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June 17, 2011

Thanks to Common Core, students to get extra day of summer

by Philissa Cramer, at 1:13 pm

Classes will start a day later than planned in September so that teachers have more time to plan how to bring new curriculum standards into their classrooms.

The city’s school schedule had teachers reporting for duty Sept. 6, the day after Labor Day, and students were scheduled to arrive the following morning. Now, students will stay home an extra day while their teachers undergo training in the “common core” curriculum standards being rolled out citywide. The first day of school for students will be Thursday, Sept. 8.

The surprise one-day extension of summer break is the result of an agreement among the city, teachers union, and principals union. Chancellor Dennis Walcott, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, and principals union president Ernest Logan are sending a letter to families today explaining the change.

“While in many classrooms this work is already underway, next year teachers will challenge all of our students to think critically, to read and understand more difficult texts, to do more writing, and to apply the math they are learning in the real world,” the letter reads. “We have heard again and again from principals and teachers that they need more time to plan for this important new instructional work.”

The agreement to change the schedule at a time when the city and teachers union are feuding on several fronts, including over school closures and planned layoffs, signals that there is, as Walcott has said, “energy” behind the new standards. The city also slimmed the first week of school down to two days a year after fighting mightily — but failing — to delay the first day of school last September because the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah the previous week meant the first week of the year had only a single day.

Students won’t have to make up the day because the 2011-2012 school year was scheduled to have 183 days, three more than the state requires, according to Barbara Morgan, a Department of Education spokeswoman. Now it will have 182, the same as this year.

The full letter to parents is below.

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  • Anonymous

    It’s embarrassing that teachers come back to work only two days before the students.  They need far more time to work together to plan curriculum and instruction, analyze their students’ needs, and participate in training and staff development.  They should be working collaboratively for at least two weeks before student arrive (four would be ideal).  Teachers need to start acting like professionals; they need to take control of their jobs and do some of the critical work they complain about not having time to do during the school year.  Both the DOE and unions should be ashamed of this schedule.  This is an area charter schools get it right: most of their teachers start work weeks before the students.

  • abc123

    Shame on you gideon4ed for stating that teachers do not act like professionals.  Until you have taught full time in a public school you have no business commenting on the work of teachers.  It is people like you that have contributed to the “teacher bashing” sentiment that exists nationwide.  If you want teachers to be more professional how about we start with a little respect from others!

  • SickofBloomberg

    @gideon4ed:  Thatnk you for your ignorant comment.  Always refreshing to hear from the uninformed yet vociferous.  FYI, genius, we have all begun working on the integration of the Common Core Standards as of this year.  The extra day is just a chance to properly prepare ourselves for the particular circumstances we will find next school.  It is our professionalism that informs us to make the change so that we can respond to last minute adjustments.  The ones who should be ashamed are Cuome and Bloomberg for creating such an unstable situation so they can protect their rich friends.  Also, of course, the uninformed ignorants such as yourself who jump to incorrect conclusions.  Oh, and we will also be working during the summer break to prepare appropriate materials, if that’s all right with you.

  • guest

    I certainly wouldn’t frame the issue in the same way gideon4ed did, but
    I’m inclined to agree with the root of his point. Why don’t teachers
    report as a whole faculty a few weeks in advance? What doesn’t make
    sense about that?

    I know many many teachers already do put in summer hours (sometimes lots), which is
    great, but that’s not really a counter-argument to what gideon is
    saying. Is it? 

  • bkteacher

    Gideon4ed -

    I’ve worked in charter schools that bring the teachers in for two weeks before school  starts. What usually happens during those two weeks is of little import. The time period is usually poorly planned and just a means for the administrators to assert their control over teachers’ lives.

    Ask any honest charter school teacher if they enjoy those two weeks in the summer and find the time purposeful, they’ll likely answer, “No.”

  • bee

    As you are a proponent of charter schools, gideon4ed, I would think it  you would find it more embarrassing and unprofessional, that up to 30% of charter school teachers don’t have to have proper teaching credentials in order to teach.

  • John G

    I agree, but it’s got to do with money. We are paid over twelve months, but for only ten months of work (including the vacations, nights and weekend that we already work).
    If anyone wants us in earlier, or for more time, the rule of fairness dictates that we are paid for that time. It also dictates that we’re paid for the added responsibilities that would come with planning in a more formalized context (at work). Good thing my union, the United Federation of Teachers, is strong enough to assert that teachers are fairly paid.

