AROUND THE U.S. - Chicago Education

"Don’t go overboard on longer school day" Editorial, Chicago Sun-Times 10/31/2011

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is determined to extend Chicago’s ridiculously short public school day.

He’s absolutely right. At 5 hours and 45 minutes, the elementary school day is one of the shortest in Illinois and lags behind the national average of 6.6 hours.

Given a student population that is 86 percent low-income and behind academically, it is shameful how long Chicago has carried on with a diminished schedule. Emanuel has gone after the longer-day prize in his signature, take-no-prisoners way. And given the forces he’s up against, we don’t blame him. But in his zeal — in his win-at-all-costs campaign — Emanuel and his schools team risk making some serious mistakes.

A main concern: their unyielding stance on just how long the day should be extended.

Emanuel and Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard are fixated on lengthening the elementary school day by nearly two hours — to 7½ hours. Embedded in those extra 105 minutes are 90 more classroom minutes and also time for recess, a rarity now.

This would give Chicago the longest elementary school day in Illinois, according to figures from the State Board of Education.

CPS argues that 105 minutes would put Chicago on par with the nation’s 10 largest cities, which is the only rationale they give for choosing that amount. While the instructional day in Chicago (which excludes recess and lunch) is undoubtedly shorter than in other cities, we aren’t convinced Chicago is as far behind as CPS contends. No independent analysis exists.

Given how far behind Chicago students are, it seems counter-intuitive to argue against the longest day possible. But there are valid arguments for adding something less than 105 minutes. Were CPS to reduce that by 60 or even 30 minutes, it might actually produce better results. Nevertheless, Emanuel and top CPS officials are unwilling to entertain anything but their plan. They owe it to students, parents and teachers to listen to their concerns:

† CPS has pledged to fill part of the longer day with the enrichment many schools crave, such as physical education, art and music. Given CPS’ massive budget problems, we doubt there will be enough money to fill all the extra time productively. Burned out teachers and first-graders at schools that now spend more than two hours on drill-and-kill reading instruction would not likely benefit from an additional hour of reading. The ongoing budget woes are also an argument for restricting the longest day — and the extra resources that should go with it — to schools where students are farthest behind.

† To make its schedule work, CPS wants teachers to show up just 10 minutes before school begins, down from 30 minutes now. It’s hard to see how 10 minutes is enough to prep for the day. On a related note, CPS wants teachers to work longer but is not expected to pay them much more. If CPS demands too much, it risks making an already tough job that much more unappealing to the good teachers it desperately needs.

† A survey of more than 1,200 parents found 68 percent want a longer day — but 83 percent don’t want 7½ hours. The majority, 71 percent, want a 6½- or 7-hour day, according the survey by Raise Your Hand, a parents group.

There’s broad support for a longer day. But if it’s too long, CPS could easily find itself with a lot of unproductive or even counter-productive time on its hands.