The Possible Benefit of Longer School Days

And don’t forget that tomorrow is Labor Day! If you want to read up on a brief history of how this day came about, here you go: What is Labor Day?

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Longer School Days a Good Thing?

Numerous studies have examined how The Pandemic affected students’ learning, including studies from Universities like Harvard and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which highlight the detrimental effects it has had on children of color and low-socioeconomic households.

Richmond Public Schools in Virginia, where 97% of the students in the surrounding community are below the poverty line, needed a way to keep elementary kids engaged during the long stretches of summer. Last year, a few schools expanded their school days from the normal 180 days to 200 days. How did students, parents, and teachers feel about the extra twenty days of school?

Fifth grader Miyonn Williams said she was excited because it meant she would be able to see her friends more.

Kirsten Ingram, a single mother with a daughter in second grade, said, “As a single parent, I’m not gonna lie to you. Especially being away from grandparents, those 20 days of them being in school helps me a little bit.” She also said when she first heard about the extra days and saw teachers excited about it, she thought they were crazy. “…I was like, What? Y’all are crazy. Ok. But their excitement, their excitement kind of spread.”

It is great to see the excitement among teachers as they prepare for an extra twenty days of lesson planning, but of course, it is not enough for them to do it out of the kindness of their hearts. Teachers were given the option to stay with their schools going into this year on the 200-day schedule, or if they chose not, the district would help them find a new school to teach at. Those teachers who stayed received a $10,000 bonus on top of a 10% raise. Not bad.

During the first year of the 200-day schedule, reading teacher Tiffany Sneed highlighted what she saw with her students: “I saw stamina increase, fluency increase, use of vocabulary. There was growth all the way around.”

This is extra work, and administrators understand this. To keep staff from burning out, administrators have agreed to cut back on after-school meetings. The biggest challenge with the extra twenty days is funding, and fortunately, donations from philanthropists have kept the program running. Also, the 200-day schedule is limited to elementary schools, where engagement is a top priority when it comes to getting kids to enjoy learning.

Some interesting facts about school days around the world:

Schools with 200+ school days:

• Netherlands - 200 days on average

• Japan - 210 days on average

• South Korea - 220 days on average

Summer breaks around the world:

• Estonia: 11.5 weeks

• USA: 10-11 weeks

• Finland: 10-11 weeks

• Germany: 6.5 weeks

• Japan: 6 weeks

• South Korea: 6 weeks

Average school day:

• Finland: 5 hours

• Singapore: 5.5 hours

• Japan: 6 hours

• USA: 6.8 hours

• South Korea: 8 hours

• Taiwan: 8.5 hours 

Information courtesy of: NCEE

Too Hot for School

When we hear stories about places becoming hotter than normal, it is no longer simply anecdotal. The impacts of climate change are already taking their toll, from the more intense hurricanes, we are seeing in the Atlantic to schools having to shut down for the day because classrooms are just too warm to be conducive to learning.

But why don't schools just crank up the AC?

Therein lies the problem—many schools east of the Mississippi are very old, with some school buildings dating back to 100 years ago. Picture what it was like 100 years ago, in 1924.

Many schools built early in the 20th century did not have central air conditioning in mind. To put this in perspective, the William Haviland Carrier invented the first modern air conditioning system in 1902. The first AC unit to be attached to a home, which needed its own room because it was seven feet high, 20 feet long, and six feet wide, was installed in 1914. Electric AC units began to gain traction into the '30s and '40s, but they're still priced unaffordable to the masses. Commercial places like theatres and department stores began to install AC units, mostly in larger cities, in the 20s and 30s. It wasn't until the 60s and well into the 70s that homes were beginning to be built with AC units. Therefore, AC units were not something that was given a thought when buildings, such as schools, were being built 100 years ago. Because of the age of these school buildings, it is a challenge to retrofit them with modern AC units. Even if it is possible, it can be costly for a school district to install.

The lack of central air conditioning in schools is causing schools to shut down. Dozens of schools in Michigan were shut down last week. This was the first week of school for many students in Michigan. More than 40 schools were closed in the Cleveland area, including all after-school activities, on Tuesday, August 27. Schools in Chicago had early release last week due to the dangerous conditions of heat and humidity in Northeastern Illinois, with some schools like Round Lake High School in Lake Beach, Illinois, announcing on Tuesday that remote learning will take place in lieu of on campus learning. There were also 63 schools around the Philadelphia area that were closed on Wednesday due to extreme heat.

It's only going to get warmer, and schools in the East and Midwest will only continue to become more and more unbearable as the planet continues to heat up. Investment is needed to equip schools with the necessary cooling systems in place so students can learn in comfort as they sit in their classrooms. Ideally, the best temperature for learning is between 70-78 degrees Fahrenheit (that would be between 21-25.5 degrees Celsius for the rest of the world).

Yet, installing central cooling systems aren’t without their faults—on a yearly basis, ACs release 117 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Alright, scientist, it's time for you all to get to work.

The Final Minute

1. In the state of Floridia, Escambia County School Board is once again attempting to shield its members from testifying about their decision to remove "And Tango Makes Three" from school libraries. This move comes after a federal judge initially rejected their claim of "legislative privilege" but allowed for a revised request. The book, which tells the story of two male penguins raising a chick, has become a flashpoint in the ongoing culture wars surrounding LGBTQ+ representation in schools. As the legal battle unfolds, it raises critical questions about First Amendment rights, the power of school boards, and the broader implications for diverse literature in our educational system.

2. San Francisco's Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School has taken a bold step in addressing food insecurity by opening an on-campus grocery store. This innovative initiative, a partnership between Goodr, Amazon, and local organizations, aims to provide free groceries and household essentials to students and their families in a neighborhood classified as a "food desert." The store's opening highlights the inadequacy of current school meal programs in fully addressing student hunger, with Goodr CEO Jasmine Crowe pointedly noting that free breakfast and lunch aren't enough if students go home to empty dinner tables. This project not only tackles immediate food needs but also underscores the critical link between nutrition and education, emphasizing that even the best teachers can't overcome the barrier of hunger in the classroom.

3. Arizona's education system is facing a crisis, with teacher shortages and high turnover rates plaguing our schools. The state's response of lowering standards for teacher qualifications is a short-sighted approach that devalues the profession and ultimately harms our students. The Arizona Teachers Academy (ATA), a promising program designed to address these issues by providing tuition coverage and support for aspiring teachers, has recently suffered a devastating $14 million budget cut. This shortsighted decision will result in approximately 1,700 fewer students being able to pursue teaching careers through Arizona colleges and universities, further exacerbating the teacher shortage and undermining efforts to improve educational outcomes for our state's children.

4. California's education system is once again at the forefront of controversial legislation, this time targeting synthetic food dyes in school meals. The proposed bill, awaiting Governor Gavin Newsom's signature, would ban these additives in school foods by December 31, 2027, citing concerns about their impact on children's behavior and learning abilities. This move has ignited a heated debate between lawmakers, health advocates, and industry representatives, with the latter arguing that the bill is based on outdated science and could lead to increased costs and limited food choices for schools and families. If signed into law, this legislation could have far-reaching implications beyond California, potentially influencing national food safety standards and encouraging other states to follow suit in regulating artificial food additives in school meals.

Closing Bell

On this day in 1985…

The wreckage of the Titanic was found 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland by an expedition unit that consisted of U.S. and French personnel.