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A
leading expert on learning and child psychology isn’t sure splitting
the two-week April break into a pair of one-week vacations would
have a significant impact on the long-term education of students.
Historically, the three Tri-Lakes school districts have had an
extended two-week break during the April mud season. But
administrators at Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake central schools have
indicated the schedule should be changed to one week in April and
one week in February.
Some members of the district’s Board
of Education believe students may be better prepared for the
late-spring string of state exams and more able to focus after a
shorter spring vacation.
Dr. Robert Slavin is director of the
University Center for Research and Reform in Education. He says
there’s no scientific data available to support these claims, but
his gut tells him that the state-exam preparedness argument could
hold water.
“There is no research on this kind of
question, as far as I know,” Slavin said. “The argument about
preparedness for exams may be valid, as students would have less
time off just before the exams.”
Last summer, Slavin and his colleagues
conducted research that concluded that in as little as a 6-week
summer vacation, students can lose up to a month’s worth of
information if not properly stimulated by their parents. The
information loss was especially pointed in the realms of math and
English comprehension.
But Slavin said that it’s not likely
splitting the mud season break bring in two would result in any more
student retention.
“I think it is safe to say that there
would be no important advantage of one strategy over the other in
terms of learning,” he said.
At
last Wednesday’s regular board meeting in Saranac Lake, a variety of
residents spoke both in favor and against the proposed calendar
changes. Board members did ask administrators for their thoughts on
the matter as well.
Patricia Kenyon is principal of the Saranac Lake Middle School. She
says the district needs to do whatever is necessary to retain
valuable state aid. Kenyon says it might be worth trying the
proposed calendar just to see if it has an impact on test scores.
“One
of the areas that doesn’t seem to impact us as much financially is
if we go to two separate breaks and see if it increase our
children’s ability to concentrate and to do better on the tests,”
she said.
Saranac Lake High School principal Bruce Van Weelden noted that he’s
more concerned with breaks that begin mid-week.
“What
I notice a lot at the high school is that students, when they have a
portion of the week tend to take the entire week off, regardless of
whether school is in session or not,” he said. “Educationally,
students are at a greater loss when they’ve check out versus not
being in school during a break. That’s one of the things I want you
to at least acknowledge.”
The
school board will consider several draft calendars in the coming
weeks. Superintendent Jerry Goldman will draw up schedules with the
two-week April break intact and with the break split in two.
-Jon
Alexander and Chris Morris, 2-8-10
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