Tag Archives: school year
Calendar freedom!
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) would like to exempt, at minimum, nine schools from the state calendar law. Unfortunately, state legislators do not support the idea of leaving school calendar decisions to local school boards. I think they should. Certainly, I understand the concerns of those who favor a strong calendar law that prohibits school boards fromContinue Reading
Excellent Public Schools Act
Today, the Republican leadership in the NC Senate released details of the Excellent Public Schools Act. The comprehensive K-12 reform package includes the following components: Adding new reading-intensive instruction for students who struggle with reading. Emphasizing the importance of literacy by ending social promotion of students who can’t read at grade level by the endContinue Reading
Time is still not on their side
Last week, my Education Update outlined the debate over time. I pointed out that students in North Carolina spend more time in the classroom than their counterparts in other nations. This includes countries that outperform the state and nation on international assessments. If you don’t believe me (silly), perhaps the new report by the CenterContinue Reading
Should we lengthen the school day, year?
Duke University professor Harris Cooper says that it is time to rethink how we organize the school calendar. Let’s excuse Dr. Cooper for his mistaken belief that the purpose of summer vacation was to allow “kids to be off to work in the fields.” Rather, let’s entertain the notion that we should increase the numberContinue Reading