Thank you, Governor Hogan.
Last week Facebook reminded me that “On This Day” for the past six years I have been waist deep in classroom setup. The pictures from my stream show empty bulletin boards, stacks of bulging boxes, and rows of empty desks in need of repair. The selfies are of an enthusiastic and overwhelmed teacher fresh off summer vacation, cautiously optimistic, not quite willing to relinquish summer, but nevertheless ready to dig in.
In past years when friends in other school districts shared that their children would be starting school after Labor Day, my pat response was, “Oh, how CIVILIZED.” As a parent and teacher, I found the creep of summer start date deep into August a disturbing trend. I would curse the school calendar while I sweat through the first two weeks of school.
This year, thanks to Governor Hogan’s executive order that all schools must start after Labor Day and close no later than June 13th, ON THIS DAY I am lying by my neighborhood pool sipping an iced sweet tea and writing this blog. The heat index is 100 degrees and my colleagues in the neighboring school district are halfway through their second day of school. I don’t have to report back to work until next week. Wishes (and sarcastic comments) do come true.
But I am not sitting easy.
Yesterday I ran into some of my former students. The group of rising sixth grade boys was simmering in the shade by the soccer field outside the community center in the heat of the afternoon. After a round of hugs and high fives I asked, “How’s your summer going? What have you been up to?”
“Nothing,” one boy told me. I pressed him for details. Any trips? Visits from relatives? Camps? “Sometimes I go to work with my mom,” he said. “Mostly I play Xbox.”
A “traditional” post Labor Day start, which I have cheekily referred to as “civilized,” is lovely for families with disposable income for camps and vacations. My own middle class children perhaps benefit from the extra time for trips to the beach, visits with the grandparents, and excursions to museums and historical sites. (Next week, while I get back to work, they will be visiting Williamsburg with my parents. Lucky kids.)
My students, however, are another story.
They have spent the summer either watching their younger siblings while their parents work, or shuffling between relatives and neighbors. Most have been tethered to their screens in search of diversion and companionship. Some have attended summer school and camps through the Department of Parks and Recreation, but those programs ended weeks ago.
The greatest loss for my students from such a lengthy summer break (this year Prince George’s County children will be out of school for 12 weeks) is in their academic achievement. On the state’s 2017 Algebra 1 assessment, for example, White and Asian students outperformed Hispanic and Black students by more than 40 percentage points. On the Maryland PARCC assessment for 10th grade English, Free and Reduced Lunch students scored, on average, at least 12 percentage points below their wealthier peers. (The discrepancy was greatest for white students, who had a 42 percentage point difference). Research shows that this knowledge and skill gap increases over a lengthy summer break, and decreases with instruction time. “Summer Learning Loss” is most severe for low income students.
I teach in a Title 1 school where over 90% of my students come from low income families. Most of them are learning English as a second language. My effectiveness as an educator is measured by how well my third grade students perform on the PARCC assessment in April. The more time I have with them before April, the more I will be able to convey the essential skills and understandings that will be tested. A later school start date means I have less time in the fall for establishing my classroom routines and building culture. During the year I will have less time for field trips and projects. The Governor’s strict calendar requirement also means I will also have less professional development and planning time, and fewer breaks from instruction. It’s going to be a tough year.
School districts across the country, predominantly in southern and western states, start instruction in early August. The rationale goes that teachers will have more time to prepare students for annual assessments, and that instruction after the weather warms up around Memorial Day is not worth the effort. I know that I for one am a more energetic, enthusiastic teacher in August after a lengthy break than I am in June after the weather has warmed up.
If our school doors must be shuttered for 11 weeks every summer in the interest of the tourist trade, what can be done for my low-income, second language learner children who are already so far behind in school? The answer is high-quality, affordable summer programs that get kids outside, expose them to language and culture, and reinforce academic skills. Under the Obama administration the US Department of Education provided funding to states for 21st Century Community Learning Center grants to support such after school and summer enrichment programs.
Unfortunately, President Trump is planning to kill the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, and Governor Hogan proposed cutting $7.5 million of funding for low income children to attend after school and summer programs so he can fund private school vouchers. Extended-learning opportunities for the children who need it most will end.
So thank you, Governor Hogan. I am really going to enjoy these extra few days of summer vacation… Because my job is going to get a lot harder.