Think Differently

Let’s go crazy! Let’s get nuts! -Prince

What if the only mandatory testing of children happened twice a year and was a confidential physical and mental wellness assessment and schools were accountable for the collective results of the student body?

What if school was in session June, July and August but was off December, January and February?

What if the last part of every school year when seniors were no longer in school, the rest of the district student body moved up to the next grade level for the remaining time of the school year?

Personally, I would love to do each of these in a pilot situation to see results. I know, because of the radical nature of each of these thoughts, it is highly unlikely that these would be implemented. But what these ideas offer is a conversation starter on why we do what we do in schools.  

Putting ideas out there that seem far fetched and impossible, may lead to alternative ways of looking at the problem and possibly implementing some if not all of the radical ideas as long as they are educationally sound and will not harm children. Let’s look at these three examples of how and why this discussion will be valuable.

What if the only mandatory testing of children happened twice a year and was a confidential physical and mental wellness assessment and schools were accountable for the collective results of the student body?

There has been a great deal of debate about high stakes testing. Depending on what camp you are in on this debate you can understand the need to hold schools accountable for the growth and development of students. On the other hand, there is a deep concern about what this testing is doing to students and to teachers physically and mentally. I believe the role of public education is to make students ready for whatever is thrown at them throughout their lives. Basic skills, deep thinking, the ability to communicate effectively are a few of the most important. I know there are more but let’s start here.  

States test in the areas of reading, writing, math and in some cases, science and social studies. So over the years, schools have focused the curriculum around these areas. The result is a weakening of the other subjects like physical education, health, the arts, etc. by committing more resources and focus on the tested areas. Looking at the big picture, in America there is a major concern with childhood obesity, mental health, wellness, substance abuse, cardiac disease, diabetes, nutrition and the list goes on and on. Yet, students have been reduced to a minimal amount of physical activity during the school day to insure that they get the needed seat time for math and English. Research even shows that physical activity increases student performance in the classroom. Educators are great at knowing the research and also ignoring the research. 

To address this issue, I think students should enter a grade level and be given a free in depth physical, a screening session with a mental health professional. The results are shared with the student and their parents/guardians. Recommendations and goals are made for students and those recommendations for physical activity, nutrition and wellness plans are shared with the schools to develop a plan to address the needs of the students. The actual results of the screenings are not shared due to privacy concerns but a plan is shared. The schools will monitor progress throughout the year. At the end of the school year students will again be given a complete physical and mental screening. To see if the goals of the plan were obtained. Schools will be given the results to see if they accomplished what they were tasked to do.

Of course there are concerns that schools cannot control what happens once students leave the building. Parents will have a major role in this progress. The school will need to show the work done for each student throughout the year and memorialize the process. It is a lot of work but worth the effort.  

So the outcome, if done well and with fidelity, is a school full of healthy, balanced and active students that understand the importance of health and well being. If every school does this with the same energy and time we currently put into high stakes testing, I believe that we will begin to reduce the strain on our current healthcare system. I believe that this will change how schools are viewed. It will put the focus on the whole child which is what is needed to really impact students.  

Let’s take another step, what if parents also were screened and there were classes scheduled to address the needs of the parents and the students together? What if teachers, administrators, bus drivers, aides, and other school personnel were required to do the same thing? What if it were a collective effort of the entire community to improve the health and wellness every year? DISCUSS!

What if school was in session June, July and August but was off December, January and February?

This is geared to cold winter areas. It is not unusual for areas of the country to have varying schedules due to local needs. I tried to visit a school in Idaho once only to find that they were closed for 2 weeks for the potato harvest. I believe that students and teachers need time away and I know that the “summer slide” is especially true for the lowest 20% of the student body. I have been in a district that ran a year round schooling schedule and students were and one of four tracks that started and ended at various times. Each track was a 45 days on 15 days off rotation. One track was always off while the other three were in session. They did this because the buildings could not hold all the students at one time. Try to propose a year round schedule to a community that has only knows that traditional schedule. It would be a major fight. But what if you moved it to the December, January, February time frame instead. There would be a great deal of push back with this also. But I for one if money allows would love to vacation somewhere warm in the winter and not necessarily visit those locations in the heat of the summer.  

