Extended knowledge

Students will go to school four extra days this year, a move experts say will help students retain more of what they're learning and limit the need for remedial work.

By LOGAN D. MABE

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 4, 2000

In a county that still has an established day for kids to get out of school for the Strawberry Festival, district officials are moving forward with a plan to lengthen the school year beyond the traditional "agrarian calendar."

Since the time of the one-room school house, the school calendar has always been about 180 days long, with an extended summer vacation. That meant farm families had every hand in the fields when they needed them most.

But in today's suburban society, where landscape crews are the closest thing you'll find to a farmer, the shift is toward a longer school year.

This year, students will have four more days of school because Hillsborough school district officials found the money to extend the calendar to 184 days. And Hillsborough schools will be getting a jump on all other Tampa Bay area schools.

Classes begin in Hillsborough on Aug. 9, a day before Polk County public schools and five days before Pasco County, which gets going Aug. 14. Across the bay in Pinellas County, public school doesn't begin until Aug. 23. Private schools start at various times: Tampa Catholic opens Aug. 14; Hillel School of Tampa starts Aug. 21 and Berkley Prep begins Aug. 28.

"Our district is looking at the value of the longer school year for all students," said Deputy Superintendent for Instructional Support Jim Hamilton. "So that all students will benefit from the basic perspective that we're going to do it right the first time."

The district was able to fund the additional teaching days by using money formerly earmarked for summer school, remediation programs and dropout prevention, Hamilton said.

"The state provided us with the flexibility for those dollars, and now we're finding different and better ways to ensure the highest possible academic achievement for every student," Hamilton said. "We want to build floors under every student and remove ceilings for students who want to accelerate their achievement."

Many other industrialized nations throughout the world have long since abandoned the 180-day agrarian calendar for a much more rigorous one. "Many other countries go 210, 220 even up to 250 days," said Joe Trumbach, director of administration. "The more repetition you have, the better you get."

Hamilton said the longer school year is designed to help students retain more of what they're learning, thereby limiting the need for remedial work. And the extra four days of instruction, Trumbach said, will help kids learn more.

"If you happen to be a person that participates in any type of sport -- golf, say -- well, if you practice four more days at it, you're going to get better," Trumbach said. "It's just more time in the academic areas to improve."

Even though the district emphasizes a policy of teaching all day, every day, certain days of the year are simply a wash at certain levels. The first and last days of the year, and those days before and after vacation breaks are typically tough times to maintain focus on a lesson.

Still, some school administrators are wary of how the increased work load will affect their teachers.

"I think any extra instructional time will help the students," said Faye Pages, principal of Lake Magdalene Elementary. "But my concern is that teachers last year were exhausted. And I think when you add days, there's less recouping time. I don't think the general public realizes how hard teachers work and how much work they put in after hours."

But Jennifer Kori, principal at Schwartzkopf Elementary, said the added days will likely lighten the load.

"Oh, I think the teachers will appreciate having a little extra built-in time getting ready," Kori said. "I think they'll be receptive to them."

- To reach Logan D. Mabe, call 226-3464 or e-mail him at mabe@sptimes.com.

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