<p>A while back my mom found a math textbook from the turn of the century that was aimed at children growing up on farms. I was actually amazed at the level of problems the book required the students to do. I remember a typical question was of the style, “You are deciding to make a new road. It will be X many miles long. It will have Y slope on each side to help rain water wash off. How many cubic feet of dirt must be removed to create the road? If it takes a man Z hours, how many man-days will it take to create the road? If it costs Q dollars per hour to pay for them, how much will it cost? If a dirt road costs $L, a gravel road costs $M, and a paved road costs $N, and each has A, B, and C lifetime, which type of road would be the best choice?” I imagine there are a number of high school graduates nowadays that couldn’t solve such problems!</p>
<p>(There were also good problems on calculating the cost of a loan, calculating inflation based upon the price of various items needed for a Thanksgiving dinner, estimating crop yields, and so on.)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How do we know that the ability of students to retain knowledge after 8 weeks is stronger than after 10 weeks? Is the difference that much?</p></li>
<li><p>Block schedule schools show that students still do well after one semester on the next math class.</p></li>
<li><p>The math curriculum always provides review chapters if necessary.</p></li>
<li><p>The math curriculum does not always require continuation in the topics.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In New York the school year is 183 days with a day or two built in for snow days. For those taking AP exams in May, there is often still six weeks of school following AP exams and the state Regents exams are in mid-June so in our family’s case both my daughter’s took AP Euro in 10th grade and you can only take AP classes with taking the exam factored in. However in NY at the end of 10th grade you take the Global Studies Regents exams so for those taking AP Euro, the parts of the global curriculum not covered in AP are taught in preparation. Those weeks are actually a good time for many creative projects that cannot be “fit in” during the rest of the semester. Kids who have to go to college orientation weekends always have conflicts with end of year and end of high school activities. The year my older d graduated her friend who was the salutatorian was a presidential scholar and had to go to the White House on prom night.Summer camp can start the same day as graduation day in some cases. I always wonder at how parents with kids in school systems that begin in mid-August manage to take older siblings to college at the same time.
I work in educational sales so I have lots of experience in talking to schools nationwide with short calendars, short days, extended holiday breaks and so on.</p>
<p>I remember a few years back that someone (I don’t remember if it was state or federal) wrote about having shorter summers, but more and longer breaks in the year. I think it was 6-8 weeks in school, then two weeks off, repeated in that pattern for the whole year.</p>
<p>This would be a nightmare for child care of course, so that may be one reason it will never be done. But I do think time off between the 6-8 weeks of school could help kids consolidate knowledge and also return refreshed.</p>
<p>I also read awhile back (sorry my sources are so fuzzy) that after summer break, the kids from backgrounds with educated/affluent parents had increased reading scores after a long summer break. However, of course, kids who had less educated/affluent parents had scores go down.</p>
<p>On the face of it, teach and mom has a great idea, but it will probably never work in the land of “equal opportunity.”</p>
<p>Otherwise, parents who want their kids to spend less time in school and spend less time doing meaningless work, and wh can afford it, can always homeschool.</p>
<p>Books with similar problems do still circulate, especially abroad. Unfortunately, mathematical word problems seems to send the typical US student into a frenzy. Perhaps we can blame the ubiquitous calculators for the disappearing aptitude for reasoning and mental math manipulations. And, of course, the relative absence of teachers who understand and can teach such problems in our typical schools.</p>
<p>Not all children attended school at the turn of the century or had much of any type of education. I am certain there has been no decrease in the percent of children that can solve those types of problems. On the other hand, students at the turn of the century were almost never given a calculus class and it is now pretty much standard for college bound students.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>mathematical word problems sent the typical US student (and their parents) into a frenzy way before the calculator was invented or even affordable for students. I think many schools initially embraced it but the pendulum has swung. In CA no state standardized math tests allow the use of a calculator.</p>
<p>BTW–being able to add/subtract/multiply and divide are all algorithms–not much thinking required.</p>
