Rethinking the Length and Organization of the K-12 School Year in the District of Columbia

In the latest issue of themail, the twice weekly e-newsletter of the good government website, DC Watch, Ted Knutson writes about "The Serious Implications of the City's Snow Paranoia" and asks "Does anyone know if youth crime goes up on days when the schools are closed for snow (or the prediction of snow)? The question borders on the rhetorical: 'How can crime not increase when kids have no supervision?'"

I think the question is pretty limited in its scope in looking at how we think about youth in the District, not to mention that we are creating generation after generation of weather wimps (I discussed this in an entry in the February archive, entitled "Washington, the Nation's Weather Wimp").

But I think that this question offers us the opportunity to think about a bigger question, that is How many days is the school year, how is the school calendar organized, and should we think about this more broadly, so that we can "build strong minds and strong bodies" through the educational opportunities provided by the DC Public School system.

One way to "reduce youth crime," and more importantly to expand the community's capacity to learn and grow, would be to expand the school year. If the average student entering DC Schools starts off behind compared to peers in higher-income communities, let's provide more time in school (n.b., I do understand that more of the same things not working isn't necessarily better, but I have hopes that forthcoming curricular changes will be positive).

Suggestion One: how about a 210 or 220 day school year instead of 180 days? What better way to demonstrate DC's commitment to K-12 education?

Suggestion Two: consider adopting a "year-round" school calendar. This could have at least three benefits (one that Ted Knutson would find of interest):

1. better utilization of school facilities would require fewer school buildings overall, and might allow the retention of historic but smaller school buildings instead of the more modern school buildings that look like prisons;
2. would eliminate the 2.5 month long summer break which is a period where youth crime does increase; and
3. would help improve learning outcomes by reducing the time required for catch up/review in each subsequent year.

Of course, this presumes that "more school is better school." If it's more of the same, it probably isn't.

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- The boarding school, Seed Charter School has a school day one hour longer than the standard school day. (See this article.) Although, most DC elementary schools have after-school programs.

- "Does America Need a Longer School Year."

- The traits of a no excuses school.

National Association for Year-Round Education

Catalyst: Voices of Chicago School Reform -- published by the Chicago Reporter