Schools Behind the Times
Schools behind the times
By Bill Walczak and Meg Campbell
Saturday, September 9, 2006
When Bill Gates spoke of America’s high school system being “obsolete,” he was referring to a whole range of problems that result in U.S. high schools by and large not preparing students for the needs of today’s (or tomorrow’s) world. Gates’ view is that the school system was created for an earlier era, and for some reason has resisted change as the times have. This is particularly true of the hours and days schools operate.
Educators have been making the case for many years now that, in an era in which nearly all parents have jobs, and in which we have high-stakes testing that requires many more hours of pedagogy than is available during the week and year, it makes no sense to have schools close for the day in the early afternoon.
One of the stunning things about the Boston Public Schools is the fact that, with exceptions, most middle and high school students start the school day at 7:20 a.m. and end at 1:40 p.m. There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea. Educators’ studies show that one significant predictor for passing standardized tests like MCAS is student attendance. It is a known fact that children’s sleep patterns change as they age, so that teens are much more likely to have difficulty waking at early hours than younger children. So why do we start the school day earlier for teens and later for younger children?
For years, even Boston Public School leaders have acknowledged that starting high schools later would result in higher attendance rates for high schoolers, yet they do not change the school hours.
But there is one more reason why this is an idea whose time has come. We pour thousands of teens into the streets at 1:40 p.m., when doing so can be very dangerous. Boston police recently issued data on gun violence which show that not only have we seen a shift toward younger and younger perpetrators and victims of violence, we are seeing this violence occurring more and more in the late afternoon.
When we conceived of Codman Academy Charter Public School, we decided for all of the above reasons to have an extended school day. Our official day runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., though we have sports and tutoring beginning at 7:30 a.m., and afternoon programs until 6 p.m., and we operate six days a week. (Saturday morning is an official school day). We knew that the school day and week were not long enough to cover all the different areas of study, especially for students who typically enter our school two to three years behind where they should be.
Our thoughts were that a 9 a.m. starting time would increase attendance, and we were right - our average attendance rate for our five years of existence has been 97 percent. The extended time has also worked - all of our students for both our graduating classes were accepted to four-year colleges. And our students are inside our school when violence is peaking on the streets.
So why don’t all Boston high schools have these hours? Often when the issue is broached, one hears about how there isn’t enough money to pay the teachers to extend the day or week. While this is currently true, that doesn’t mean that the 6 hours that the high school students are in school can’t be shifted to, say, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Presumably, such a shift would not result in changes in salaries for teachers. But, even after you dispose of this argument, you often hear about problems with transportation, student jobs and school sports.
The transportation issue should be easy. In Boston, high school students take public transportation. Student jobs and school sports are more problematic. Regardless, we submit that the school day should not be built around the work needs of students or their employers.
Changing times for school sports is an issue that has some parents and coaches apoplectic. Some think that after-school time slots for sports are a constitutional right. At Codman Academy we have been able to work around the difficulty of scheduling times that work for all the schools we play against. But, on reflection, wouldn’t it be better if all schools changed their hours and had sports practices and school clubs meet in the morning? Wouldn’t student-athletes be invigorated by morning exercise and perform better in class?
There have always been reasons to change the school day for high school students. With the increase in violence, it’s time to make it happen.
Bill Walczak is CEO of the Codman Square Health Center and founding president of Codman Academy Charter Public School. Meg Campbell is the founding head of Codman Academy Charter Public School.
