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How do we improve public schools?
Answering that deceptively simple question is apt to provoke passionate debate. But as long as that debate is healthy and has the students’ best interest at heart, why not question the status quo?
That was the attitude of educators and parents in the Point Isabel Independent School District when we questioned a previous school board decision to move the start of school from September to early August.
In questioning the move, we analyzed data and conducted research with current and past students. We also talked to teachers and parents, questioning whether an earlier start was good for the children and their families.
The answer was a resounding “no.”
Not only was there no proven educational benefit to starting school earlier in the summer, but the early start was undermining families and limiting our teachers’ abilities to receive advanced degrees and stay current on technological advancements.
So, beginning with the 1997-98 academic year, we reversed course and pushed the start of school back to late August.
The early start is a recent change in Texas education. Not long ago, “back to school” meant about September 1” that was the traditional time to return to class. But for most school districts in our state, the tradition ended in 1993. Now, for most Texas young people, the first day of school falls in early or mid-August.
State law requires that school districts provide 180 instructional days for their students each year, plus additional days for teacher training. Five of those teaching days were added in 1993, a move that certainly has contributed to the pressure for an early start to the school year. Yet those five days alone can’t account for the two week shift in start dates.
What is clear, however, is that going back to school early affects young people and their families in a number of ways.
First and foremost, it deprives high school students of the in-depth work experience they need and deserve. With the short summer, students never may fully understand the need for advanced classes and higher degrees. Longer summer jobs not only provide the needed experience, but give students a means to an end; the jobs let them earn the money they need to pay for the ever rising costs of college.
Add to that the punitive impact the early start has on migrant students. Many of these children work in the fields with their parents until mid-September or later. The earlier school starts, the more time they miss.
Lost instructional days put migrant students further behind, making it much more difficult to succeed in school. The fact is, migrant students often are two or more grade levels behind in reading and math skills, and their dropout rate is an astonishing 45 percent nationally.
What’s more, the many breaks created by the extended school year put an added financial burden on single parents and working families who often struggle to hire full-time day care.
So why start so early?
There is no educational advantage to starting class in early to mid-August. Most Texas children are in school the same number of days, no matter when the school year starts. In fact, many of the nation’s top academically rated school districts begin school in early September.
Returning to a traditional school calendar certainly hasn’t created problems for our teachers or students. In fact, the Point Isabel Independent School District is a “recognized” school district, according to the Texas Education Agency.
As one clear-thinking academician noted, “The urgent need isn’t lengthening the school year but using more effectively the time schools already have.”
The back-to-school bell rings much too early across Texas. We should wait until September 1 to start classes. That would be in the best interest of our students – and isn’t that what we should be striving for anyway?
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