MUSIC ADVOCACY: Caring Enough to Put the Student First
April 27, 2006
Educational Reform Movements: Part 3 of a series Scheduling & The Traditional Six-Day Period
As we begin to analyze how school day schedules change with each of the various educational reform movements, keep in mind the basic concepts and guiding questions already presented in Overview and Scheduling, Part 1 .
As proposals to change schedules emerge in your school district, you can assume the following to be true:
There will be adult and student-centered issues.
Your district’s contract with the teacher's union will have a major impact on the decision-making process.
While improvement in student achievement may appear to be the central focus of the issue, the proposed change may have little or no positive impact on improving the environment for learning. Improving the situation for teachers does not necessarily ensure a positive result for students.
Community members are apt to be left out of the process, unless advocates of the music coalition stay informed and get actively involved.
Uncovering the Real Effects of Reform Proposals
In this series of articles, I will share several scenarios with you that at times may seem unbelievable, but each example is based on situations that have actually occurred in American school districts.
As we look at various scheduling options, you will learn to implement effective procedures and ask the questions we have suggested in previous entries to help resolve issues in your own district. You will begin to understand how the system works, and how you and your music coalition can become more effective as advocates. You’ll be able to use the questions and examples offered in CounterPoint to work for positive change in your own district, and you’ll learn how to block efforts that may have long-term negative effects on student learning.
Educational reforms may be proposed at any time – and for reasons that are not always obvious. Even before reforms are suggested, it makes good sense to be prepared; you can make a good start by finding out the answers to these questions.
Can you identify the key players in your own district?
Is it a specific group or individual?
Can you look beyond the symptoms on the surface and dig deeper to identify the real problems?
The Traditional Six-Period Schedule
Let’s start with the "traditional" six-period day. Most of us have at least a working understanding of this standard model, so it’s a good baseline to use for comparison when examining other scheduling options.
We’ll use the following basic assumptions about one model district – let’s call it Students Central School District – in this series of articles on educational reform movements:
Students Central provides 180 instructional days per year. (Did you ever wonder why no one calls them "learning days!?" This is a perfect way to highlight the difference between an adult-centered and student-centered approach, isn’t it?)
The district operates on a two-semester academic year (90 instructional days per semester).
The high school currently operates with a six-period day.
There are 355 minutes in the school day.
The student has the option of taking six classes per day.
o There are 5 minutes between each period, or 25 minutes per day of "passing" time. o There are 330 minutes of instructional time per day, or 55 minutes per course. o There are 9900 minutes of instructional time per (1 credit) course over the academic year.
According to the district contract the teacher provides instruction for five periods each day, with the sixth period as a "preparatory" hour.
o Teacher instructional time per day is 275 minutes. o Teacher "preparatory" time is 55 minutes.
The high school is a four-year grade alignment with students in grades 9 through 12.
The schedule provides for 24 credits of classes during four years of high school, with a full-year course receiving one credit, and a single semester course receiving .5 credit.
Examine These Issues Before Reforms Are Approved
Now that we have defined the basic model for Students Central School District, the district announces it wants to implement change. Excluding the probability of hidden agendas or other adult-centered motivations, discussions about the “need” for scheduling changes usually center on one or more of the following issues:
Legislative mandates
Raising test scores
Increasing time on task
Emphasis in certain curricular areas (math, science, reading, etc.)
Reducing discipline problems (less student time in the hallways, etc.)
Increasing the number of periods to meet increasing graduation requirements
Reduction in class sizes or student loads
Reducing counselor loads (less courses to schedule)
Budget reductions (staffing cuts)
Reducing student transfers to private schools or other districts
Reducing drop out rates
Addressing issues of ethnic diversity (English as second language, etc.)
Addressing other issues of reform (school-to-work, charter and magnet schools, etc.)
Demands for world language acquisition and computer literacy
Eliminating the scheduling "bottleneck" in grades 9 and 10
So, here we go! Are you ready for reform? The district has just proposed changing to seven or eight-period day: in the next article, we’ll look at what that would mean to the students and teachers at Students Central.
For now, I’ll leave you with a few thoughts:
Reform may not just be a music issue; it may have a negative effect on other areas of the curriculum as well.
How you act during the process may determine your future effectiveness or ineffectiveness in future issues that arise in the district.
Change for the sake of change is just that – Change!
,Are there factors in the proposal that may help you improve your music program?
