Thompson: The Folly Of Intercession Study Periods

Scott Elliot of the Indianapolis Star reports on the latest chapter of our educational blame game.  The latest culprits are students and teachers who do not work long enough hours.  So, following the new conventional wisdom, Indianapolis instituted a two week intersession for students needing remediation or seeking enrichment.  The district persuaded just over half of its students to sign up for the extra work, but only 57% of those students have shown.  This has prompted a debate over who is to blame and whether to make the intersession mandatory. My district in Oklahoma City persuaded 1/6th of its students to attend a similar intersession and only had an attendance rate of 60%.  A teacher praised the remediation as "a little boot camp getting these students ready for the test." But my feeling is that it's time to back off from this worship of more work hours.  Why not put ourselves in the students' shoes and ask if we would be willing to give up our vacation? If students have struggled in our schools as they are now constituted, why would working through breaks make a sustainable difference?  -JT (@drjohnthompson)Image via.