There's an interesting article in the current Newsweek which discusses the idea of lengthening school days to make them standard across the country. It cites this interesting discrepancy:
Students attending a public school in urban Chicago go for 5 hours and 45 minutes daily, while the New York City school day is 65 minutes longer. Now, factor in that New York City kids attend school 12 more days than their Windy City counterparts. Add it up, and it's clear the New York kids have gained a distinct advantage—eight more weeks of instruction time a year.
It got these numbers from a new database created by something called the National Council on Teacher Quality which sounds like a right-wing group attempting to abolish the US Department of Education but is a Gates Foundation-funded watchdog group.
If you're interested in how much class time the kids in the 50 largest school districts in the country actually put in, or in a whole lot of other information about those districts, it's an interesting thing to prowl around. You can generate your own reports by district, including all or any of the questions the Council asked while perusing teachers' bargaining agreements.
As I recall, my high school class day in Fairfax County, Va. began at about 8:10 every morning with homeroom and ended at 3:22 in the afternoon. Anyone else remember their school hours?
Posted by Linkmeister at January 17, 2007 04:06 PM | TrackBackAs I recall, in the prairies of Minnesota, the first bell rang at 7:20 and the day ended at 2:15.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at January 17, 2007 07:11 PMMy own school hours in Quebec City were pretty close to yours (*), Linkmeister, but that was more than 30 years ago. No idea what they're up to these days in that faraway land.
(*) And 4pm was cartoon hour. Then supper. Then homework. Then free time.
Posted by: Serge at January 18, 2007 01:17 AMThe Catholic prep school I went to went from 8:30 to 2:45. The commute was about an hour each way.
Posted by: DXMachina at January 19, 2007 10:20 AMwell, way back in the '60s and way back yonder in Ohio I believe I remember that our hours at the Catholic high school were close to Curmudgeon's. All I remember is that I had to be at the public bus stop by 6:15 in order to ride from the near west side of town to the far west side of town in order to walk another 4 blocks or so in order to make first bell.
and, yes, I tell my girls and grandkids that I walked both ways uphill through feet of snow. ;-)
>..
Posted by: barbara at January 21, 2007 06:41 AM