WSJ: 'Back to School' Comes Earlier

[question everything]

'Back to School' Comes Earlier

Backlash Grows as Some Districts Start Classes
As Soon as Next Week; More Time for Test Prep

By ANNE MARIE CHAKER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
August 3, 2005; Page D1

(snip)

In all, about three-fourths of the nation's public schools now start before Sept. 1. That's up from about 50% that started that early in the late 1980s, according to a survey by Market Data Retrieval, an education research firm.

The trend is sparking a backlash, as parents complain that August start dates conflict with such things as family reunions and camp schedules and rob children of the chance to enjoy the last lazy days of summer. Parent groups with names like "Georgians Need Summers," along with tourism interests who say the trend cuts into end-of-summer travel business, have been lobbying for legislation limiting how early the school year can start. In Minnesota, a bill to require schools to start after Labor Day was signed into law last month and will take effect next school year.

(snip)

The stakes are high: Under President Bush's No Child Left Behind law, schools could face a range of possible sanctions, including school restructuring and faculty job loss, if students don't meet test thresholds. "Performance on these tests literally have people losing jobs, and teachers are using these scores when they decide to hold kids back," says Jim Foster, spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Education in Columbia, S.C.

While state-mandated instructional days have generally stayed stable at around 180 days, school officials note that earlier starts also shift the academic calendar so that the fall semester ends at winter break. Thus students are able to take midterm exams before the holidays while the material is still fresh, and don't have to cram for exams that would otherwise be given the week they get back.

(snip)


Write to Anne Marie Chaker at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112303039173303320,00.html (subscription, unless someone can find the public URL)

[SCDem]

1. Just had a conversation about this

this past weekend. I did not know that 3/4 of all schools now started earlier. I thought it was an anomoly in SC but apparently not.

[question everything]

3. SC

From the article:

And classes in South Carolina have been progressively starting earlier over the past decade. This year, the vast majority of the state's 85 districts are starting by Aug. 15. That is compared with only two districts that started by then 10 years earlier.

Also

In South Carolina, one beach-house and condominium-rental agency says that its August business from South Carolina tourists is half what it is in July. "Whatever we're doing in August, we'd probably double that if schools in South Carolina had a uniform start date" in September, says Rod Swaim, a partner in Dunes Realty Inc., Garden City Beach, S.C.

Not in NC, though:

Last year, North Carolina passed a bill that requires public schools to open no sooner than Aug. 25 and close no later than June 10, with few exceptions.

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What is amazing to me is that, at least in Florida, September can still be so hot and humid, how can one expect kids to be able to concentrate on their studies?

More amazing, the WSJ has a "question of the day" and most, so far, think that summer vacation is too long. I say - let's kid be kid. They will have the rest of their lives to work for a living with barely a week, perhaps two vacation. Let then enjoy the long lazy days of summer.

I remember in the 80 there was "theory Z," I think, where the Japanese workers were supposed to have been the example of hard working to boost the economy. Then the Japanese economy tanked and no one is talking about that any more.

[SCDem]

5. Most SC schools start August 11th

That is just crazy to me.

Growing up it was always the day/week after Labor Day. Kids are out of school at the end of the summer even before Universities are. I just think it is fueling the learn simply for the test mentality. Start in August so that kids don't have to remember stuff over the winter break - God forbid they remember what they learn in school!!

[AlCzervik]

2. My daughter goes back august 17th, thats actually a week earlier then last

year.

[bballny]

4. schools in Ga

ar=tart this comin Mon. Aug. 8. This keeps going back.

[HockeyMom]

6. New York starts after Labor Day

but doesn't end until the 3rd or 4th week of June (depending on the grade).

I often wonder if heat and A/C plays a part in this since most of our classrooms are not air conditioned. Get a few days with 90+ temps and it can get very brutal w/o A/C (or fans).