'7 Adjusting Your School Calendar for Response The 2020-2021 school year is likely to be disrupted ▪ 2020-2021 is likely to include short-term disruptions to instruction and high-student absenteeism, with some students consistently physical absent ▪ Building a calendar that plans for and anticipates these scenarios will help minimize disruption – short term disruptions in instruction are likely and need to be planned into the calendar ▪ Calendars must also consider how to adjust for learning loss as a result of current instructional interruptions ▪ Calendar revisions require substantial change management including school board adoption that requires immediate action COVID-19 school closures could have a devastating impact on student achievement *“The COVID-19 slide: What summer learning loss can tell us about the potential impact of school closures on student academic achievement.” April 2020. Dr. Megan Kuhfeld and Dr. Beth Tarasawa. Students could return nearly a full year behind what normally occurs. We must change practices to address this. Declines are particularly stark in mathematics *“The COVID-19 slide: What summer learning loss can tell us about the potential impact of school closures on student academic achievement.” April 2020. Dr. Megan Kuhfeld and Dr. Beth Tarasawa. An intersessional calendar provides flexibility & addresses learning loss What the change could look like: An Intersessional Calendar includes longer breaks dispersed throughout the year that provide flexibility ▪ Earlier start date, long Winter Break and longer other breaks, and a later end date ▪ Built in remote learning time and staggered inperson attendance ▪ Recommended six weeks of intersessional breaks in addition to regular calendar that can be used for: ▪ Remediation, acceleration, or enrichment ▪ Breaks required due to resurgence of COVID-19 ▪ Bad weather make up days 5 lntersessional Design Considerations Sample intersessional calendar A traditional academic calendar with additional intersession weeks attached to Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring Breaks allows for COVID interruption and remediation opportunities. Aug Sep Key All Students Attend Scheduled Breaks Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Benefits • Provides larger breaks in winter in case of COVID-19 resurgence • Ability to use breaks as remediation days if not needed for COVID-19 • Flexible use of intersessions gives greater capacity for mid-year adjustments 7 Sample intersessional calendar A traditional academic calendar with additional intersession weeks attached to Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring Breaks allows for COVID interruption and remediation opportunities. Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Unexpected School Closure Key All Students Attend Scheduled Breaks Benefits • Provides larger breaks in winter in case of COVID-19 resurgence • Ability to use breaks as remediation days if not needed for COVID-19 • Flexible use of intersessions gives greater capacity for mid-year adjustments 8 Sample intersessional calendar A traditional academic calendar with additional intersession weeks attached to Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring Breaks allows for COVID interruption and remediation opportunities. Aug Sep Unexpected School Closure Key All Students Attend Scheduled Breaks Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Flexible Weeks Provided by Intersession Benefits • Provides larger breaks in winter in case of COVID-19 resurgence • Ability to use breaks as remediation days if not needed for COVID-19 • Flexible use of intersessions gives greater capacity for mid-year adjustments 9 Sample intersessional calendar A traditional academic calendar with additional intersession weeks attached to Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring Breaks allows for COVID interruption and remediation opportunities. Aug Sep Unexpected School Closure Key All Students Attend Scheduled Breaks Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Flexible Weeks Provided by Intersession May Jun Jul No Net Impact to Instructional Weeks Due to Closure Benefits • Provides larger breaks in winter in case of COVID-19 resurgence • Ability to use breaks as remediation days if not needed for COVID-19 • Flexible use of intersessions gives greater capacity for mid-year adjustments 10 Sample intersessional calendar A traditional academic calendar with additional intersession weeks attached to Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring Breaks allows for COVID interruption and remediation opportunities. Aug Sep Key All Students Attend Scheduled Breaks Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Benefits • Provides larger breaks in winter in case of COVID-19 resurgence • Ability to use breaks as remediation days if not needed for COVID-19 • Flexible use of intersessions gives greater capacity for mid-year adjustments 11 ADSY Funding to Supplement Intersessional Calendar A traditional academic calendar with additional intersession weeks attached to Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring Breaks allows for Covid interruption and remediation opportunities. Aug Sep Key All Students Attend Scheduled Breaks ADSY Days Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Benefits • Provides larger breaks in winter in case of COVID-19 resurgence • Ability to use breaks as remediation