Educators propose to turn summer daze into school days

Insight on the News, Jan 30, 1995 by Stephen Goode

The academic scores of most American schoolchildren are lower than their overseas counterparts, and some educators claim that year-round and extended-day programs could improve their performance.

Most American children undoubtedly would protest longer school days and shorter summer vacations, but such may be their fate, according to a report issued last fall by the National Education Commission on Time and Learning.

The report, Prisoners of Time, noted that public-school children in the United States already spend more time in class than their counterparts in Japan and Germany But Japanese and German students receive more than twice the instruction in language and mathematics than U.S. students. As a consequence, Japanese and German students consistently score higher on standardized tests.

Although the commission, a panel of 10 educators assembled by a 1991 act of Congress, recommended that American schools concentrate on academic basics and reduce the classroom time devoted to subjects such as driver's education, it avoided all-encompassing proclamations. Instead, the commission stressed local solutions to education problems and devoted most of its report to the study of 40 American schools that have developed highly individual approaches to time management.

Critics of the report caution that additional school time will be difficult to finance as budgets grow tighter. At least one such critic, James Klassen, chairman of the department of education at the University of Dallas, worries that additional time is likely to be frittered away on frivolous pursuits. Too many educators view the public-school system "as the place where every social problem the student has is to be resolved," says Klassen. He and others also cast doubt on the value of comparing American student performance with that of Japanese or Germans. "Why have our benchmarks set by others?" asks Klassen. "Why not set our own?"

Indeed, most of the schools studied in the report seem to have set their own, expanding their programs modestly and avoiding additional costs - or at least tax increases. The Murfreesboro Extended School Program in Murfreesboro, Tenn. - with more than 5,000 students from the kindergarten level through the eighth grade - is "the most comprehensive extended-day and -year program in the United States," according to the commission. It was initiated in the mid-1980s under then-Gov. Lamar Alexander (who later served as secretary of education under President Bush).

Worried about the city's many latchkey children - kids left to fend for themselves from the end of the school day until their parents come home from work - school officials decided to offer an alternative, says Becci Bookner, the program's director. The result was "six to six" schools. Classroom time remains the same: 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. The extra morning time, according to Bookner, is "custodial": The kids are served breakfast, play board games and "get to be with their friends." Afternoon time is spent in pursuits such as ballet and karate, 4-H Club or Scouting, and in science and computer classes. Parents bear the extra costs - $26 per week for both morning and afternoon hours. (If a family has more than one child in school, they pay half for each additional student; poor families pay less but must contribute something, even if only a dollar.)

Bookner runs the extended-day program "like a business." Early on, she says, school officials realized that if the project was to work they'd have to convince parents "we had the best deal in town" - and that meant satisfied kids. "Our best marketing tool is a happy little guy or young lady,' she says.

The Parry McCluer High School in Buena Vista, Va., which began to extend its school year back in 1973, now ranks as one of the oldest extended-day programs in the country. Like Murfreesboro, it is entirely voluntary. "Mandatory programs will bring problems," warns James C. Bradford Jr., superintendent of Buena Vista schools.

Buena Vista began by extending the school year from 180 to 218 days - 180 of which are mandatory. Parents can opt to enroll their children for a fourth quarter of participation, held in the summer. For many, says Bradford, the fourth quarter is remedial - reworking material not mastered during the first three quarters, "giving slow learners a chance to catch up." For others, the fourth quarter offers a "chance for enrichment" - many students can earn college credits at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College while still in high school.

Bradford reports that student performance on standardized tests at Parry McCluer is equal to or better than scores of students from other comparable high schools. Bookner claims the same for most elementary-school students in Murfreesboro. But both educators point to the popularity of the extended-time programs as proof of the importance of those programs to the community - and of their success. Four students showed up for the program in Murfreesboro when it started in 1986; today, a little more than half of the city's elementary-school population of about 5,000 take part on any given day.