<p>And that is probably a good thing for the student. Even in tests such as the SAT, the use of a calculator can be a distraction. And, come to think about it, that is why ETS does allow them.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Unfortunately, most of our math education is build on using crutches such as calculators as opposed to thinking and reasoning. And, again, that is why so many students struggle with the simple concepts tested on the SAT.</p>
<p>As a Californian parent, I say go ahead and shorten the school year. The last month of school is absolutely worthless in terms of teaching time. I am so tired of listening to my high schoolers come home and tell me what movie they watched in their math or English class. (And this isn’t just the last month of school, it’s the last week before any long break such as Thanksgiving or Christmas.)</p>
<p>Shorten the year, lengthen the school day by 30 minutes, and require that 95% of class time be spent on instruction.</p>
<p>What kind of “crutches”? Are you implying that the SAT math scores are going down? Where are you getting your information about all these kids struggling with the simple concepts tested on the SAT?</p>
<p>My husband is a high school math teacher. A shortened school year would mean a significant pay cut for him. We’re not for it at all.</p>
<p>Crizello: My daughter didn’t experience the “worthless time” before vacations, including summer. Her teachers kept them busy and not with “movies” only. Oh, I’m sure she would have enjoyed it! </p>
<p>If anything, I feel the summers seem shorter than when I was a kid. They’re about 2½ months. We always used to wait until Labor Day for school to begin. Now it’s late August. I think school just start in September. And, they get out in June–this year on the 9th. In the past it’s been closer to mid June.</p>
<p>As far as a source of information, reading a few months of posts in this section of CC might offer a good appraisal of how current students react to the SAT problems.</p>
<p>xiggi-you said so many students struggle with simple concepts tested on the SAT–how do you know that? Information on CC? Give me a break! Read the facts before making arbitrary statements about things without justification. Statistical studies are usually more informative than a high school student forum about their particular experiences.</p>
<p>Why would the last month of school be any different if you shorten the year? If your kids are watching movies now from days 150-180, what would prevent them from being shown movies from days 140-170? And if the fix is as simple as mandating 95% of the time to be spent in instructions, why can’t it be done now?
The next logical step in a school year cut is that all the staff negotiate that there are no salary cuts for working fewer days, and some day in the future when someone decides to up the days, to demand and receive a prorated compensation to get back to status quo.</p>
<p>"Why would the last month of school be any different if you shorten the year? If your kids are watching movies now from days 150-180, what would prevent them from being shown movies from days 140-170? "</p>
<p>Right now star testing is done in April. School gets out in June.<br>
After spending the first 8 months of the year drilling for the test, whatever the kids learn the last two months is not reflected back on the teacher or the school. Some teachers check out at this point. This could be easily fixed by moving the star testing out 'til the end of May.</p>
<p>AP tests are done a month before school is out. Sometimes AP teachers add one more project after AP testing for the final grade. Others just let the kids ride out the year by watching movies.</p>
<p>In our high school, if the teacher is out and there is a sub, it is not unusual for them to either show a movie or do homework in class. My daughters have yet to have a sub attempt to teach a class. That is one of the upsides to getting a less experienced teacher, they have less vacation days saved up, and are more likely to be in class teaching.</p>
<p>This can be easily arranged. Currently tearchers have at least one week for professional development days in my school area (kids stay home the entire week). There are also other professional development days throughout the year, especially on Fridays for Mondays when there are long weekends for holidays. Schools can move these professional days to the end of the year and let the teachers teach during the years. I heard some AP teachers complained that they did not have enough time to finish the curriculum by the end of April and some of them held review sessions on the weekends. The school calendars are more beneficial to school district administrators than to teachers and students.</p>
<p>Correction: “Currently tearchers have at least one week for professional development days in my school area (kids stay home the entire week).”</p>
<p>Please read as “Currently schools in my area have at least one week for disctrict recess, winter break,… (teachers and kids stay home the entire week).”</p>
<p>Oh, thank you for the kind suggestion. Obviously, I need to learn a whole lot more about the SAT. Happen to have a link to a specific study which with I should start?</p>
<p>Do you think I should pay closer attention to the nonequivalent groups anchor test or the equivalent groups? I find the conclusions of Braun and Holland a tad confusing, especially when compared to Kolen’s & Brennan’s. Could you help me with approaching the root expected square differences and aggregated bias correctly?</p>
</p>