literally taking a step backward
I feel better about the future of “literally” now that I know the U.S. Secretary of Education is on the case.
Oh wait…
As students head back to class across the United States, educators are weighing the benefits of a longer school year, which has been tried in several districts with mixed results.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan visits Paul Revere Elementary in San Francisco, California, on May 22.
Barcroft Elementary School in Arlington County, Virginia, has had a year-round schedule since 2003. Although students have not seen an increase in test scores, Principal Miriam Hughey-Guy believes it is the right program because it cuts summer learning loss.
When the students come back in August, there is less assessment time, according to Hughey-Guy.
“They just left us so we can pick up the ball and run with it,” she said.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is pushing for the idea.
“I think our school day is too short. I think our school week is too short. I think our school year is too short,” Duncan said. “I want our children to be able to compete with the best in India and China. And simply put, in other countries they are spending more time in school than we do here. And I think that hurts our children.”
Summer learning loss is one of Duncan’s major arguments for reworking the standard school year.
Children, he said, “get to a certain point academically in June and over the summer, they lose that.”
By September, he said, “it’s literally taking a step backward.”
Despite push, year-round schools get mixed grades
