ODYSSEYWARE

I have a boss who is fond of saying, “Work smarter, not harder.” He’s an insightful guy. I couldn’t help but think of him today as I read through news stories about year-round school and six-day school weeks.

I certainly want kids to succeed in school and to be able to compete academically with their peers on the other side of the world. I’m just not sure that more hours of sitting in class is the shortest distance between students and academic success. When I think about the amount of unproductive time built into each school day, my belief in individualized learning continues to grow.

Don’t think I’m not open minded. When I did the research, this is what I found:

Massachusetts Pilot Program:

As part of a pilot program in Massachusetts, the school days of ten public and charter schools were lengthened by 25 percent to allow more time for hands-on learning. The results were promising. Over the span of one year, the least proficient students gained 7.2 percentage points in math, 4.7 percentage points in science, and 10.8 percentage points in English.

Worldwide Comparisons:

When American students are compared with their peers from the other side of the world, the results indicate that kids in Asian countries persistently outperform American students on math and science tests. It is true that many other countries have a longer school year, yet foreign students, according to many estimates, spend fewer actual hours in the classroom.

Additional Research:

While the rhetoric sounds good, research to substantiate the move to longer school days is very limited. Many studies have found no significant connection between the length of the school year and student achievement.

On the other hand, lengthening the school year does seem to suggest positive effects for some students, especially for at-risk students and low performing schools. As a result, trends seem to indicate that students from low-income families are being forced to spend longer hours at school.

• New Mexico: In 2007 the state spent $2.3 million to extend the day for approximately 2,100 children in four districts who failed state achievement tests.

• Miami, Florida: One hour was added to the school day and five full days were added to the school year of 39 low performing schools.

• West Fresno, California: With some of the lowest test scores in Fresco County, administrators added one hour to the school day of 4th-8th grade students.

It stands to reason that schools in which students are performing at a lower level would improve with additional hours of instructional time. For the majority of students who are performing at or above standards, the value of extended instructional time in school is not as clear

Findings reported by the Education Sector, a centrist nonprofit research group, indicate that unless the time students are engaged in active learning — mastering academic subjects — is increased, adding hours alone may not do much.

Individualized instruction, in which students are actively engaged both on and off the computer, would do much to help improve performance. ODYSSEYWARE curriculum is fully customizable, and can be adapted to the needs of any student. Incorporating this sort of learning environment into the school day of any student may be one road to a solution that requires fewer, not more hours, in a classroom.

As for the time saved? Why not choose art, music, museum trips, nature hikes, or web site creation?

For me, the jury is still out. Learning and time for play and exploration go hand in hand. I can think of hundreds of ways that kids can spend time learning outside the school, and I think perhaps it’s time to put the kids first. Isn’t that what education is all about?