Education reform seems to be a popular subject these days, sharing the news spotlight with the likes of elections in Iraq, trouble in Greece and the ongoing health care debacle in Washington. Today the Wall Street Journal published an article about a possible growing trend to move to a 4 day school week as a means to stretch the shrinking budgets of some states.
According to Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal:
“A small but growing number of school districts across the country are moving to a four-day week, in a shift they hope will help close gaping budget holes and stave off teacher layoffs, but that critics fear could hurt students’ education….
Some schools, meanwhile, say they are turning to the four-day schedule as a last resort. In North Branch, Minn., school Superintendent Deb Henton said her 3,500-student district, facing a $1.3 million deficit, is simply out of options.”
The US education system is now becoming a harbinger for many other infrastructure systems in the country. We are spending billions annually educating kids in public schools. Yet a large percentage of these kids are performing well below their respective grade level. And this is occurring in an environment where many states have already lowered their education standards.
As a country it seems that we are waking up to the failure of education at the same time that we are facing an uncertain and perilous financial future. Although the Obama administration has taken on the challenge of upgrading education, they are also struggling to find ways to upgrade a massive health care system, regulate financial markets that have nearly collapsed, ensure that we are not attacked by a growing horde of enemies, negotiate with a congress that is out of control and appease foreign bankers that are buying more and more influence in the United States.
The data from most states tell the story of a public education system that is producing too many children that will simply not be competitive in the global market where technology rules, math is an essential skill and a lifelong ability to acquire new knowledge will be the requirement. In 2006, around 400,000 15 year old students from around the world were randomly selected to participate in a global test in 57 countries. This test, administered by the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is used to gauge the preparedness of students globally.
The United States ranked 25th of the 30 OECD countries in math, behind Canada, Korea, Australia, Japan, Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom, Poland, Germany, France and Spain, to name a few. Our 15 year olds dropped in their relative world standing yet again. At the same time that emerging markets are investing in education as a means to ensure their global future, our states are cutting the school week because they cannot find the funds to pay for custodial and cafeteria support for an additional day.
A large part of the success of charter schools that serve inner city lower income communities can be attributed to the extended school day. Teachers in one charter school in Boston have the luxury of 2 distinct hours to teach math to children from neighborhoods where the norm is under achievement. These schools are finding that the extended day provides them more time to engage students, and it provides students with a safe, academically focused alternative to their homes or the streets. The results – higher scores on standardized tests in math.
As towns and cities struggle to manage budgets in this era of excessive government waste, they are finding that the large allocation, normally set aside to ensure the progress of our future generations can be tapped to pay for today’s spending. The sacrifice we are making today will be felt for generations as our ability to compete globally slips away and our ability to fund a future for the aging baby boomers is as uncertain as our ability to provide for generations of future workers that are facing declining wages. As the rest of the world advances in the race to global competitiveness we are stuck on the sidelines trying to balance budgets that are forecasting deficits for years to come. The surplus money that we had for a short time has been spent on two wars, tax cuts, and government spending encouraged by well connected lobbiest. What we are left with is deficits, in our national budget and in the education and skills of future generations of Americans.
TV News Story on Districts Near Atlanta , All Things Consider Discussion (March 9, 2010) , South Dakota Joins in as well
I agree with this and find it to be very timely given what is happening in these districts.