Time to Learn “You cannot create experience.
You must undergo it.” Albert Camus
News Release
Embargoed until August 12, 2002
For More Information Contact: Tina Bruno @ 210-559-5277
POOR TIMING
Early school start date hinders teacher learning
Study shows no academic benefit in early-August school start dates
As many Florida students and teachers return to the classroom, a new study shows that schools starting before the week of August 21 don’t fare as well academically as those that start later. One specific reason for this is because early August school start dates severely handicap teachers’ efforts to attend crucial summer college courses.
Those are the major conclusions reached by a national group of parents, teachers, administrators and businesses in Poor Timing: The Impact of the Early School Start Date in Florida. This exhaustive, six-month study examined student passing rates on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), teacher certification levels, the state’s grading system for schools and college summer course schedules and compared them to start dates for Florida’s 67 school districts.
The group conducting the study, Time to Learn, has always contended that early school start dates cause headaches, heartaches and hardships for families, teachers and students. This study joins a growing body of evidence in support of that position.
Shattering the myth
Many school administrators have steadily moved away from the traditional September 1 start date in an effort to give their students more time to prepare for the FCAT, the mandatory exam all Florida students must take. They believe this head start will translate into better test scores.
The numbers don’t add up. Time to Learn examined the system that Florida uses to grade its individual campuses -- based on FCAT passing rates, dropout rates and other factors – and aggregated the data on a standard academic four-point scale to give every school district in the state a grade of A, B, C, D or F.
Following the logic of early school start proponents, their districts should earn higher grades than those starting later in the month. But, as the following chart demonstrates, districts starting after August 21 consistently outperform their peers.
DISTRICT GRADE AVERAGE
School Started before Started the week
year week of Aug. 21 of Aug. 21 or later
1999-2000 2.3 [C-] 2.8 [C+]
2000-01 2.5 [C] 2.7 [C+]
2001-02 2.7 [C+] 3.3 [B-]
Test scores show no link between school start dates and improved academics. Scores on the FCAT for the 2001-02 school year are up across the board in many Florida school districts. Tenth-graders in the Gadsden district had the most improved mean scale math scores, 19 points better than their peers posted two years earlier. Sophomores in the Glades district had the worst performances, scoring seven points lower. The start date in both districts last year was Aug. 13. In 24 districts, math scores were up 10 points or more, with start dates ranging from Aug. 3 to Aug. 27.
The story is the same for the American College Test (ACT), one of the nation’s two major college-entrance exams. In 2001, 13 school districts earned a favorable composite ACT score of 21 or higher, and had start dates ranging from Aug. 2 to Aug. 28.
Earlier this year, another study was released based on 20 years of credible academic research. In that paper, Dr. Gene V. Glass of Arizona State University stated that when school starts has no bearing on academic achievement. Glass also put to rest the notion that a full summer dampers academic success: “Changes in the calendar by which those 180 days are delivered are very unlikely to yield higher levels of pupil achievement. In terms of pupil achievement, it matters not at all whether those 180 days are interrupted by one long recess or four short ones.”
No time to teach teachers
One startling new revelation in Poor Timing is the detrimental effect that the early school year has on teacher learning. In this fast-paced, technologically advanced world, the education of children is critically linked to their teacher’s knowledge base.
Time to Learn believes teachers should not have to choose between tutoring students after school and attending night school. If Florida adopted a uniform school calendar, with classes starting August 21 and ending by Memorial Day, teachers could choose from 69 percent more summer courses than allowed by the current schedule.
As it is, summer learning for teachers looks like this:
· On average, Florida teachers may attend 1.3 summer school sessions each year.
· Teachers in eight school districts – Dixie, Escambia, Indian River, Lafayette, Okalossa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington -- cannot attend a single summer session at a college or university within 60 miles of their home school district due to calendar conflicts.
· Teachers in another 34 school districts are limited to one summer session.
· Currently, the average teacher trying to earn an advanced degree, taking the recommended maximum graduate studies course load, would need four summers to complete the maximum degree requirements.
High marks for advanced degrees
School districts obviously value teachers with advanced degrees because they pay them a higher salary, and for good reason. For students, having a teacher who has completed some graduate course work often translates into better academics.
How much better? According to the study, 37.8 percent of the teaching corps in school districts that earned an A or B in the 2001-02 school year had a master’s degree or doctorate. In school districts earning a C or D, 34.4 percent of teachers had a postgraduate degree. This suggests early school start dates have a negative effect on student learning by keeping teachers out of summer college opportunities.
The already critical shortage of specialists in math and science will become even greater if teachers don’t go back to school and earn advanced degrees. And without giving teachers the maximum opportunity to stay current on the latest curriculum and instructional techniques, children will suffer in stagnant learning environments.
Impact on attendance
The early school start date may be forcing some families to choose between vacations and summer earnings or getting their children back in class.
Not all Florida schools had attendance data for the first day of school in 2001-02. However, with 52 percent of Florida schools reporting, 76,608 students were not in class on the first day of school as compared to the first reporting period after Labor Day (normally September 4th).
About 74 percent of Florida students attend the schools that did report the data. If the first-day absences hold true for the rest of Florida’s public schools, about 96,526 students were not in class for the start of the 2001-02 school year.
These absences are hitting Florida’s schools in the pocketbook, since they affect average daily attendance, which is a large part of the state’s complicated school funding formula.
More importantly, students who miss the first days, or weeks, of school are forced to play catch-up.
“These students are walking into the middle of the movie, disrupting others in the audience by asking what happened before they got there,” said Tina Bruno, executive director of Time to Learn. “It’s a frustrating situation for students, teachers and families.”
The Texas example
In Texas, which has administered standardized exams for more than a decade, lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a law last year requiring that school start the week of Aug. 21, unless clear public support exists for an earlier start date. The vast majority of Texas school districts will start school this fall during that time period.
In 2000, Texas’ chief financial officer said the state lost $332 million in tourism revenue the previous year due to the shortened summers and early school-start dates. Florida, which earned $14.3 billion more in tourism revenue than Texas in 1999, is likely taking a greater hit.
In addition, the Texas report said migrant farm workers there were losing out on an additional $27 million in earnings, and cash-strapped school districts were spending as much as $10 million in higher cooling costs.
Legislators in Texas don’t appear to be worried that a later school-start date will bring down student learning or test scores. In 2001, fewer than half of the state’s 24 national Blue Ribbon Schools started school before August 15. One in five started on August 21 or later.
Summary
The evidence clearly shows this particular calendar experiment has failed to prove that it makes a difference in student academics. Teachers are losing out on valuable learning opportunities, which may be hurting their ability to do the best job possible in the classroom. Some students simply aren’t in school in the first days of August, putting them behind the learning curve when they do get into the classroom.
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Editor’s Note: Time to Learn is a non-profit, grass roots coalition of parents, teachers, administrators and businesses concerned about the negative impact the early August school start date and the year-round school calendar have on our children, families and teachers. Time to Learn is dedicated to providing grass roots assistance across the nation to families and teachers who are fighting bloated school calendars and year-round school calendars in their area.
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