More practically, snow days would no longer be an issue. Winter jobs such as snow shoveling replace summer jobs for students. With shorter days is seems more likely to stay home as much as possible and interact with friends and family in a home not out and about the town. The Thanksgiving break is the start of the three month vacation. There is no longer a concern about students missing at various times through the Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza time frame. January can be a miserable weather month and February is short and also has great potential to be nasty outside. The safety of our students is a major concern because there are always days in the winter where a bus trip gets dangerous because of the timing of the snowstorm rolling through.

Along with Memorial Day, there would be an extended break around July 4th. The summer months of school will still allow for other activities. The sun stays up longer so when a student gets out of school at 3pm there is still 4-6 hours of light to still enjoy. Or a school could run early summer hours like many businesses and get them out at 2 instead. There are many many positives to this idea.  

What about colleges? They do not operate in this manner and the schedules will make it impossible to line up. Seniors in high school leave the building at Memorial Day break. They get some time off and then report to school when scheduled. DISCUSS!

OR

What if the last part of every school year when seniors were no longer in school, the rest of the district student body moved up to the next grade level for the remaining time of the school year?

I believe that this is most doable.  

Seniors are usually given a shorter calendar in most districts. How long, varies from district to district. Some let the seniors go 2 weeks prior to everyone else. I have heard of a district that gives seniors the last month of school off. Whatever that time frame is for the district, I think that when the seniors leave, the remaining students move into next year’s schedule and classroom.  

In Ohio the mandatory state assessments happen in April. That gives teachers the entire month of May to cover whatever is needed to complete their curriculum. Many use this time to prepare for the next step with the students or recover items that students struggled with during the year. Often, students feel like the year is over and the focus is gone. But with this idea, seniors leave and the juniors are given their senior schedule. They will begin their senior year the last 2 weeks of the school year. This is the case for every grade level. So kindergarten teachers will not have a class. This will allow to kindergarten round up and screenings to happen for the incoming class of students.  

There will be issues with students that are planning on going to private schools or moving before the next school year starts. Just as there will be people that move into a district over the summer. This is actually a good thing. It could give a student the preview needed to maintain their attendance at the school if they thought about leaving. And the new students to the district can get help from the current students because they have already spent 2 weeks in the schedule. There will be issues with teachers retiring or leaving but they are still there and can at least begin to share the content focus of the course. Another limitation to consider is the development of the schedule. Changes in schedules happen all the time. The time frame has just been moved up and even if it is messed up you then have the summer to fix the issues.

On the positive side, it is a two week orientation to the new setting, and that matters. Pre-assessments to determine the needs of students can be done at this time. A teacher could give a 10 day complete overview of the curricular content to determine over the summer how they will need approach and plan for the students needs. Now picture the first day of school. The majority of students know their teachers, they may or may not remember their locker combination, but they do have a general sense of the process of the new year. Teachers are prepared with plans to address the students they met and observed and assessed prior to leaving for the summer. Summer reading assignments were discussed and guided by the teachers prior to the reading with clear expectations. New students walk into a structured setting focused on learning on day one, not a setting of reviewing rules and procedures over and over again. There should be reminders but not as in depth as before. DISCUSS

Again, I feel this is the most possible of the three ideas thrown out to you. But the purpose is not to necessarily implement these ideas but to begin to really think of how we operate and why we do what we do. Is the practice best for learning? Is the practice meant to improve students? Can we do this logistically? I would love to have you share some of your thoughts and reasoning and details on how it works. I hope you are now thinking about your profession in a different way. So why do we really test? What is the purpose of testing? How important is PE and why are we reducing it if is best for students? Why do we need the summer off? What does the rest of the non-educational world do for breaks? Why are seniors dismissed early? What is the importance of the last two weeks of school? Look at what you do and why you do it.

Education is the solution to every problem both present and future. So use you “crazy” ideas on how to get our politicians to prioritize education like they never have before. Our students are the answer.