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Much has been said about the No Child Left
Behind Act (NCLB) and its intended purpose to
insure that every child, regardless of race, abilities or background, makes academic progress every year. This overall goal is admirable and something that District 47 has embraced long before the federal government and NCLB supplied their definition of how schools are identified as making adequate yearly progress. We are committed to continuing our pursuit of educational excellence for all students.
In order for District 47 to continue on the path of
moving from a good educational system to a great
educational system, we must be willing to review the programs, curriculum, and delivery methods that make up our basic structure. They need to be measured against the changing priorities and needs of children, families, communities, society, and government. As Jim Collins, author of the book Good to Great stated, “Greatness is an inherently dynamic process, and not an end point. The moment you think of yourself as great, your slide toward mediocrity will have already begun”. We believe we offer a quality educational program to the District 47 community. However, in order to maintain that quality, the District needs to continue to analyze, question, and probe for better ways to prepare the students for life beyond 8th grade.
It is in this spirit that the District 47 Administration and Board of Education have ventured into a study of the middle school day schedule. Since 1996, the middle schools have had nine (9) forty minute periods per day. The day breaks out as follows: five (5) periods dedicated to core academic subject areas (language arts, reading, social studies, math, and science), two (2) encore periods, one (1) physical education period, and one (1) lunch period. A chart depicting the total breakout of minutes spent in each area on a percentage basis is included on page 3. Since 1996, the District has adopted a new math program, a new writing assessment model, a new reading curriculum approach, added a communications class in the encore cycle, and adopted new social studies and science curriculums. In some instances these curriculums have been molded or modified to fit within the 40-minute time allotment instead of the recommended time requirements of 60 minutes or more. For math and science in particular, a sixty (60) minute period allows for a more comprehensive curriculum presentation. Twenty more minutes a day in math would allow adequate time for teachers to review previous day’s homework, present, explore, and discuss new concepts with students, check for student understanding with guided practice, and provide - continued
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independent work time. Science classes would benefit in much the same way. Additionally, labs could be conducted and discussed during the same class period instead of having to be carried over to another day. All in all, the District expects these changes will result in a presentation of curriculum that will allow for more time to pursue individual student understanding of the material, more individualized teacher help, and subsequently better math and science students.
These changes cannot occur without some changes in other areas. In December of 2004, after a comprehensive study that included input from the community, the Board of Education elected not to change the starting and ending times of our elementary and middle schools. This eliminated the possibility of adding minutes to the middle school day. Therefore, in order to gain minutes for core academic subject areas, one of the two encore periods must be eliminated. This will require a redesign of how, when, and in what format art, music, family and consumer sciences, foreign language, technology labs, communications, and health are offered to students during their middle school years. The administration and Board will be examining those issues as we enter the fall of next year.
The Board of Education is committed to adding more minutes to the core academic subject areas in the middle school day. They are also committed to providing as many exposures to students as possible in the form of encore subjects. The Board has instructed the administration to keep the community informed every step of the way. A timeline has been established that will include an opportunity next fall for parents and citizens to provide input before any final decisions are made. This study is in its infancy and no final decisions are scheduled to be made until November 2006.
It is District 47’s responsibility to lay a solid foundation for students to build upon as they move on to high school. It is our belief more minutes in the core academic subject areas will result in students being better prepared for the academic challenges that lie ahead. At the same time, we also believe that the District can preserve the opportunities for exposure that currently exist in our middle school day. With the proper planning, it is possible for both objectives to be achieved.
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