A Nation at Risk

Philadelphia hopes year-round schooling can catch kids up to grade level – will it make a difference?

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Atmosphere, School, Child care, A Nation at Risk, Parent, Hope, Risk, Selection bias, Fatigue, Evaluation, Student, Tutoring

Upon becoming mayor of Philadelphia, Cherelle Parker announced that she will establish a working group on full-day and year-round schooling – an idea she had supported while campaigning.

Key Points:

Upon becoming mayor of Philadelphia, Cherelle Parker announced that she will establish a working group on full-day and year-round schooling – an idea she had supported while campaigning.
The group will develop a strategy to keep Philadelphia public schools open for longer hours during the week, from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., as well as over the summer, and to provide “meaningful, instructive out-of-school programming and job opportunities for students.” Below, education expert Daniel H. Robinson answers five questions about year-round schooling in Philadelphia.

What do we know about the mayor’s plan?

It does not state how many days or hours will be added to the 180 days Philadelphia currently requires.
For example, students might have 45 school days followed by 15 days of break, or 60 school days followed by 20 days of break.
The report suggested that the school year should be increased to 200 to 220 days.

How prevalent is year-round schooling?

Japan and Australia have school for almost the entire year, while the U.S. has school for only about nine months.
But they still maintain traditional school hours during the school year.
This three-year initiative involves 40 schools that will add 300 hours to their existing school calendar by having either longer days, longer school years or both.

Can the mayor legally do this?

The Philadelphia mayor can certainly extend the school day and the school hours since she appoints the school board members, who in turn control who is hired or fired as superintendent.
A more important question is: Should the mayor do this?
Despite the hope that longer school days or years will lead to gains in student achievement, there’s little evidence that they will.
A better evaluation plan would be to first solicit applications for the pilot program from the more than 200 Philadelphia schools.

What are the potential gains?

It makes it easier for them to drop off and pick up kids on their way to and from work.
It also provides kids a safe and supportive environment for more hours.
Keeping kids at school longer during the day and for more days during the year can lower juvenile crime.

What hurdles might year-round schooling face in Philly?

Many Philly public schools do not have adequate air conditioning to be open throughout the hot summer months.
More Philadelphia teachers are quitting or retiring than those who are being newly trained, according to the report.

Daniel H. Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Do 'sputnik moments' spur educational reform? A rhetoric scholar weighs in

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

From the publication of the landmark A Nation at Risk report on education in 1983 to the polarizing election of Donald Trump, one moment after another has been compared to the sputnik episode.

Key Points:

From the publication of the landmark A Nation at Risk report on education in 1983 to the polarizing election of Donald Trump, one moment after another has been compared to the sputnik episode.
As a professor who studies the rhetoric of education reform, I know that what politicians and others call sputnik moments do not always live up to that name.
Some sputnik moments spark enduring public debates, while others are easily forgotten.

American education called into question

In the spring of 1958, Life magazine ran a series of articles entitled: “Crisis in Education.” One Life article compared the rigor of U.S. education unfavorably with that of the Soviets.
Another Life article referred to American education as a “carnival.” President Dwight Eisenhower read the Life articles and began advocating for what would become the National Defense Education Act of 1958.
It was a first-of-its-kind intervention in education policy and funding.
Ever since, pivotal events for education in the U.S. have been called sputnik moments.

Reagan and a flailing education system

In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published A Nation at Risk.
We responded by making math, science, and engineering education a priority.” Reagan cited NASA’s space shuttle program as evidence that the nation had succeeded.
But like sputnik, it spurred decades of discussion about the rigor of public education in the U.S.

Obama on competition with China

Obama needed to sell his proposal to the nation and to the House of Representatives, which the Republicans had taken control of in the 2010 midterm elections.
It also did not result in the creation of an Advanced Research Projects Agency for education.

Donald Trump’s election

Sure enough, Trump’s election did revitalize the national discussion of civic education.
There was also the Civic Learning for a Democracy in Crisis by the Hastings Center.
Even the Trump administration joined in the conversation with its 1776 report, which called for a patriotic form of civic education.

Why do we have sputnik moments?

Sputnik moments can be spontaneous or constructed through rhetoric after the fact, or they can fall somewhere in between.
In the late 1950s, critics of American education made the most of their moment by demanding a greater emphasis on math, science and language.
Because they capitalized on their moment, policymakers and education reformers have continued to be vigilant for more moments like sputnik ever since.