Submit Your Calendar Input

Carroll School Board members are hoping staff, students and parents will chime in with input on the proposed 2010-2011 school calendar. The Board postponed a decision on the calendar to collect feedback on the idea of having semester tests before winter break. We hear from year to year that parents and students don't like having exams hanging over their heads during the winter break. Ever since the start of the school year was pushed back in August, CISD has ended the semester in mid January. For parents, this means that students have two weeks off, then they come back for a few days only to have reviews, half days, exams and a couple days off for Martin Luther King day and the teachers' end of the semester work day.

So. . .Trustees said, "what about considering Highland Park's calendar?" The Scots only take three days at Thanksgiving break and then they are able to have their semester exams before winter break. They then don't have to mess with exams hanging over their heads during break or intermittent early release days in January. The only catch is unbalanced semesters, which can have an impact on single semester classes. For instance, if there is a advanced government class that is two weeks shorter in the fall than in the spring, students who take it in the spring are able to cover substantial more material before taking the AP exam. This is apparently something that Highland Park lives with in order to have exams before break.

However. . . that doesn't have to be the case. Dr. Lowell Strike began taking an out-of-the-box look at the existing calendar. Knowing that Dragon families and especially staff REALLY enjoy their five days off for Winter Break (something Highland Park has never done and therefore didn't have to take away from their students/staff), Dr. Strike started looking at the possibility of enjoying the best of both worlds. He discovered that you can still have semester exams before winter break but not really end the semester until AFTER winter break. This means that students don't have tests hanging over them during the two-week break, but the single semester classes aren't unbalanced either. Staff and students can still enjoy the full five days at Thanksgiving break AND the greatest advantage of all is that instructors can review tests, identify concepts the students may not have mastered and come back in January to review major objectives and concepts before the semester ends. This ensures that the students truly grasp all material before ending the semester and later taking their AP exams in April/May.

Sounds like an innovative calendar option that leaves Thanksgiving break alone, but addresses the parent concerns expressed about semester exams. Still, we may not have realized all the advantages and disadvantages and we need to hear more from you!

Therefore, three calendars have been put online. The first is the original calendar that mirrors this year's calendar. The second is the calendar developed by Dr. Strike and the third is a calendar similar to Highland Park's calendar. Be sure to register your input by emailing brownd@cisdmail.com before the Board's February 1 meeting!