Extended School Year

By now you have heard that Barack Obama wants to extend the school year. This is not the first time Obama has argued the point that the school year is too short for the United States to be competitive. President Obama wants to extend the school year to 195 or greater years. Just 10 days before this announcement I received the most recent edition of Review of Educational Research, which includes an article by Erika Patall and colleagues assessing the research on extended school day or school year. The summarizing statement on the impact on achievement says: (1) in a worst case scenario extending the day or year has no impact on achievement. In the best case scenario there may be a small relationship on achievement, but the magnitude remains difficult to measure. (2) Extending school time for students at risk for failure is likely beneficial. This finding is consistent with the research on summer learning loss for at risk students.

Patall concludes that “extending school time can be an effective way to support student learning, particularly (a) for students most at risk of school failure and (b) when considerations are made for how time is used.” Thus, school districts planning to extend the day or year cannot depend on time alone to make a difference, but to maximize the return of the taxpayers they must make this change in a framework (a system) that includes improving instructional strategies on the whole. If a focus is placed on ensuring that both time and quality are enhanced, then this will be a worthwhile decision.

From the performance management/strategy perspective this means that school districts must make this decision to extended their day/year when they have sufficiently improved instructional quality. Districts must be actively measuring instructional quality (using measures such as spot observations and evaluations rather than just test scores) to ensure that when extended day/year is implemented they can show their taxpayers that it will result in meaningful results.

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Weight Loss Requires Performance Management

Ever try to lose weight? Or improve at a competition that is important to you (e.g. marathon running, darts, bicycling)? To succeed at either losing weight or improving your ability demands a discipline referred to as performance management. A Google search of the term “Performance Management” returns 8.6 million hits. The top hit is, naturally, the Wikipedia article entry which describes Performance Management (PM) as including “activities to ensure goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner.” The Wikipedia article goes on to note that PM applies mostly in the workplace, but is relevant wherever people interact.

Take losing weight. You set a goal: “Lose 10 pounds by Thanksgiving.” You need to quickly settle on a strategy for losing weight (e.g. exercise, changing diet, or a combination). You settle on focusing mostly on reducing your caloric intake. You do a little research and learn that one of the proven methods for losing weight is to write down what you eat on a daily basis. This allows helps you stay disciplined in your diet. You write down each food throughout the day and determine if you are staying within your calorie target as the day goes along.

Writing down what you eat in a food journal is an example of personal performance management. You are not waiting to weigh yourself each week to determine if you are making progress, you are actually managing your strategy for achieving the goal. Performance management is a process of managing your strategy, not just your outcomes. If you are not reaching your targets outlined by your strategy then you make fundamental changes so that you do. This same process can be applied to other personal goals (reducing a marathon PR) or an organization like a school district (increase student achievement results). In all cases there must be a strategy that is defined and actively measured and managed.