days if not needed for COVID-19 • Flexible use of intersessions gives greater capacity for mid-year adjustments 12 An intersessional calendar provides flexibility Additional days could be used for remediation during breaks around a school calendar that has been redesigned on a year-round model as opposed to adding days in the summer. • Students not mastering content could return for the intersession week for remediation • Teachers have a dedicated time to focus solely on ensuring struggling students move towards mastery • The school’s intersessional calendar would spread out school days so they reach into the summer, minimizing summer slide risk for all students • An intersessional calendar provides extra days or weeks for makeup time in the event of COVID-related closures, similar to bad weather days 13 H3 3 Additional Days School Year (ADSY) HB 3: Additional Days for Elementary HB 3 adds half-day formula funding for school systems that want to add instructional days (beyond a minimum 180 days, up to 210 days) to any of their elementary schools (grades PK-5). Minimum 180 Instructional Days Up to 30 Additional Days Half-day formula funding 15 Clarifying Minutes vs Days Requirement The HB 3 statute requires participating districts to meet both the 75,600 minutes requirement and have 180 days of instruction. Existing Academic Calendar School System Requirements 75,600 minutes 180 Days + Up to 30 Additional Days 75,600 minutes + 180 days (not including waivers) *Campuses not implementing additional days are not impacted by this requirement. 16 Other ADSY calendar considerations ▪ Testing Windows: For the next few years, state testing windows remain the same for all tested subjects and courses ▪ Last Day of School: The last instructional day for participating campuses must be on or after May 15, 2021 (TEC Sec. 25.0812). ▪ ADSY Program Days After September 1st, 2020: Due to statute start date, ADSY funding does not apply to summer of 2020. More information can be found in this School Start Date Guide 17 Calendar redesign options with additional days Option 1: Optional Summer Learning ▪ ▪ Purpose: Summer Enrichment Think: 180-day traditional calendar, and up to 30 days for something additional Option 2: Intersessional Calendar ▪ ▪ Purpose: Targeted Remediation Think: 180 days spaced out over the full year, with intermittent breaks for targeted remediation with a subset of students Option 3: Full Year Redesign ▪ ▪ Purpose: Rethinking the School Day Think: A revamped 7x6-weeks calendar, daily schedule changes to increase teacher planning time and student play 18 18 Additional benefits to additional days ▪ The additional 30 days gives schools the opportunity to capture a series of important benefits that can improve student achievement. Teacher Planning • Improve workday with job-embedded planning and more breaks Student Brain Breaks • Increased time for brain breaks, play and enrichment Academic Improvements • Additional time to cover standards and improved productivity each day 19 Next Steps There are several routes to change your start date The most time sensitive aspect of the academic calendar is changing the start date. The routes to do so include: District of Innovation Exemption • Use existing first day exemption to adjust start date • Amend DOI Plan to add start date flexibility • Become a District of Innovation plan through the process in TEC Chapter 12A Year-Round System Designation • Use existing designation to adjust start date and obtain local board approval • Become a Year-Round System by obtaining board approval for designation Charter School Calendar Adjustment • Adjust calendar locally with board approval and send updated calendar to TEA More information can be found in this School Start Date Guide 21 Planning considerations for calendar redesign Following the start date change, there are many pressing change components. Parent and Teacher Support • Understands needs of parents, teachers, students, etc. • Develop proposed solutions to address local needs • Obtain buy-in to move forward with change Curriculum and Instruction • Make master scheduling adjustments • Adjust scope and sequences / instructional resources • Develop enhanced planning and support strategies Local Board Approval • Obtain local Board approval for new academic calendar, adjustments to instructional days, impact to teacher salary schedules, etc. School Operations Support • Develop plans to support required changes related to transportation, food, maintenance, staffing, etc. • Adjust school finance plans to support new model Student Recruitment & Attendance • Identify incentives to maximize student attendance • Create flexible structures to account for lower than expected attendance rates Communications & Change Management • Create / execute multi-medium communications plan • Provide clear, consistent communications • Obtain data to enable continuous improvement 22 Next Steps for Interested Districts Begin to Ensure Implementation Success Support and Technical Assistance from TEA 1 Talk to parents, teachers, students to understand needs and wants 4 Opportunities for aligned programming and grants 2 Verify district has statutory authority to make calendar changes 5 Operational support for implementing new intersessional calendars 3 Obtain board approval for any calendar changes 6 Legal and process guidance to navigate necessary requirements 23 Thank you