EDITORIAL: Adding School Days Shortchanges Instructional Time

Superintendent Steven L. Walts presented to the Prince William County School Board Wednesday his plan to make up the hours that the school division is deficient due to 12 weather-related closings and five delayed openings. 

While the plan, among other remedies, satisfies the requirement that Virginia students receive 990 hours of instruction by adding days at the end of the year, it is lacking in one consideration. The additional hours come too late to impact the SOLs and Advanced Placement tests that students will take in May.

Teachers around the county have been going to extreme lengths to prepare students for these high-stakes tests, including working before and after school with high-risk students, acclimating students to testing conditions and even spending hours developing materials that mimic the tests. (Virginia has yet to release actual administered tests, since revamping the SOLs in many subject areas in recent years.) Implementing these strategies takes time, time that they lost due to the disruptions to the school calendar.

Adding days in June will provide expanded time for teachers to teach their curricula; however, in light of the present political climate, what test scores are more influential: SOLs or final exams? High school students are even exempt from their final exams if they achieve passing scores on their End of Course SOLs.

The superintendent has said his plan is the most appropriate, since adding time onto the school day, as he did four years ago, caused such an uproar. However, since Virginia will not extend the testing window, students simply may not be prepared to succeed.

Due to the extra half-hour that was added to teachers’ contractual time, they are required to be present and engaged in work-related activities. Therefore, extending the school day would not cause undue hardship. There would be no conflict to teachers who hold second jobs or pick up their children from day care as perhaps there was in previous years. As elementary schools are the last schools to be released, it should cause only minimal traffic disruptions since most students live in close proximity to their school.

Furthermore, other school divisions, such as Fairfax, will be making up time over spring break. Since they are giving students the additional instructional time they need, by comparison, it puts Prince William students at a disadvantage.

Teachers are already strapped for precious time. The School Board should consider restoring this essential instructional time to yield maximum impact for students and teachers.