More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation - Yahoo! News - The Diigo Meta page

• 03 Oct 09
  

  W.W. Webster

  current-events education politics

• 28 Sep 09
  

  Cory Crow

  While it is true that kids in many other countries have more school days, it's not true they all spend more time in school.
  Kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests// - So, if its not about education, then what is it?

  Edumacation

• 

  DIY Chick

  Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

  barack obama summer vacation yahoo

• 

  Becky Minx

  Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

  barack obama summer vacation yahoo

• 

  Megan Sullivan

  Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

• 

  James Hall

  longer school day

• 27 Sep 09
  

  Stephanie Morrow
  • Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed
    if President Barack Obama gets his way.
  • Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a
    disadvantage with other students around the globe.
  • 14 more annotations...
  • • The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add
      time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a
      safe place to go.
    • "Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our
      kids are working the fields today," Education Secretary Arne Duncan
    • Her school is part of a 3-year-old state initiative to add 300 hours of school
      time in nearly two dozen schools. Early results are positive. Even reluctant
      Domonique, who just started ninth grade, feels differently now. "I've learned a
      lot," she said.
    • Obama and Duncan say kids in the United States need more school because kids in
      other nations have more school.
    • "Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than
      our students here," Duncan told the AP. "I want to just level the playing
      field."
    • While it is true that kids in many other countries have more school days, it's
      not true they all spend more time in school.
    • Kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year)
      than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math
      and science tests
    • Researcher Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution looked at math scores in
      countries that added math instruction time. Scores rose significantly,
      especially in countries that added minutes to the day, rather than days to the
      year.
    • "Ten minutes sounds trivial to a school day, but don't forget, these math
      periods in the U.S. average 45 minutes," Loveless said. "Percentage-wise, that's
      a pretty healthy increase."
    • Charter schools are known for having longer school days or weeks or years.
    • In Massachusetts' expanded learning time initiative, early results indicate that
      kids in some schools do better on state tests than do kids at regular public
      schools.
    • Regular public schools are adding time, too, though it is optional and not
      usually part of the regular school day
    • Several schools are going year-round by shortening summer vacation and
      lengthening other breaks.
    • Extra time is not cheap. The
      Massachusetts program costs an extra $1,300 per student, or 12 percent to 15
      percent more than regular per-student spending, said Jennifer Davis, a founder
      of the program. It received more than $17.5 million from the state Legislature
      last year.
• 

  Avdi Grimm

  Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

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