11/14/98
The Auburn Bulletin11/14/98
Letter: Abandon YRS before more division occurs
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Auburn community is questioning the Wisdom of year-round schools in Auburn. In the materials that Auburn City Schools sent to parents and teachers it was said that year-round schools would help at-risk children. If this were true then a change might be worth considering, so the claim should be examined.
Nine studies were cited in that mailing in support of the claim that a year-round calendar would help at-risk children. I read these studies and I was stunned by what I found.
Four studies ("Campbell, Greenfield, Haenn, Peltier") report no statistically significant effects of year-round calendars on reading, math or other academically relevant areas. None. There were no benefits at all to anybody.
The authors of one study ("Cooper") wrote that their report cannot be applied to alternative school calendars, so this report says nothing about reducing summer vacation from 11 weeks to, say, 7 weeks as is being proposed here.
One of these ("Greenfield") did not appear to involve at-risk students at all.
One study ("Roby") compared some sixth graders from one year-round school against some sixth graders from a traditional calendar school and found a difference in math scores. The effect was attributed to the calender, but it is just as likely that one school had a better math teacher than the other. No details about the proportion of at-risk children were presented in that study.
One citation ("Kneese and Knight") is to a two-page transcript of a paper read at a professional meeting. It is not other wise in the open literature, and is too brief to evaluate or to use for such an important decision.
Of the above studies, the relevance to at-risk children is not at all clear from reading the studies.
One study ("Curry") is a detailed report of 12 elementary schools in Austin, Texas, in which 50 to 85 percent of students were Hispanic. Benefits were reported in Hispanic students, for many of whom English was a second language. This is not a problem that faces Auburn City Schools. The authors noted that the year-round calendar was so disruptive in the middle school that it should be abandoned. More important, however, a report on National Public Radio (Oct. 25) reported that test scores from Hispanic children were fabricated by school principals in order to make their schools look better. This study cannot be trusted.
One study ("Shields and LaRocque") is a literature review conducted for the British Columbia Ministry of Education. It says any benefits that might appear come from reforms accompanied by the year-round calendar, and not the change in the calendar.
This proposal is dividing the community and no benefit to such disruption can be anticipated. It threatens to damage the credibility of the leadership of Auburn City Schools in a community that cares deeply about education. Withdraw this proposal before more damage is done, and lets go about the business of educating our children.
Christopher Newland,Ph.D.Auburn
Article: ACS seeks opinions on alternative calendar with survey
Special to The Bulletin
As part of the process of investigating an alternative calendar for Auburn City Schools, a survey will be con ducted of parents, Auburn City Schools employees, students grades six through 12, daycare operators, and the community as a whole. The Auburn Chamber of Commerce has already con ducted a survey of its members. When all the surveys have been collected, the accounting firm of Machen, McChesney & Chastain will calculate the results.
Specific timelines and surveying procedure have been devised for each of the variou8 groups. Green colored survey forms will be mailed to parents on Nov. 12. Parents can return their completed survey to any school within the school district on Nov 18 and 19. Parents may bring their completed survey, sealed in the attached ACS stamped envelope that was mailed with the survey, to a school office or send that sealed envelope to school with their child. Sealed survey boxes will be placed in school offices on Nov 18 and 19. All boxes will be picked up at 6 p.m. Nov. 19.
Students, grades six through 12, will complete yellow colored survey forms with the distinctive stamp lettered ACS at their school on Nov. l9. Students may respond and place their survey in the sealed survey bmes in the school office.
Auburn City Schools employees will receive an orange colored survey form with the distinctive stamp lettered ACS on Nov. 19. They can submit their form throughout the day to their school office, or at the office of transportation and maintenance.
Only residents of the City of Auburn will be allowed to submit a completed survey. Surveys to be used by the community is printed in The Auburn Bulletin. Citizens wishing to submit a survey may clip the instrument out of the paper and bring it to the Auburn Board of Education office through Nov. 19. A sealed survey box will be set up in the lobby. Those citizens wishing to submit a survey will be required to present a photo ID and proof of residency and sign a registry. Surveys will be received from 7:30 a.m. to 6p.m: Members of the survey subcommittee will deliver survey forms to Auburn City daycare and preschool facilities on Nov. 12 along with a self-addressed stamped envelope. These surveys may be mailed, but must be received by Nov 19. Any survey received after that date would be rejected.
Building principals and directors of the transportation and maintenance will be responsible for securing the survey boxes at their building. Any survey form received after the survey period set forth above will be rejected. All extra survey forms shall be returned to the central office and kept in the district's vault. Machen, McChesney & Chastain will account for these surveys.