Late Student Start Days

Focus on Student Achievement Means Changes to 2009-10 School Calendar

Once your child enters Kindergarten, next to work there is probably nothing else that drives your schedule as much as the school calendar.

Between sports, academic activities, in-service days and parent/teacher conferences, parents are busy juggling schedules, especially if childcare is involved.The Green Bay Area Public School District (District) and the Green Bay Education Association (GBEA) are very aware of how busy parents’ schedules are these days.

The 2009-10 school year will kick off a new professional learning program for teachers and paraprofessionals. This new program focuses on teacher learning that is driven by student needs. It also recognizes the complexity of teaching today as well as the diverse needs of students.

The new program requires teachers to report to school a day earlier in August to review school data. For the 2009-10 school year the primary focus will be on math and literacy.

In order to continue this work, seven late student start days are scheduled for staff in buildings to work collaboratively reviewing student data, reviewing instructional practices and reflecting on teaching and learning.

The seven late student start days are:

• September 30 
• November 4 
• January 6 
• February 3 
• March 3 
• April 7 
• May 5 

On these days, students will report to school one hour later than normal. For children who ride the bus or participate in a breakfast program, both will still be provided, just one hour later.

Student Arrival Times on Late Starts

Questions & Answers

Why is the District adding more time out of the classroom?
Late starts have been added to create what are called Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). The District and the Association are dedicated to the success of all students. The current professional learning practices are not improving students' reading and math abilities as quickly as needed. In a PLC, school staff are continuously monitoring student data and making adjustments as a team in how they teach children. This is a practice used by successful school districts across the country.

Why is the District adding late starts and not early releases?
Research has shown that late starts are the most effective for teacher learning. Better teacher learning results in improved student learning. In addition, the District will still have early release days. By adding late starts, the impact of teacher learning will hopefully provide more flexibility for parents.

Does the additional late starts take away from classroom time?
No. There is no loss of instructional time. Three minutes have been added to the student day to ensure the District meets the required minues of instruction set by the Department of Public Instruction.

What other districts use late starts?
Brillion, De Pere, Howard-Suamico and Pulaski are other school districts in the area that use late starts or a combination of late starts and early releases.

What will occur on the late student start days?
Prinicipals, teachers and paraprofessionals will be involved in working together in a common area within the building. This time will be spent on working collaboratively to address the following critical questions:

1. What do we want students to learn? What should each student know and be able to do as a result of each unit, grade level, and/or course?

4. What will we do if they already know it? What will occur on the early release days?

What does a professional learning community (PLC) look like?
There are six (6) essential characteristics of a PLC.

• Shared mission, vision, values, goals: Educators in a PLC benefit from clarity regarding their shared purpose, a common understanding of the school they are trying to create, collective communities to help move the school in the desired direction, and specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time-bound (SMART) goals to mark their progress.
• Collaborative teams focused on learning: In a PLC, educators work together interdependently in collaborative teams to achieve common goals for which they are mutually accountable. The structure of the school is aligned to ensure teams are provided the time and support essential to adult learning.
• Collective inquiry: Teams in a PLC relentlessly question the status quo, seek new methods of teaching and learning, test the methods, and then reflect on the results. Building shared knowledge of both current reality and best practice is an essential part of each team’s decision-making process.
• Action orientation and experimentation: Members of the PLC constantly turn their learning and insights into action. They recognize the importance of engagement and experience in learning and testing new ideas. They learn by doing.
• Commitment to continuous improvement: Not content with the status quo, members of a PLC constantly seek better ways to achieve mutual goals and accomplish their fundamental purpose of learning for all. All teams engage in an ongoing cycle of:
  o Gathering evidence of current levels of student learning.
  o Developing strategies and ideas to build on strengths and address weaknesses in that learning.
  o Implementing the strategies and ideas.
  o Analyzing the impact of the changes to discover what was effective and what was not.
  o Applying the new knowledge in the next cycle of continuous improvement.
• Results orientation: Educators in a PLC assess their efforts on the basis of tangible results. They are hungry for evidence of student learning and use that evidence to inform and improve their practice.

Will the breakfast program still be offered on late start days?
Yes. It will be held one hour later.

Will there be any help for parents who do not have child care for those mornings?
The District and the GBEA are both concerned about the impact the late starts will have on families. No one size fits all solution is appropriate so each school is addressing this issue individually. Please contact your school principal to discuss this concern with him or her.

Simply put, what as a parent will I notice or see as a result of the new professional learning program?
The 2009-10 school year will be focused on literacy and 2010-11 on math. During collaborative time, staff will focus on students who are not doing as well as they should and determining what those students need.  So for students who are struggling, there will be a focus on interventions to help those students reach proficiency in literacy and math. For students who have learned the material, there will be a focus on providing those students with what they need in order to stay engaged and learning.

In addition, because staff will be working together at grade level and as a building, students will move to the next grade all having learned the same skills and knowledge.