Fairfax County students log more hours in school than districts in cities such as Hawaii, Los Angeles and Chicago but fall behind such systems as Nashville, Philadelphia and New York, according to a report that examined the policies of 50 largest school districts in the country.
Virginia’s largest school district budgets 183 school days a year and has a 6 1/2 hour day, according to the report — a calendar that translates to about 1,190 hours each year. Students in Baltimore and Denver have similar schedules.
For Fairfax County, the number of school hours per day and school days in a year are set according to state requirements, according to schools spokesman Paul Regnier. He said hours are extended at some county schools with large numbers of students in poverty or who are less proficient in English.
“The more instruction the better,” he said.
The study, authored by Kate Walsh, president of the National Council for Teacher Quality, was released this week at Thomas B. Fordham Institute symposium.
Idle children might consider relocating to Chicago — where school policies call for students to be in attendance for 174 days a year for 5 hours and 45 minutes per day, which amounts to about 1,001 hours per year, according to the study. New York, by contrast, kept students within school walls for 1,271 hours each year.
“Whether more time in school relates to better achievement scores is not addressed,” a summary of the research states. “But it seems clear that children who attend schools with shorter school days are being deprived of valuable time that could be used for any number of worth-while activities, including offering more instruction in classes other than reading and math.”
