Flexible start times and longer school year are best for kids.
"Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st-century economy. That is why I'm calling for us not only to expand effective after-school programs, but to rethink the school day to incorporate more time ... for children who need it. The challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."
PRESIDENT OBAMA
Earlier this week tens of thousands of Minnesota students started school -- despite a state law that prohibits public schools from beginning class before Labor Day.
About 16,000 students from 25 southwestern Minnesota districts began class early to improve student learning. But to sidestep the Labor Day rule, the districts had to get special permission from the state.
Their situation underscores changes that should be made to Minnesota school calendars. Districts should be allowed to make their own choices about school start times. And longer school years should be adopted.
The southern Minnesota districts, including Worthington, Marshall and Mountain Lake, sought the waiver as part of a three-year experiment to see if an earlier start can improve academic achievement. Exemptions were granted by the education commissioner under the state's "flexible learning year'' law, which allows districts to make their case to the state for waivers. Some districts, including Minneapolis, seek permission because of school construction or renovation schedules. And a handful of districts are on four-day school weeks under that law to save on transportation and other costs.
Minnesota's mandated post-Labor Day start has more do with the needs of the vacation industry than with those of students. The resort industry and State Fair advocates successfully argued that early starts take away high school workers and vacationing families who sustain the late summer tourism economy.
While those are legitimate concerns, well-educated students are also an important investment in the state's economy.
Southwestern Minnesota school leaders are wisely trying the earlier start because it adds 10 days to the school year before state standardized tests in the spring. A second group of 20 school districts in southern Minnesota is considering the early start approach for 2011.
A wealth of good research has shown that academic achievement improves when students spend more time on task. American children spend an average of 175 to 180 days in school, compared with 200 days in nations such as Japan and Germany. Countries with longer school years tend to outperform U.S. students on standardized tests.
Some American schools, too, have added days and improved results -- such as the KIPP and YES Prep schools. Many successful charter schools have adopted longer school days or years because their charter status allows them to set their own calendars.
Minnesota lawmakers have vacillated over school start and school year length over the years. In the mid-1990s, legislators approved phasing in 10 additional days, then later repealed the decision. On school start times, at one point individual districts decided, then the law changed to prohibit starting class before Sept. 1 -- later changed yet again to the Labor Day rule.
Whenever classes begin, the larger issue here is designing school calendars that meet educational needs in contemporary times. The current three-month summer break system has its roots in an era when children were needed at home to tend farms. A year-round school schedule with several shorter breaks would be a better fit for today's realities.
But until that happens, the best student-focused options are longer school years and flexible start times.