School House Rock

Public schools are exploring a controversial plan to modify the school calendar to combat overcrowding and lackluster test scores.

by Gwen Shaffer

Some Philadelphia public schools are exploring the possibility of holding classes year-round—with short breaks interspersed throughout the year—in order to alleviate over-crowding and provide more classroom time for students. But beating the challenges posed by teacher and parent resistance, extra operational costs and summer heat will not be easy, teachers and administrators say.

The idea behind year-round education is to reorganize the school calendar to provide continuous learning—by breaking up the long summer vacation into shorter, more frequent, evenly distributed vacations. The schedule under consideration by the Philadelphia School District would not entirely eliminate the summer vacation, but would reduce it.

The school district is "looking into" establishing several pilot programs with teachers interested in working on an alternative calendar, says Germaine Ingram, chief of staff for the Philadelphia School District.

Several weeks ago, a conference was held to "brainstorm" on the issues of transportation, cafeteria accessibility and human resources.

The existing nine-month calendar, with schools closed during the three summer months, emerged as the norm when 85 percent of Americans were tied to jobs in agriculture. Today, about 3 percent of Americans' livelihoods depend on agriculture.

School districts around the country are switching to an "alternative school calendar" because of the same problems faced here in Philadelphia: overcrowding, the need for remedial instruction, a desire to reduce costs and an attempt to battle student and teacher burnout.

"An alternative school calendar would help us use resources more effectively," Ingram says. "We can't build more classrooms fast enough and create space for all the additional rooms we need."

Some Philadelphia public schools are forced to go great lengths to accommodate the number of bodies packed between their walls like jellybeans in a candy jar. Throughout the district, supply cupboards have been converted into classrooms, and once-sprawling campuses are cluttered with portable satellite classrooms.

But the teachers union cautions that the traditional school calendar should not be tinkered with unless there are clear academic advantages.

"If the number one reason for doing it is to ease overcrowding, that's not a good enough motive," says Barbara Goodman, director of Communications for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT). "If we need more space, we should be building more schools."

Since 1988, the PFT contract—representing the district's 22,000 teachers—has contained language permitting "experimental school plans," Goodman says. "The union has always recognized there may be a better way to run schools."

The district is studying two year-round school models.

The one most seriously under consideration would divide the school year into four nine-week terms, each separated by four three-week "intercessions" or breaks. Students and teachers would attend school for nine weeks (45 days) then take a three week vacation (15 days, weekends not included). This sequence of sessions and vacations would occur four times each year, providing the usual 36 weeks (180 days) of school.

The Philadelphia School District would offer "programs and activities with remedial instruction" during every intercession, Ingram says.

"After the first 45 days, we could identify kids with problems and provide them with support, so we aren't so reliant on summer school," she says. Intercession classes and programs would likely be mandatory for "children at risk."

Schools with serious over-crowding problems could create up to four separate "tracks" by dividing the student body up into several groups. The instructional and vacation periods of each track would be staggered so that at least one group is on vacation at all times. Depending on the calendar and the number of students, 20 percent to 50 percent of the students would always be on vacation.

In addition to the 45/15-day schedule currently being studied, the school district is also analyzing a similar plan that would hold classes for 60 days, followed by 20-day breaks.

As public schools become more pressed to improve academic standards, an increasing number of them are experimenting with modified schedules. According to the National Association for Year-Round Education (NAYRE), 496 school districts in 38 states operate schools on an alternative calendar. A total of 2,681 schools around the country no longer use the traditional September through June schedule, the organization finds.

Analyses of student performance do not show consistent differences between test scores of students in traditional schools and year-round schools.

The Philadelphia School District runs 259 public schools, with about 215,000 children passing through their doors each year. Currently, half of Philadelphia high school students do not graduate in four years—making it clear that change is needed.

Ingram stresses it is too early to determine "if or when" an alternative calendar will be instituted in the Philadelphia public schools. But a number of teacher and administrators are "gung-ho" about the prospect, she says. "There are lots of advantages for teachers in this. They come back from breaks refreshed, they have more staying power, they can more easily plan recreation with their families and they can hold other jobs during the intercessions."

At the same time, the PFT questions whether an alternative school calendar could ever work. While issues such as money and childcare can be negotiated, Mother Nature is not willing to sit down at the bargaining table.

June, July and August can be blistering in Philadelphia, and what kid can learn in that environment? the PTA's Goodman asks.

"Most schools in the city are old," she notes. "You can't have teachers and students trapped in these ancient brick buildings with no air-conditioning."

But heat from parents, rather than from the sun, is more likely to cause school officials to sweat as they move ahead with plotting an extended academic calendar. Most concerns derive from the challenge of finding childcare during brief spurts throughout the year.

"What happens when an older child takes care of a younger sibling, but they are on different schedules?" Goodman asks. "It is much easier for working families to arrange childcare during the summer months, when there are camps and organized activities."

On top of this potential drawback, Goodman says an alternative calendar could discourage teachers from working in local public schools.

Philadelphia already has a major teacher shortage. Even after the district hired 1,000 new teachers at the start of the 1997-98 school year, 100 positions still remained vacant, Goodman points out.

"One of the main reasons people become teachers is to get summers off, and this could be one more disincentive," she adds.

Shirley Hall, principal of Bethune Elementary School—at the corner of York and Ontario Streets—says she is a proponent of a 45/15-day school calendar, obstacles and all.

"There is such a 'summer learning loss' during that time children are out of school, we need to find alternatives," she says.

An existing reading program at Bethune requires students to get assessed every eight weeks. This schedule would "fit in nicely" with the modified calendar being discussed, Hall says. "With the 15-day intercession, we would have an opportunity to do remedial work before students get too far along in the school year."

Recognizing that parents will need support for year-round school to succeed, Hall says educators hope to bring in "community partners."

"The school would offer intercession activities both here and off-site," she says. "Like at neighborhood churches or the YMCA."

At this point, support among Bethune teachers is mixed, Hall says. "Teachers need more information."