catalyst-chicago.org

Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard has proposed lengthening the school year by turning some or all of the 23 days children are not in school into instructional days for students.

He focused on professional development days--which teachers have said do little to help them improve their teaching.

A review of the 2011-2012 school calendar shows just eight professional development and planning days. Another four days are devoted to report-card pickup for parents. On two of those days, elementary students are not in school; on two days, high school students do not attend.

Adding these as instructional days would bring the school year to 180 days, the national average. The only way to add 23 instructional days would be to eliminate holidays and winter and spring breaks.

Although Brizard’s idea was touted as part of proposed “charter-style changes” to how schools operate, it also mirrors a statewide move just made in North Carolina. There, lawmakers just passed a bill adding five days to the school year by revoking a requirement for five teacher workdays per year. North Carolina students will now be required to attend school for 185 days.

Illinois’ required school year is 180 days, but waivers have brought the state’s average to 175 days.

Here’s how Chicago now stacks up against other large districts:

SCHOOL DISTRICT                INSTRUCTIONAL DAYS

Washington, D.C.                                196 Fairfax Co., VA*                                     183Baltimore                                               180New York City                                        180Philadelphia                                          180Los Angeles                                          175Dallas                                                     175Denver                                                    170Chicago                                                  170

*Fairfax County is outside Washington, D.C.

For more on school time and its impact on student learning, see the Winter 2010 issue of Catalyst In Depth.

Chicago Public Schools has just seen its biggest ISAT score increases in years, but enormous achievement gaps remain, Chief Education Officer Noemi Donoso told the city’s school board on Wednesday. Continuing these gains will be key priorities for new schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard moving forward – especially if he is to achieve the bonus of up to 15 percent set out for him in a contract the board approved on Wednesday. 

Even though Jean-Claude Brizard’s current annual salary puts him on the low end of the market compared to other leaders of large urban school districts, the fact that it is more than his predecessor is likely to spur questions as he contends with a $720 million budget deficit.