Kentucky House bill 211

[True blue (and gold)]

I haven't been a teacher to kids in a classroom, no, you are correct in that assessment. But, I am a teacher of basketball (coach). Similar discipline, different curriculum. And as a teacher of basketball I'm saying that an extra 2-3 minutes isn't going to accomplish what I need to accomplish, and I personally don't think it will in the classroom either. Now, if given only one option...2-3 minutes extra at the end of practice, take it or leave it...sure I will take it because maybe, just maybe something might click with a kid. I might say something or demonstrate something that without those 2-3 minutes might not have been said or done. But to think that something systemically will be accomplished, I think that's just a farce. And no I'm not directing that towards you and please don't think that I am, that's just my opinion on the subject overall.

 

 

See my last paragraph in post 26 for a case in point.

 

As a basketball coach, are your practices longer than 45 minutes? Most of the practices that I know of are at least an hour, somethings two or two and a half. 2 or 3 minutes there many not make a difference, but in a classroom setting that it timed by a bell, instead of a coach's whistle, it does, indeed, make a difference.

[BigVMan23]

See my last paragraph in post 26 for a case in point.

 

As a basketball coach, are your practices longer than 45 minutes? Most of the practices that I know of are at least an hour, somethings two or two and a half. 2 or 3 minutes there many not make a difference, but in a classroom setting that it timed by a bell, instead of a coach's whistle, it does, indeed, make a difference.

 

True, it's not comparing apples to apples, point taken. But sometimes yes, I end up with the kids only an hour or so at a time. Sometimes we have longer than that. But surely, I think you would agree, that given a choice of full class room time of 4 or 5 Saturdays, or a few minutes tacked on at the end of a normal class, you would pick the full day Saturday, correct?

[True blue (and gold)]

True, it's not comparing apples to apples, point taken. But sometimes yes, I end up with the kids only an hour or so at a time. Sometimes we have longer than that. But surely, I think you would agree, that given a choice of full class room time of 4 or 5 Saturdays, or a few minutes tacked on at the end of a normal class, you would pick the full day Saturday, correct?

 

I would pick adding days to the end of the calendar, under most conditions.

[BigVMan23]

I would pick adding days to the end of the calendar, under most conditions.

 

Or that too...same difference.

[BirdBrain]

What are your suggestions for making Kentucky less of an educational joke?

 

We could start be eliminating any Common Core in all of Ky Schools….

[BirdBrain]

No, that's not the way to go. Just add the days onto the end of the year.

 

I asked this question to some of our district administrators….the issue at hand has to do with budgeting. Many schools only have budgets for support staff through a certain number of days for the school year. In this case, June 6. Once they hit June 6, they have no more money to pay support staff. Accounting for the teaching / instruction portion is relatively easy, but try to run a school without all of the support staff in place and it grinds to a halt. Not just cafeteria and janitorial staff, but non-teaching positions that keep the machine grinding out students.

 

We have a hard enough time in our district running the models to figure out who the valedictorian is…and guess what, they have gotten it wrong a couple of times in recent years…imagine what it would be like if you didn't have someone tracking absentee days and all the jacked up rules that come with that….total anarchy

[75center]

I asked this question to some of our district administrators….the issue at hand has to do with budgeting. Many schools only have budgets for support staff through a certain number of days for the school year. In this case, June 6. Once they hit June 6, they have no more money to pay support staff. Accounting for the teaching / instruction portion is relatively easy, but try to run a school without all of the support staff in place and it grinds to a halt. Not just cafeteria and janitorial staff, but non-teaching positions that keep the machine grinding out students.

 

We have a hard enough time in our district running the models to figure out who the valedictorian is…and guess what, they have gotten it wrong a couple of times in recent years…imagine what it would be like if you didn't have someone tracking absentee days and all the jacked up rules that come with that….total anarchy

 

Are those support staff paid for the snow days? It was my understanding that they are not so there should be room in the budget. If they are then that certainly would strain the budgets.

[Harry Doyle]

I get it, but I also feel school districts have been praying for this decision. To me it is an absolute joke when they allow schools to add 15 minutes to a day to compensate for time lost. So you are really going to tell me that if you add 2-3 minutes of course instruction to each class every day that you are really going to cover more material? Whatever. You get to the end of teaching about multiplication, you are not going to flip over the next page of the textbook for 120 seconds and start on long division. Anyone else with all these snow days still have districts take their full allotment of Spring Break?

 

There is going to be about as much go on in those 2-3 minutes, as there is with an added two weeks of school left...which is some, but not a lot.

 

You know...about like how the last week or two of school was for all of us every year when we were kids.

 

Tragic.

 

Taking spring break is the way to go. To the families who have already planned big vacations; go.

[True blue (and gold)]

We could start be eliminating any Common Core in all of Ky Schools….

 

How long do you think Common Core has been in action in KY schools? Do you think that we were doing well before?

[BigVMan23]

There is going to be about as much go on in those 2-3 minutes, as there is with an added two weeks of school left...which is some, but not a lot.

You know...about like how the last week or two of school was for all of us every year when we were kids.

 

Tragic.

 

Taking spring break is the way to go. To the families who have already planned big vacations; go.

