[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 30, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    LONGER SCHOOL YEAR SHOWS PROMISE IN BOOSTING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, on October 20, President Clinton 
signed into law the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act [ESEA], which revised and extended many important Federal 
education programs. The bill was the final education bill passed by the 
103d Congress. Some observers have dubbed this Congress the ``Education 
Congress'' because of its success in passing a series of landmark 
pieces of education legislation including, in addition to ESEA, the 
establishment of the Federal Direct Student Loan Program, the Goals 
2000: Educate America Act, and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. 
While there is much more we need to do in order to ensure that all 
students have the opportunity to learn and that our Nation continues to 
advance its productivity, the work we have done here provides a roadmap 
for where we ought to be going.
  Included in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was an 
amendment I sponsored that would support the efforts of schools wishing 
to lengthen their school year to at least 210 days. The measure did not 
receive as much attention as other parts of the bill. And the money 
authorized, $72 million, is a relatively small amount in a nation of 45 
million elementary and high school students. But it is enough to get 
school boards and school administrators talking about the issue and to 
provide those who wish to lead on this the incentive to proceed. I 
believe that the few who do lead on this will see their students do 
better and that they will soon be followed by many others who recognize 
the improvement such a change can bring.
  In Japan, students go to school 243 days a year, in Germany, 240. In 
the United States, students attend school only 180 days per year. This 
is below the number for most other industrialized countries. Can we 
learn as much in 180 days as they can in 240 or 243? Obviously not.
  Our current schedule is a holdover from the days when students needed 
to leave school and go out and harvest the crops. Yet even in small-
town America where I live, this no longer is true for most young 
people. Our world has changed, and so our educational system must 
change with it. Increasing attendance to 210 days, still below Germany 
and Japan, would add 2 full years of schooling by the 12th grade. If we 
want our students to compete with those of the rest of the world, we 
must make sure that they are adequately prepared.
  A recent article in the Baltimore Sun reports on a school in North 
Carolina which has lengthened its school year. The early results are 
encouraging. I ask that the article be printed in the Congressional 
Record.
  The article follows:

                [From the Baltimore Sun, Oct. 11, 1994]

                        A Study of Longer Terms

                           (By Mary Maushard)

       If Old Court Middle School adopts its plan for a longer 
     school year for all students, it will join a select group of 
     schools in this country.
       Some private school students go to school more than 180 
     days. Some public and private schools offer voluntary 
     extended-year programs. Other public schools, such as two in 
     New Orleans, have tried longer years, been pleased with the 
     results, but have had to give them up because of the added 
     expense.
       Year-round schools are becoming more prevalent, but these 
     schools usually just configure the 180 days differently to 
     ease overcrowding and reduce learning loss by having shorter 
     vacations.
       American schools have been steadfast in clinging to a nine-
     month school year, despite calls for reform and warnings that 
     students here are falling further and further behind their 
     Japanese and European peers who spend more days--and hours 
     each day--in classrooms.
       There is evidence that the idea is getting a hearing. A 
     little-noticed provision in an education bill enacted by 
     Congress last week includes $72 million for school districts 
     who keep students in class for 210 days.
       ``The few who will lead on this, and see their students do 
     better on the average than other American students, will soon 
     be followed,'' said Sen. Paul Simon, an Illinois Democrat who 
     backed the proposal.
       Educators, in fact, debate whether more is better when it 
     comes to time in school. Many say just using the time they 
     have efficiently would help students.
       At least one public school, the Brooks Global Studies 
     Magnet School in Greensboro, N.C., is committed to more time 
     as a way to improve education.
       The Brooks school operates 210 days a year, 30 days longer 
     than any other school in the Guilford County School District. 
     And 300 youngsters are on a waiting list for the 4-year-old 
     elementary school, which has nearly 400 students this year.
       ``Time within itself is not necessarily good, unless it's 
     used effectively,'' said Tony Meachum, Brooks' principal. 
     ``With 30 extra days, they can go into various topics in more 
     detail. We're trying to teach our children to be problem-
     solvers, to think on their feet,'' he added.
       The Brooks school ended last year on June 29. It started 
     this school year July 21, said Mr. Meachum. The students had 
     three weeks off; the teachers, two. Many of the Brooks 
     students have never known any other schedule. They started 
     there in kindergarten and don't expect the traditional summer 
     off. Instead, they have a long weekend almost every month; a 
     normal holiday break and a relatively long spring break, said 
     Laura Colston-Brooks, whose two children attend the school.
       ``We're really happy with it,'' said Ms. Colston-Brooks. 
     ``The teachers really work hard to make things interesting. 
     This is a special, special school,'' said the PTA co-
     president.
       Because it's a magnet program, students and families knew 
     when they applied that they would be buying into a longer 
     school year, making it different from the proposed longer 
     year at Old Court. The first year, Brooks had only 80 
     students.
       The Brooks students are showing more progress than 
     youngsters of similar backgrounds and abilities who are in 
     traditional-year magnet schools, said a researcher following 
     some Brooks students since the school opened in the fall of 
     1991.
       ``Extended year kids make twice as much progress as 
     traditional-year kids in reading and math,'' said Julie A. 
     Frazier, a doctoral student in developmental psychology at 
     Loyola University of Chicago. These results came after a year 
     of additional days.
       Ms. Frazier's study is showing even more differences 
     between the two groups in general knowledge, she said. ``It 
     is possible that the extended-year teachers [knowing more 
     time was available for instruction] may simply have engaged 
     their students in more in-depth lessons, which, in turn, may 
     have contributed to the development of a higher level of 
     general knowledge,'' she wrote in a summary of the study to-
     date.
       Ms. Fazier said the greater implications of an extended 
     year is the cumulative effect on students who attend Brooks 
     throughout elementary school.
       Even with this success, Mr. Meachum sees a few 
     disadvantages to the extended year. It's more expensive, 
     costing about $500,000 more to operate per year than a 10-
     month school, he said. He also has concerns about teacher 
     burnout, about animosity from other schools that think they 
     are being shortchanged and about some real administrative 
     problems, such as hiring staff and ordering materials with 
     only three weeks between school years.

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