More Time Isn't Always Better

Report: Longer Class Time Doesn’t Guarantee Results

By HAL YOUNG - Contributing Editor

Carolina Journal (November 2007, p. 11)

RALEIGH -- In a move to add instructional time to the school day, a high school in Bergen County, N.J., recently scheduled nearly 1,000 students to share a single lunch period in a cafeteria built for 300. News reports showing students eating lunch on the cafeteria floor — and a microbiologist’s analysis of the cleanliness of the floor — brought about a change in seating accommodations, but not the schedule.

It might be logical that extending the number of classroom hours allows teachers to present more comprehensive lessons and deepen the learning experience. Many students in other states and overseas spend more time in class than North Carolina’s, and Howard Lee, chairman of the State Board of Education, supports not only longer school days but also longer school years.

However, research suggests that might not be the right move. A report by the John Locke Foundation’s Terry Stoops outlines proof that simply adding hours to the day doesn’t increase academic performance. Some nations with higher test scores actually spend fewer days in the classroom, a concept actually supported by Department of Public Instruction’s own internal
guidebooks, Stoops wrote.

Stoops’ report, “Better Instruction, Not More Time,” says that when student results on international tests are compared, the nations with the highest average scores are not always the ones with the greatest number of classroom hours.

In mathematics, for example, students in the United States average 169 instructional hours per year. In a study of 39 countries by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the nation with the highest math scores, China, spent 177 hours per year in math class, only 4.7 percent more than in the United States, but scored nearly 14 percent higher on the exam. On the other hand, the Netherlands, No. 4 on the list, spent 110 hours on math instruction each year, but scored more than 11 percent higher.

The United States ranked 27th out of 39 countries. U.S. students spent the equivalent of four weeks more than the global average time in math class, but ranked only barely ahead of the lowest fourth.

“Overall, there was no consistent relationship between in-school instructional time in mathematics and the countries’ average score,” Stoops wrote. “In fact, there is a slight decrease in math performance as instructional time increases.”

A study published by Pennsylvania State University found similar results in science, reading, and civics instruction. The researchers recommended that as long as scores were within international norms, “Do not waste resources in marginal increases in instructional time … If there is a choice between using resources to increase time versus improving teaching and the curriculum, give priority to the latter.”

Publications from the Department of Public Instruction acknowledge the need to focus on instructional quality over simple questions of seat time. DPI’s guide for implementing the Standard Course of Study, a pair of documents titled, The Balanced Curriculum, cautions, “extending the school day won’t necessarily help teachers deliver a balanced curriculum. Research has shown that it is how time is used verses [sic] the amount of time that students are in school that makes a difference.”

“It is important not to confuse time spent in school with learning,” the guide says. “Learning is complex and affected by a variety of factors. No notable research exists suggesting that extending time in school results in a direct increase in student learning.”

Stoops acknowledged that some successful schools do have a longer instructional day, such as those based on the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP). However, he said, the difference is what they do with the time.

“KIPP’s success has much more to do with their high-quality instruction and superior school climate than with the length of their school day. KIPP schools are able to fill their longer school day with highly effective instruction, whereas most public schools do not,” he said.

Programs such as KIPP demonstrate that “an extended school day and year may be well suited for students who could benefit from high-quality supplemental instruction,” Stoops wrote, but longer time “is not the panacea that advocates make it out to be.” Instead of imposing a blanket solution across the state’s entire school system, he recommends making longer, or shorter, school days available at different schools, and giving parents the option to place their children where the time would best be spent.

“Otherwise,” he said, “the measure becomes one in a long list of one-size-fits-all reforms that invariably fail to deliver on the promise of increasing student achievement.”

Is the writing exam required? Yes, but ...

My story in the October Carolina Journal is top of the fold in the online edition today.

Colleges Assess Changes in SAT
Schools mixed in assessment of new Scholastic Assessment Test

By Hal Young
October 11, 2007

RALEIGH — The Scholastic Assessment Test has been a fixture in college admissions since the 1920s. The 2005 revision of the test eliminated the familiar analogies from the verbal section and increased the difficulty of reading selections and math problems to reflect heightened college entrance expectations.

