Because so many students go to Mexico for three or four weeks at Christmas, some California schools now start a week early and take a three-week winter break. The longer break cuts absenteeism.
Our School, my book about a San Jose charter high school, deals with this dilemma. The school’s principal and teachers try to persuade parents not to leave for Mexico before students have finished their finals and to return before school starts. Parents sometimes see time with family as more important than school time. If Downtown College Prep students overstay their vacation, they’ll miss the chance to take electives and catch-up courses during the two-week intersession between semesters; they won’t miss regular classes.
About Joanne
> Parents sometimes see time with family as more important
> than school time.
And people in the education establishment wonder why there is an achievement gap between Whites/Asians and Hispanics.
>> Parents sometimes see time with family as more important
>> than school time.
> And people in the education establishment wonder why there > is an achievement gap between Whites/Asians and Hispanics.
Sometimes it is more important. School doesn’t have to be the end-all-be-all most valued aspect of a child’s life. It simply needs to be valued.
> School doesn’t have to be the end-all-be-all most
> valued aspect of a child’s life. It simply needs
> to be valued.
Well .. here’s how much it’s valued in LA for some ..
—
http://www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/research/dropouts/dropouts05.php
Another independent study by Dr. Julie Mendoza of the University
of California All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity
(UC/ACCORD) finds that in the state’s largest district, Los Angeles,
only 48% of Black and Latino students who start 9th grade complete
grade 12 four years late
THE LA Times had an editorial a while back, suggesting that the school system LAUSD adapt it’s already convoluted schedule (year-round schools are a mess). But then everyone who doesn’t go away for 3 weeks gets messed up, as well.