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Shorter summer breaks have 75% support among New Albany teachers

Teachers at New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation support "balanced calendar" approach due to improved student performance.

NEW ALBANY, IN – As students in New Albany head into the month of September, they already have more than a month of school under their belts. Their teachers plan to keep it that way.

The New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation joined other Indiana schools in adopting a “balanced” calendar back in 2013, wanting to see if a shorter summer break would help student success. As other Indiana schools have decided to return to a traditional calendar, New Albany has consistently reapproved the balanced calendar approach year after year. When the issue was put to a vote for the teachers, 75% voted in support.

One of those teachers is Kimberly McClure. McClure currently serves as a math coach at S Ellen Jones Elementary School, working with students struggling to get the lessons in the classroom. Working with these students has given her a unique perspective on the benefits a balanced calendar can offer.

“We are finding the balanced calendar to be great for all of our students in New Albany Floyd County,” McClure said. “It used to take us six to nine weeks to get kids back to where they were. We don’t have to start that over now. I mean, it’s amazing to see what progress our kids have made.”

Under a balanced calendar, the total amount of classroom time for students remains the same; but, it is dispersed differently throughout the year, with a summer break just shy of two months and then breaks every nine weeks during the school year. McClure said this helps students keep their focus during the school year, and also enables them to go on trips without missing class. She said this can be especially true for kids living in poverty.

“Three months trying to go without doing math, without trying to do reading, there were huge losses,” McClure said. “I mean, you could see almost a year loss just in that summer break if kids weren’t keeping it going.

“We see the benefits. And that’s the whole goal is to make sure that our kids are successful, and do well not only on standardized tests but we mostly want them to do well with graduation [and] be able to go out and get jobs. So, this is better for our kids.”

The New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation has already approved the balanced calendar approach for the 2019-2020 school year.

►Contact reporter Rob Harris at rjharris@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@robharristv) and Facebook.

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