The most significant change, though, was a new section to test writing skills, including a timed essay. Two years after the change, colleges in North Carolina are still divided on how to use the new writing scores, and many still expect their own essays from applicants.

An evolving standard

The SAT was developed in 1926 as a way to make college entrance exams more equitable nationwide. The College Board, which publishes the SAT, has updated the test several times as high school curricula and college requirements changed. The addition of a writing component had been in the works since the early 1990s, but implementation was delayed until technology was available to transmit the hundreds of thousands of handwritten essays to graders around the country.

Duke University was initially concerned whether the longer test might have an effect on student scores. The writing section lengthened the duration of the test from 150 minutes to well over three hours, and the typical Saturday morning SAT administration now lasts nearly four hours.

“There was not much research in the fatigue factor,” said Anne Sjostrom, associate director of undergraduate admissions at Duke University. “We wanted to be sensitive to that possibility.”

However, since the new section replaced a separate College Board writing test that Duke also required, Sjostrom said they did adopt the new scores quickly.

“We use it in much the same way that we used the SAT II subject test for writing,” she said. “There’s not a mathematical formula we plug into to determine whether a student is admitted to Duke. I don’t know of a case where that or any other score is the determining factor.”

Other colleges aren’t convinced yet. Heidi Fletcher, director of admissions at Meredith College, said the college is still collecting data from the new SAT. “We’re presently not using it for admissions decisions but we’re doing a lot of tracking on how freshmen do on English 111,” she said. “I love having some information on the writing skills of the students — if it’s accurate.”

Roger Jones, director of admissions for Belmont Abbey College, said “We’re taking a wait and see attitude. This is the first year it is has come into consideration at all.” Belmont Abbey only uses the score for “borderline cases,” he said, for applications that are designated for an admissions review committee.

Elon University, on the other hand, fully incorporated the SAT writing score into its admissions process this year. “Three years ago, when it was first announced, we said that we’d take two years and not use it for admissions or scholarship consideration. That’s exactly what we have done,” said Elon’s dean of admissions, Greg Zaiser. “What we tried to do was establish where students score who perform on the acceptable level for Elon admission.”

State schools are sending mixed signals. N.C. State’s website says, “NC State and all other public universities in North Carolina require scores for the writing section of the SAT or ACT” but counselors are telling students they are not using the scores for admissions.

The University of North Carolina goes further, saying UNC “will review writing scores and, in some cases, may choose to review the actual essay.” However, “At this point, we are not using the writing score for admissions decisions,” said Jennifer Cox Bell, an assistant admissions counselor. Does she foresee a change in policy? “I do not,” she said.

The SAT is still not enough

While schools place different emphases on the new SAT score, many still have their own essay requirements. UNC requires a separate essay, as does Duke. Many colleges have adopted the “Common Application” form, which was pioneered by Ivy League schools. This streamlines much of the process and includes another essay section as well.

Zaiser said the SAT’s writing test provides a different perspective than the application essay alone.

“It gives students an opportunity to show what they can do on a timed essay. On the personal essay, they can proofread it and make revisions,” he said. “By and large, we find that students who perform well at Elon also did well on the writing portion.”

Sjostrom said student GPAs at Duke correlate more closely with the strength of their high school curriculum, teachers’ recommendations, and factors other than test scores.

“It verifies that a holistic admissions process makes sense,” she said.

A Vibration on the Web

You never know who will respond when your work goes online.

Recently I received two emails from a couple in Israel, responding to one of my articles in Carolina Journal. They were excited to read about a descendent of the Nigerian Ibo tribe, and said they were African Jews who were trying to connect up with distant cousins.

Okay, it wasn't about my scintillating writing or razor-keen analysis. They probably had their Google Alerts set for references to "Ibo", and ran across the pdf version of the story a few months after it was published. But it's still amazing to think that strangers in Israel read my article and found something worth follow-up. You truly never know what to expect.

