Year-round schooling in Philadelphia could one day become a reality. In fact, a test run of new pilot program is being rolled out, bringing the idea one step closer to fruition.
Year-Round Schooling In Philadelphia
Mayor Cherelle Parker has many new initiatives on her agenda as the new Mayor in Philadelphia. One such initiative is to combat the “summer slide”.
In education, the summer slide is the period when school ends for the year and students lose some of the knowledge and skills learned throughout. As a result of this “slide” or disengagement, educators have to spend a portion of the beginning of the school reteaching last year’s material instead of focusing on new material.
The solution to this, Superintendent Tony Watlington believes is year-round schooling in Philadelphia.
At a city council budget hearing this week, Watlington discussed a new test run of a pilot program that extends the school year to year-round. Specifically, Watlington says they are meeting regularly with the mayor’s team to stand up 20 school pilots for the 2024-2025 school year.
“Who’s to say that the school day should just be 180 days,” said Watlington to WHYY.
“Schools are a safe haven; we want more time, not less time in school. Many of our children get food at schools, they get social and emotional support at schools. They get a lot of structure, and their needs are met at school.”
The Future Ahead
Indeed, things still have to be ironed out when rolling out this test program. Specifically, the chosen schools will have to have air conditioner in the summer months. Of course, it will also cost money to have the schools open all year.
Nevertheless, the plan is to move forward for the 2024-2025 school year. The 20 pilot schools will have an extended calendar year than the other schools in the district.
“Where they actually start school before the other schools in the district, and we eliminate the long break in the summer, but they’ll get breaks during the year,” said Watlington. “So they won’t go to school 365 days or 300 days a year. They’ll have holidays and they’ll have small breaks built in.”
The pilot program will focus on reading, math, and science enrichment. The hope is that by implementing year-round schooling in Philadelphia, the summer slide of knowledge regression can be eliminated.