As many states across the country have dealt with significant snowfall over the last two months, school districts have been forced to shut down for several days. School of Public Policy professor Dave Marcotte has conducted extensive research on the impact of snow days on student learning, and published an article in The Conversation about the work he has done with his colleagues.
“Research shows that fewer school days do reduce student performance, especially for the more disadvantaged students. Evidence from previous winters also shows that more days in school do, in fact, improve achievement for American students overall, something that has been hard to accomplish in recent times,” Marcotte wrote.
In his article, Marcotte referenced studies in Minnesota, Maryland, Colorado, and Massachusetts that have found in years with especially bad winters, there is a significant impact on scores and pass rates.
Marcotte also discussed why it’s possible decisions haven’t been made in states to increase the length of the school year: “…the most substantial obstacle to extending the school year is money. Re-constituting the school year means re-negotiating teacher and staff contracts, paying for extended use of buses and buildings, and in many cases retrofitting schools to include air conditioning to operate into the hot months of summer. Indeed, these costs led Oregon to repeal the provision to extend the school year of the 1991 Education Act for the 21st Century.”
To read Marcotte’s full article titled “Schools close and kids lose,” click here.
Tags: CAHSS, PublicPolicy