Busing of a Different Sort

Coming in the July issue of Carolina Journal:

Were these were used improperly ?

UPDATE: The story breaks July 3 in the online edition.

The Message for Conservatives

My first contribution for the Civitas Foundation's magazine Conservative Citizen appears in the Summer 2007 issue, available online here. I've exerpted it on my other blog, Five Points.

The basic message for conservatives still smarting over the 2006 elections?

Get over it and get to work.

Presidential Courage

I just sent in my review of Michael Beschloss's new book Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989.

This is scheduled for the July issue of Carolina Journal, which should be online about July 7th.

Connecting With History

In 1913, the highway from Smithfield to Raleigh was a dirt road. One day that year, Wesley Bell, a man who still bore scars on his back from whippings he suffered as a slave, turned his muledrawn wagon off the road onto the land he had just purchased. Picking a likely spot on high ground, he began clearing his own property to build a home for himself and his family.

Ninety years later, Bell’s greatgrandson lives on part of the land his ancestor paid for with bales of cotton. After moving his family 400 miles to reclaim part of his heritage, Joseph Avery of Smithfield has crossed the Pacific twice to help strangers reclaim part of theirs — the legacy of American Buffalo Soldiers who stayed in the Philippines after serving in the Spanish American War. ...

Joseph has a fascinating story, both in his local family history and in the broader history he's uncovering in the Philippines. I appreciate Joe sharing his experiences and photographs; we had two solid interviews to get it all down, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's more to come. The article "Smithfield Man Scours Pacific for Buffalo Soldier Legacy" appears on the front page of the April 2007 Carolina Journal; you can download the electronic edition here.

Links:

The Inner Banks Eagle calls it: "... a great article about one of the most impressive men in the Republican Party of North Carolina."

Review - Facing the Giants

The DVD has just come out; my sons and I went to see it in October, and my review of the theater release appeared in the December 2006 Carolina Journal. It was a legitimately enjoyable film, with both good art and good message, and it did not sink to the "Christianity wins football games" meme that some of us may have feared. I'm looking forward to having our own copy sometime soon.

Movie Review
‘Facing The Giants’ Surprising To Viewers and Reviewers Alike

• “Facing the Giants”; starring Alex Kendrick and Shannen Fields; Sherwood Productions; rated PG

By HAL YOUNG - Contributing Editor

RALEIGH - Grant Taylor is a coach with issues. His football team at Shiloh Christian Academy has a six-year losing streak, his one star player just transferred to a rival school, and angry parents are recruiting his assistant to take his position. He makes $24,000 a year, his car has a terminal illness, major appliances are failing at home, and he and wife Brooke are unable to have a baby. And things are about to take a turn for the worse.

In “Facing the Giants”, Grant (Alex Kendrick) is a decent man sinking in defeat on nearly every front when he realizes that his grief might not be due to his opponents or his inability, but his sense of purpose. Struggling through his personal problems, he challenges his team with a different philosophy that centers not on winning, but on striving, not on ambition, but devotion.

It will still be grueling on the field and off, as the team, the coach, and his wife find out, but the focus becomes the journey, not the destination.

Producers Alex and Steven Kendrick are associate pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., and oversee the church’s media programs. The two brothers are also part of a growing movement of independent filmmakers who are bypassing Hollywood to take a practical and muscular Christian message to the wide screen. This is their second feature film, and “Facing the Giants” has become one of the surprising movies of the season.

The film made headlines in June when the Motion Picture Association of America gave it a PG rating because of its religious content, probably the first instance of this kind. Even more remarkable are the circumstances of the film’s creation; in a sense, it was a Sunday school project, as evidenced by four classes that shared the closing credits.

Bypassing Hollywood’s culture also means giving up its resources; there are no Mel Gibsons here, and the Kendricks wrote, directed, produced, acted, and edited the film for free. Alex even wrote part of the musical score. More than 500 volunteers, including all of the actors and all but five of the production staff, made it happen for just $100,000.

Does it work? Definitely. Six weeks after its release Sept. 29, the film had grossed more than $8.2 million, still ranking in the top 20 films in mid-November.

