a strong plan to implement and evaluate the effects of a longer DCPS school year. But in case not, he might want to check out Massachusetts, where ten public schools in five districts were competitively chosen to try out longer days and longer years beginning this school year. Massachusetts 2020, which has been leading this charge, knows how difficult this can be- financially, politically and logistically- and will gladly share lessons learned. Good reading before we finalize plans for what board of education VP Carolyn Graham calls "a radical" and "aggressive" approach to boosting student achievement in D.C.

By the way, Education Sector will be talking about extending school time on October 11th. Join us if you can.