Length of school year gets hard look

By Nick Hanson
The Free Press

MANKATO March 10, 2007 11:58 pm

— Twelve days after Mankato students returned from winter break on Jan. 3, they got a day off for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
A week later, they got another day off for teachers to work on class preparation.
Three weeks later, they had five days off for an early spring break.
Three days later, it snowed hard, so students spent two more days at home.
March 19 and 30, students will be out of school again — this time for teacher preparation/curriculum days. There will be more days off in April around Easter and in May.
Which begs the question: Just how often are kids in school?
By law, students can’t start school until after Labor Day, and they usually get out in early June.
Throw in holidays, winter and spring break, snow days and a few teacher improvement/preparation/curriculum days, and here’s what you get:
About 172.
That’s the average number of student instruction days in schools across Minnesota — meaning out of the 365 days in a year, kids are in school less than 50 percent of the time.
In Mankato last year and this year, kids in K-12 are in session for about 168 days.
At Minnesota New Country, a charter school in Henderson, kids met for 144 days last year.
Minnesota does not require school districts to host a minimum number of days — it’s the only state that doesn’t — and it’s evident in some school districts this year.
Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial cut several days of instruction to allow time for kids and staff to transfer into a new high school. Le Sueur-Henderson will shave nearly three weeks off the tail end of the year to allow construction workers ample time to complete a high school addition.
The state believes tests, not school days, are the best gauge of student achievement, said Chas Anderson, deputy education commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Education.
“We have standards and students have to meet those standards and that should be the determinant,” Anderson said.
Money is another factor.
A longer calendar year comes with a steep price tag. Just one full extra day of student instruction across Minnesota would cost the state about $31 million.
“That would become a very expensive proposal,” Anderson said. “It has a very slim chance (to occur) given the slim resources out there.”
Longer year?
A longer school year is expensive, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth exploring, said Chalie Kyte, executive director for the Minnesota Association of School Administrators.
Kyte is in favor of an 180-day school year with 20 more non-instructional days devoted to parent-teacher conferences, teacher workshops and other staff development.
“The students going forward have to compete globally,” Kyte said. “Most of the developed nations have their schools in session more than we do.”
Thirty-two states require at least 180 days of student instruction. Other nations such as China have students in class for about 230 days.
About 15 years ago, the number of Minnesota school days began to slowly drop for reasons that include increasing educational operating costs and a switch in how teacher-conference days are counted, Kyte said.
As a result, a law requiring 175 days of student instruction was repealed in 1997.
While a move toward more school days would likely meet resistance — even if money were readily available — it would be well worth it, Kyte said.
“This is a little bit like taking your medicine,” he said.
Sen. Chuck Wiger, DFL-St. Paul, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, took the idea pitched by Kyte and is sponsoring a bill to increase the number of Minnesota schools days to 180.
It passed in the Senate Education Committee and is being referred to the Senate Finance Committee. Wiger admitted the bill will be a tough sell because of its hefty price tag, but said it’s worth discussion.
“Money is tight,” he said. “There is a lot of competing interest in what we are trying to accomplish.”
Labor Day repeal
A bill repealing the Labor Day law also has passed through the Senate Education Committee. It goes hand in hand with an increased number of school days and preventing the school year from stretching into mid to late June.
That piece of legislation, however, has a much more legitimate shot at passing.
The tourism industry will be the biggest opponent — the main argument being that business owners could lose revenue during the end-of-summer vacation weekend.
Educators argue that starting before Labor Day would give school districts more freedom planning their school year and flexibility scheduling instruction days.
It could also help administrators more effectively scatter teacher improvement days throughout the regular school year, said Cindy Klingel, Mankato Area Schools curriculum director.
“There’s no time for teachers working on school improvement or teacher improvement (during the school year),” Klingel said.
Mankato schools bookend five days for teacher improvement at the beginning and end of year, when kids aren’t in session. Klingel believes those days would be more effective if scheduled during the school year.
She’s also big on the idea of 20 more non-instructional days for teacher workshops and other staff development on top of the 180 days.
“What (the public) sees is what the teacher does in front of the students,” Klingel said. “They don’t see what needs to be done to be effective. Some of the most critical work occurs when the children aren’t in school.”

One proposal: 45 days on, 15 days off
An alternative school calendar may prove a more cost-effective solution to boosting student achievement.
The alternative calendar would eliminate a long summer vacation and instead schedule shorter breaks more frequently. The state is actively pushing that idea, rather than increasing the number of school days per year.
“There is great interest for piloting an alternative school calendar,” said Chas Anderson, deputy education commissioner for the Department of Education.
An alternative calendar has potential to alleviate some of the learning drain that occurs during summer break, Anderson said.
A proposal was introduced in the Senate earlier this month that calls for $2 million to fund a six-year alternative school calendar pilot. If passed, the Department of Education would research its impact on student academic gains at a school or school district in Minnesota.
It’s likely that pilot would model a 45-15 school year.
That means school would run 45 days — give or take a day or two — and then break for 15. Instead of a three-month summer vacation, students get about six weeks off.
Since 1995, Longfellow Elementary in Rochester has been running a 45-15 model with about 175 days of student instruction.
Principal Les Ernster said its boosting student achievement and testified about the alternative calendar’s success at a Senate hearing last week.
“We don’t have any re-teaching at all,” he said. “There is total retention after three-week breaks, or six-week summer breaks.”
About 97 percent of children either stay at the same educational level or improve after breaks, according to tests given to Longfellow students. The school is also meeting its federal No Child Left Behind assessment requirements.
That’s a lofty feat considering Longfellow’s low-income student population usually ranges from 65 to 78 percent and 65 to 75 percent of its students are minorities — both at-risk student groups.
The school has no extra costs except for running buses in August, Ernster said. And during breaks, the district runs enrichment programs.

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