Kendrick and Fields handle their roles capably as a jock with a breaking heart and a young wife yearning for children but determined to be there for her husband. Still , “Facing the Giants” has received mixed reviews, even within the Christian community. To be sure, a couple of the actors were less than Oscar-caliber. Grant’s doctor, in his brief appearance, is as wooden as a fence post. The wheelchair-bound father of the team’s place kicker is unpolished, though likable.

Reviewers unfamiliar with Southern culture might not recognize the man who walks the school halls after hours, praying quietly for the students, as a real person in the Deep South. And while Grant’s life, and the team’s, does turn around when the coach’s spiritual priorities change, there are still uncertainty, hard work, and confrontation to address along the way.

The resolution is by no means certain until the final moments of the film. What is definite is Coach Taylor’s change in focus, and a philosophy that encompasses much more than football. “We’re not just here to get glory, earn money, and die,” he tells the team. “Football is just one of the tools we use to honor God ... If we win, we praise Him. If we lose, we praise Him. I’ve resolved to give it all to God and leave the results to Him.”

But it’s also means giving your best effort, and it’s still about football. Arkansas’ Coach Houston Nutt would agree; the night before his unranked Razorbacks faced the undefeated No. 2 Auburn Tigers in October, Nutt picked the team’s road trip movie himself — “Facing the Giants”. Twenty-four hours later, the Tigers weren’t undefeated any more.

(Carolina Journal, December 2006, p. 22)

Article in Carolina Journal Online

My article on the impact of rising energy costs on school systems and an interview with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools facilities director Phil Berman, was the lead in the July 3 Carolina Journal Online. Travel, work, and family commitments - not to mention writing for CJ - have kept me from posting recently, but that's the latest on the web.

A new article and a new weblog

Weblogs run the gamut of online diaries (or diatribes) to serious journalistic vehicles. Like most I read, this is some of both. I have opened up another weblog, Five Points, which I plan to maintain more in the commentary end of the range, while I keep the less journalistic items over here. I've just posted a summary of a book review I wrote for Carolina Journal, considering the life of The Man on the Ten-Dollar Bill.

Comments are open in both locations; feel free to let me know what you think.

After [Home-]School Activities

There have been several articles the past year about homeschoolers and extracurricular activities; here's my contribution to the stack. My personal theory is that for many folks, the face of "education" is not so much the classroom as it is the football game, band concert, or some other public event. Why that would be, I can't say -- maybe we all tend to gloss over the routine day-by-day life of school, in favor of the more exciting activities we remember, or the outside events we can share with our children.

How else can I interpret the response of near-relief I see when I talk about what homeschoolers do when they're not hitting the books? Apparently even some of our friends fear that we're hunkered down behind raised drawbridges, peering out at a confusing and frightening world through the embrasures of our little 3-bed 2-bath castles.

Sorry, we're not in right now; we'll be glad to call when we get back from basketball practice, band rehearsal, and debate class.

Homeschoolers Branching Out
Sports, music, and debate competitions among the extracurriculars

RALEIGH — The popular image of homeschooling is a mother and her children leaning over the kitchen table or gathered in the family room with their schoolbooks. This is not inaccurate for most families, but it is far from complete.

Studies show homeschooled students are involved in many after-school activities along with their public and private-school counterparts, such as scouting, 4-H, church groups, and sports leagues. Yet home educators also are building their own programs to provide more of the traditional high-school activities, such as varsity athletics, band, and academic clubs. …

(Carolina Journal Online, March 27; print edition, April 2006)

Article in the January Carolina Journal

The January edition of Carolina Journal includes my assessment of North Carolina Baptists' seeming lack of interest in promoting Christian education, something which seems obvious to me and some others. According to the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools, despite four thousand Southern Baptist congregations in North Carolina and over 450 religiously-based private schools in the state, less than 35 are sponsored by SBC churches or associations. According to Bruce Shortt of The Exodus Mandate, "The theology of this is not difficult; we simply don't want to do it." I have to agree.

The article is on page 10 here.