Published: July 17, 2008 09:55 am            

Instruction time to increase at GCCS

Half days eliminated in order to accommodate change

Greater Clark County Schools will eliminate four half days next year and increase the minutes in which students receive instruction.

With the increase — which also factors in changes to the school day schedule — elementary-school students will receive almost two hours more instruction per day than what the state requires. Middle- and high-school students will receive about one hour more per day than required.

State law mandates that elementary-school students receive five hours of instruction per day, and middle and high schools receive six hours, said Amy Schellenberg, director of curriculum and instruction.

The change will bring the elementary schools to 6 hours and 55 minutes, and middle and high schools to about seven hours. Previously, she said, the schools had been operating right around the minimums.

The half days had previously been used for teacher’s professional development. That time will be made up on Wednesday mornings, as school will start about one hour later than the rest of the week.

Elementary school buildings will open at their normal times and bus schedules will remain the same, despite the change. Middle- and high-school buildings will begin accepting students one hour later. Bus schedules for those students will run about 35 minutes later on Wednesdays for students in Jeffersonville and Charlestown. Buses for New Washington students will run at normal times.

The extra minutes will be used for both for remediation and to prepare for ISTEP testing, which impacts school accreditation, said Schellenberg.

“It’s just in response to heightening our efforts to improve our instruction and accreditation,” she said.

Schellenberg said feedback on the plan was gathered and that many parents were happy to see the half days go.

In a letter to parents, Superintendent Tony Bennett said the move was in preparation for Indiana mandates to increase student academic achievement. He also noted that Greater Clark has been selected by Indiana’s Department of Education as a pilot location for a new student-assessment program.

It can be difficult to quantify how much an increase in instruction time improves the quality of education in a county or state, said Gloria Murray, dean of Indiana University Southeast’s School of Education. It’s especially difficult to quantify in the short term.

“People have been looking at that for years and what they’ve found is that if the teacher doesn’t know how to use that time, it doesn’t make that much of a difference,” she said.

It has to be used to move onto the next lesson or as a time to work with kids that are struggling or those that need more advanced lessons, she said.

“I’m hoping that they’ve looked at this from all angles.”

Schellenberg noted that Indianapolis public schools have made similar changes to their schedule. School begins Aug. 13.

        

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