 

The bolded I total disagree with. Of course if teachers don't reign it in, the kids will try to get away with anything, itching to get summer started. But for those that do make them sit and learn, more can be absorbed adding days than adding mere minutes to each class.

[CincySportsFan]

Every teacher? How am I supposed to answer that?

 

I don't teach a number of "days." I teach students. Again, lessons don't fall into "days" and I always fight against having to turn in weekly lesson plans, because I simply can't know on Sunday (when I do my plans, as they are due at 8:00 am Mon morning) what I will actually be doing the rest of the week. What I do one day to the next depends on how my students respond to what they are taught the day before. I might anticipate giving a class a test on Thursday, but it may become clear by Tuesday that students will not be ready for it and I am going to have to include different lessons beforehand that I had not anticipated.

 

Looking at it differently: Our administration adopted a new bell schedule this year, that took us from a 7 period day to an 8 period day. The 8th period is shorter and designed for remediation, mainly in the areas of math, English and reading. They took 2-3 minutes from every other class period, cut passing time between classes 1 minute and added minutes at the end and 5 minutes at the beginning of every day. That 2-3 minute cut doesn't seem like a lot, but it is huge. Most teachers are reporting being far behind where they were at this time (school calendar, we are at the end of our 3rd nine weeks) last year.

 

If all things were equal, then perhaps you could correlate the two. However, I'm wondering if the fact that school districts have missed a whole lot more this year (compared to "normal" years), if it's the lack of continuity in the classroom that's caused the lag in learning. I mean, how many weeks did you go to school for all 5 days in January and February? When kids have 3 or 4 day weekends, time after time, you're probably going to spend more time reviewing where you were the last time you had class.

[CincySportsFan]

Here's the wrinkles that I haven't really seen delved into yet...so, maybe some of the teachers here can offer some insight. Some of it revolves around the KPrep testing done at the end of the year. I was told that schools are allowed to give the test anytime during a two (or maybe three?) week period in May. However, the deadline (if I'm remembering correctly) was like the third week in May. Most schools that I know, opt to give the test earlier, rather than later...due to the kids losing attention quicker when the weather gets nicer.

 

So, if that's correct...here's the various scenarios I see as possibilities...

 

1.) Don't push back the testing days (to avoid the weather competition). But, that means the kids will be less prepared than they normally would with xyz days of instruction given before the test. End result? Likely poorer test scores.

2.) Push the testing days back to get those xyz number of instruction days in before giving the test. But, that means you're fighting the weather and the whole justification of giving the test earlier in normal years. End result? Again, likely poorer test scores.

 

Sounds to me a lose-lose situation. But, the other thing is...what do you do (as teachers) AFTER the testing is done? Normally I'd assume that you probably only have a week or so of school left. But, some districts could be looking at the 2nd week of June til they get out. What do you do for 3 weeks, when the students know that the "big test" that everyone aims for, is already over? How do you keep their attention then? Or has the state pushed back the KPrep deadline, to accommodate this year's weather?

[Hellbird]

The snow days suck. Because of them I will be missing my sons graduation.

[True blue (and gold)]

If all things were equal, then perhaps you could correlate the two. However, I'm wondering if the fact that school districts have missed a whole lot more this year (compared to "normal" years), if it's the lack of continuity in the classroom that's caused the lag in learning. I mean, how many weeks did you go to school for all 5 days in January and February? When kids have 3 or 4 day weekends, time after time, you're probably going to spend more time reviewing where you were the last time you had class.

 

Fair point to consider. However, the lag was apparent even before the end of the first grading period.

[True blue (and gold)]

Here's the wrinkles that I haven't really seen delved into yet...so, maybe some of the teachers here can offer some insight. Some of it revolves around the KPrep testing done at the end of the year. I was told that schools are allowed to give the test anytime during a two (or maybe three?) week period in May. However, the deadline (if I'm remembering correctly) was like the third week in May. Most schools that I know, opt to give the test earlier, rather than later...due to the kids losing attention quicker when the weather gets nicer.

 

So, if that's correct...here's the various scenarios I see as possibilities...

 

1.) Don't push back the testing days (to avoid the weather competition). But, that means the kids will be less prepared than they normally would with xyz days of instruction given before the test. End result? Likely poorer test scores.

2.) Push the testing days back to get those xyz number of instruction days in before giving the test. But, that means you're fighting the weather and the whole justification of giving the test earlier in normal years. End result? Again, likely poorer test scores.

 

Sounds to me a lose-lose situation. But, the other thing is...what do you do (as teachers) AFTER the testing is done? Normally I'd assume that you probably only have a week or so of school left. But, some districts could be looking at the 2nd week of June til they get out. What do you do for 3 weeks, when the students know that the "big test" that everyone aims for, is already over? How do you keep their attention then? Or has the state pushed back the KPrep deadline, to accommodate this year's weather?

 

For our school, the issue for us has always been the turnaround time for getting the scores back for final grades to be calculated for graduation. That should be less of an issue this year, so I agree with pushing the testing back as far as possible.

 

The only subjects affected by this are English II, US History, Biology and Algebra II. For the rest of the classes at my school, they will take final exams the last few days of school, so it is business as usual. For those previously mentioned four subjects, teachers can continue to teach and test, which will affect grades, too.