Thinking....

I'm thinking today about instructional time, and / or lack thereof....stay with me on this.

When I look at educational systems and structures across countries,and school breaks within those systems and structures, it becomes more and more clear to me why the United States remains consistently behind other countries in terms of graduation rate etc.  

Think about this with me for a moment.  In most states in this country we have roughly three months off in the summer, followed by not even two months of school and then there is another break (MEA etc.) then a few more weeks until Thanksgiving break, then a few more weeks (where teachers tend to not do any heavy instruction) until Christmas and New Year's. So, basically from June- December  student school hours equate to very little in comparison to other countries.  Continue on with me...We continue on in school in January with multiple days off again between January and February between holidays, and conferences, and teacher professional development etc. Then March is spring break, and then we test in April. Then May rolls around and for some reason teachers see from May to June as "light" instruction, because the test is over.

I can say these things, because I have worked now in enough schools, and districts, to notice patterns and patterns of teacher behavior which can often time be that before and after any break in the school year we should offer "lighter" instructional days, because "kids are so excited".

This is a problem....this is a significant problem. We have a mindset in this country that needs to change as it considers the balance between instructional time, and breaks, within a school year. We have to change our mindset around accountability within instruction during instructional time within the school year.  I see this over and over again, and it continues to make more and more sense to me as to why we have on average a  32% graduation rate in this country.

This is a large scale issue...I understand that. We are talking about systemic educational patterns that have been in place for generations.

All I'm saying, is that we have to start to notice this, address it, and change mindset around it in this country, in this state, in our districts, and in our schools...or we will continue to leave kids behind.

I understand this is not an "uplifting"post, but it is a necessary post. A topic for discussion, but more importantly a topic for change.