Corporate-style reformers believe that children will learn more and get higher test scores if they spend hours more in school preparing for the tests. They probably think that retail clerks will sell more if they have a 9-hour shift.
But a newcomer to EduShyster’s burgeoning staff explains what happens when the extra time is added.
It is not what the Boston Globe thinks.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I used to think a longer school day and school year made sense. Not anymore.
Why don’t schools do music and art in the afternoon. Makes sense.
To whom? The music and art teachers? Are you insinuating that students do not need to focus or even think in music and art class? Sure hope not.
Relax. Every time someone suggests somthing some teachers think it is an attack on them. Music and Art are interesting courses and able to hold attention. Students can move more in these classes. My students always looked forward to art and music.
Sure they move in music, but not the entire class time. They still need to be able to process instructions which requires focus and self-control. I doubt they move much in art beyond fine motor.
I apologize if it appeared that your words were construed as an attack. We are indeed all on the same team here. However, I felt that your comment was based on an assumption that music and art classes do not require students to have full-capacity alertness, so why not schedule these classes at the end of an intense day?
Now I would argue that children are often tired at the end of the day, whether mentally nor physically. I can also give you countless instances throughout the day where children are unfocused because they need unstructured downtime in between intense focus sessions. Music and art should never be considered downtime. Related arts teachers are not playtime supervisors. They are credentialed specialists with degrees in their respective disciplines–some even advanced degrees. The fact that your students looked forward to these classes is a testament to the expertise of your related arts colleagues.
My friend’s 6 yr old son was suspended 2X from a charter school (so far) & no surprise, it was at 3:30PM after having been in school since 7 AM & the school day still wasn’t over. He will not be attending that charter school after the Christmas break.
Sad part of the story is that this charter school is opening additional charter schools & displacing traditional school students.
The good news is as I said, the scholar’s parents have removed their child from the charter school. The school blatantly lied to the mother on several occasions. Who needs that? This charter school LLC is a sham.
I can’t even imagine trying to keep little ones focused for that long. My second-graders can hold it together until lunch and recess. After that, their behavior and ability to attend declines dramatically.
High schoolers too. That last class of the day is always a caged death match!
Middle schoolers too.
“The teachers at my charter work 10 and 12 hours a day and often on the weekend to keep up with the incredible demands placed on them by the administration. Every year dozens of them quit or get fired. Very few of us last long enough to become expert veteran teachers. Teachers are afraid and paranoid. No one feels safe. Just like Walmart workers, they need the security that unions provide. Maybe that would raise the school’s low test scores.”
As I was reading this passage, I started to think about myself and own colleagues. We are working 10-12 hour days and weekends (I stayed after my day was over yesterday for 3.5 hours and still brought work home for the winter break). Every day this week, I’ve put in 3-4 additional hours outside of the contracted day. My colleagues work through lunches to meet the demands of the core curriculum. Some of them pick up their own children from school or daycare and come back to work in their classrooms with children in tow. We are union members, but we still feel like the state is breathing down our necks. I cannot imagine what it would be like to NOT have a bargaining unit ironing out the details of your contract. If work agreements are left to management only, the worker always loses, and when those workers are teachers, the students lose as well. Too many teachers are leaving the profession, and the ones who stay are overworked and stressed out.
I think we teachers do ourselves a disservice by doing so much outside of our contractual hours. We keep giving the impression that every new adminstrative fiat is doable. I am learning to prioritize my work load: what benefits my students always comes first. The administrivia sometimes waits. I am learning to be comfortable saying to my principal that the test scores weren’t in on a certain day because I had recess duty and no prep period. Over the course of my career (28 years), planning time has decreased while paperwork has increased. I still work long days, but I am not as crazed and exhausted as I was before.
“I think we teachers do ourselves a disservice by doing so much outside of our contractual hours.” I totally agree. However, most of my extra planning time is spent preparing materials and resources so that the needs of multiple learners are met. I don’t really have enough time in the contracted day to do much more than monitor and update records.
As a related arts teacher, I strive to do what it takes to tailor instruction to my students as individuals to the best of my ability. There are 535 of them, but I am constantly monitoring their skills. Obviously I cannot keep detailed notes on every single one every single day. As well, I’m constantly keeping notes on the lessons as well as taking data on each class. There is an enormous need to keep notes en masse.
With a demand for data as “proof-of-learning,” record-keeping has become nearly impossible to manage without putting in countless hours of unpaid overtime. Couple the data-driven nature of assessment with the barrage of new training and experiential learning that comes with the technology initiative, and who has time to have a life outside of this job? I could simply follow the teacher’s manual and make predictable and boring assessments, but I feel my students would learn more if I went beyond the mundane.
I’ve taught my last unit three times already, but yesterday, I took time to re-organize and reflect on what worked the best this time around. It was my gift to me for next year, but it proves that post-planning, while helpful for future success, is very time-consuming.
Unfortunately this teacher’s blog presents just one version of extended school day and year, and the comment about the goal of extended school day simply being for test prep also presents just one possible use of time. In reality, 2:30 is an arbitrary cutoff time for school. Why not end at 1:30? 2:30 is not a magical number, and with any teachers highlighting the lack of time available, I wonder if 30 minutes of additional time wouldn’t be helpful?