Loading ...
State Senator Mark Hass (D-Raleigh Hills) is currently the Chairman of the Senate Education Committee. After teacher Jennifer Singleton discussed summer learning loss and pros and cons of year-round education on the ChalkBloggers last week, Hass further explores the topic and the pending national TIME Act.
In the dog days of summer, it’s great to be a kid. Lazy, sunny days. Family Trips. Summer camps. Not a care in the world.
Actually, this is a myth threatening America’s future in the global economy.
The truth is, more than half of the students in Oregon public schools (50.1 percent) come from “economically disadvantaged” homes, according to the Oregon Department of Education. These students are not spending their days at OMSI Camp. And without the kind of enrichment activities enjoyed by wealthy families, the “summer slide” is deeper.
The “summer slide” is how educators describe summertime months when students forget some of what they learned the previous school year. Research not only confirms this, but reveals that its takes its biggest toll on low-income students.
When they report to school in the fall poor students are, on average, one month behind where they left off in the spring, according to a 2011 study by the RAND Corporation. Most disturbing, according to the research, is that summer learning loss is cumulative; over time, the difference between the summer learning rates of poor and rich students contributes substantially to the achievement gap.
Extended learning time—whether extra days in the summer, longer school days, or a few weeks added on the to beginning and ends of the school year—can be a powerful tool to reverse this dynamic and even reduce Oregon’s high school dropout rates.
Oregon public schools have one of the shortest school years in the country at 172 days. Other states are somewhere between 170 and 182 days. By contrast, South Korea and Japan have 240 days. China has 220 days. This means American children will eventually compete with Asian kids who have had thousands of more hours of learning time.
Yes, it would be more expensive to add days to the school year. But not as much as you might think. For one thing, many fixed costs won’t change: administration, buildings, insurance, utilities—those costs are the same whether there are kids in the buildings or not.
And there may be help from the federal government. A new proposal called the TIME Act (H.R. 1636 & S. 851) is now pending in Congress, and over 40 national organizations (including Chalkboard) have signed letters of support. It would redesign public schools to add significantly more learning time—at least 300 additional hours—for children in the country’s poorest communities. States who meet the criteria would apply for financial grants to extend their school year or the length of their school days.
Yes, this will cost money. But the cost of maintaining the status quo may be much more. First, high school dropouts usually end up on welfare rolls, collecting food stamps and other government subsidies. Many end up in our corrections system. All very expensive. But by far the greatest cost is falling behind other countries that have a better educated workforce and more people with the skill sets to create new enterprises. It’s no stretch to say there’s a national security issue here if America falls too far behind other developed nations whose populations are better educated and better prepared to compete economically.
Yes, summer vacation may conjure up visions of kids playing ball and going to camp. And nobody’s taking those things away. But we need to re-think our short school year if we expect the next generation to compete with other countries that have their kids in classrooms while our kids are in the “summer slide.”
Why would it cost more to add 10 more days to the school year in Oregon? Oregon K-12 teachers are among the highest compensated while working among the shortest of school years. The only thing holding back a more reasonable compensation for the amount of time in the classroom is the very controlling Oregon education unions (OEA, AFT). Their control is not for the benefit of Oregon K-12 students, but for the benefit of membership. They have pushed Oregon into the short school years and relatively high compensation.
Kona-
You probably have the stats, so can you use them again — where do Oregon teachers rank in compensation again (can you be more specific than “among the highest compensated”)? One of those turns of phrase you probably wouldn’t let me get away with.
Also, last I checked, the union wasn’t calling for days to be hacked from the schedule, and if I remember correctly, most teachers get their salaries cut when days are cut, so their salaries dip when days go away (so arguably, they’d want more days, not less).
I think you should probably also note that states with longer school years (i.e., New York) also have additional taxes…
Shawn,
1) There are only 14 states with higher “Average Salaries of Public School Teachers, 2009-10″ than Oregon K-12 teachers. Only three states (California, Alaska and Wyoming) west of the Mississippi have salaries higher than Oregon’s teachers. Oregon’s average salary is at $55,224.
(Rankings & Estimates, Rankings of the States 2010 and Estimates of School Statistics 2011, NEA (National Education Association) Reaserch, December 2010, Table C-11, page 19.)
Benefits are more difficult to get good annual comparisons from state to state. I wish they were as available as salaries. Generally, Oregon’s K-12 benefits/costs have been considered among the best of all states. From ECONorthwest in 2001, “Benefit expenditures total $17,684 per full-time staff member, which ranked 1st nationally and is 11 percent higher than second place Wisconsin. Taken together, expenditures on the total compensation package ranked 8th nationally.” (The Condition of K-12 Education in Oregon,ECONorthwest,Chalkboard Project, January 2005, page ix)
This information is not isolated to these sources, but is very consistent in all available sources. So combined with the relatively high compensation and relatively short school year, Oregon K-12 teachers receive compensation that is difficult to sustain in a state that is in the lower half of states in affluence (Oregon currently ranked 30th). Oregon simply cannot afford to compensate teachers at this relatively high level and employee enough teachers to reduce class sizes and lengthen the school year. I do realize that on the face, it is not acceptable in Oregon to bargain the length of the school year. But, it is done in almost every conceivable manner circumventing the law.
“employ” not “employee”, sorry.
Shawn,
Please note that my comments have nothing to do with what is “fair” compensation for teachers. “Fair” is a qualitative term that is difficult to measure and agreement almost impossible. Market conditions generally dictate levels of compensation which may, or may not, be considered “fair”.
Mr. Hass, it is difficult for me to have you talk about lengthening a school year based on testing and the failed reform movement that is currently bandied around nationally. Other than adding a full day of kindergarten, a questionable financial move, the Oregon Legislature did little or nothing that has any direct impact on children. Most of their programs were directed at adults.
By the way, does Japan only lengthen its school year for the poor kids or for all kids? And what about South Korea?
So, if America is to catch up shouldn’t we be also focusing on the students who now make up the largest population of our college educated, the more well-to-do and increase their days too? The fact is that Oregon education in poorer communities has gotten short changed by the state educational department, the Oregon Legislature (including your committee) and their own school boards by depriving them of a decent education and instead offering only a test-driven curriculum and few other activities which engage them in school. More of the same is not the answer. You have to change how you approach the whole system with a solid understanding of what it means to educate a populace for citizenship and productivity in the world of today. It is obvious this fact has escaped you.
I agree with Senator Hass. We cannot afford to sit around and do nothing. We have a high number of kids living in poverty who really rely on school as a lifeline. This past school year I would send home kids on Friday with food for the weekend. Some of my students called the last day of school “the saddest day of the year”. We can discuss at length the minutia of teacher compensation and testing, but the reality is that many kids suffer over the summer. Let’s do something bold!
I would like year round school where there are two or three week breaks instead of a long summer. I’d like to see programs at schools (possibly sponsored by non-profits or corporations/ partially paid by parents) that would address specific learning needs or enrichment interests during those breaks. These programs would be optional so families could take vacations at that time; kids behind in subjects could catch up and those families needing day-care could enroll their children in an educational school sponsored program. Interim classes could be taught by teachers outside of their contract or by other professionals. Why should schools stand empty in the summer? We need to stop feeling mired in despair and move forward to really act to make a big difference for the kids who need it the most.