    But the city is too cheap to pay us for something as wonderful as extra planning time before the school year! This is why the schedule is what it is. I wonder … Where is the outrage at the people who actually run the school system when it comes to putting their money where their (sock puppet-ed?) mouth is??

  • Guest

    Most of the time, I don’t know what I’m teaching until I walk into the school.  I can guess, by out high school programs change all summer.  Most of the time, my department program’s change several times after school started, too.

    For years, teachers came in for two days, after labor day and it was fine. I rather stay later than my school time then come in a few days more. When teachers had to come to school before labor day it just made teachers angry and bitter because it was just a ploy for the city to torture teachers.  The one day only is not enough time.  

  • Anonymous

    Based on what do you assume I have not taught in public schools.  I have in fact been a full time public school teacher and it drove me crazy that a) I didn’t have time during the year to plan with my colleagues, b) many of my colleagues were not interested in collaborating, c) leadership did not encourage or facilitate collaboration, and d) that I wasn’t allowed in the building until a few days before students arrive and provided enough time to plan and prepare for the year.  I have also worked in charter schools and found the summer pre-service incredibly valuable and useful for developing curriculum and assessments, instructional materials, and common expectations for school culture.  It’s a great time to work with peers without the pressure of teaching.

  • GC

    What would you have them do as a faculty for those two weeks?  Have you ever taken the 6 hour defensive driving course?  Imagine that, but for two weeks, only with information that you know better than your instructors (principals/aps) presented by people who could make sex seem dull and jalepenos bland.  DOE professional development is not professional and doesn’t develop anything – take a gander at what teachers say about this in the Learning Environment surveys.  Also, summer school ends approximately August 20th each year.  Have you not seen how many students are placed in summer school?   You want adults to be with teenagers year round and remain fresh, focused and enthusiastic without any break whatsoever?  Most elementary and middle school foks are in schools early to set up their classrooms already.  And what about Science teachers who go on ecotours to enhance their teaching? Teachers who take college courses to maintain requirements, or attend seminars in their field to improve their craft?  When are they supposed to do that? 

  • GC

    What do you do for a living?

  • GC

    Guest:  I left out: why don’t you work two weeks extra for your boss for free?  Walk a mile in the shoes of a teacher in 2011, everything in society is our fault and responsiblity, we are treated like children, not professionals, we are attacked by everyone, then you expect us on top of this to enthusiastically volunteer to waste our valuable time being bored to tears by incompetant neophytes and attorneys who run DOE with the philosophy “the beatings will continue until morale improves”.  Once upon a time, adminstrators were as a whole, master teachers, and we had folks in charge who actually cared about children, not $ and power.  ONE main goal of DOE next year is to increase the number of teacher observations, but not provide any feedback to the teachers on what they are doing right, wrong, or suggesting and discussing best practices.  What does that tell you? 

  • abc123

    Gideon4Ed-
    Please blame the system not the teachers.  Many of us work very hard throughout the entire year, including the summer!  I find your comment very disrespectful…

    “Teachers need to start acting like professionals; they need to take
    control of their jobs and do some of the critical work they complain
    about not having time to do during the school year”

    Do not assume all public school and charter school experiences are similar to yours, and as you said, oftentimes teachers aren’t even allowed back in the building more than 1 or 2 days before the school year, so please don’t mistake bad policies for bad teachers!

  • Gifty Chung

    I think all the rules made are finalize by the system not by the teachers only, the thing is that they give their opinions and suggestions and the implementation is finally in the hand of system.

  • Bunzi03

    Many of these same charter school teachers burn out quickly also! Check their turnover rates.

  • guest

    To Gideon4Ed: How do you know when teachers return to school in August? Are you there, standing at the entryway, taking a head count. Have you done a survey. Please explain how you collected this data. And please add my statistics to what you’ve collected. I’m back in the classroom as soon as the principal opens the building in August, usually two weeks before school commences. In addition, we have spent countless hours (before/after school, staff meetings, PD days, 1/2 days, grade-team meetings discussing the new common core standars

  • Shekapur

    Gideon 4 Ed: sounds like you were in a school filled with unprofessionals. Don’t assume that the rest of work in a school like yours.

  • guest

    And go work in a charter school, if you want to. You can take a two-year leave of absence to do so.

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