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7 Period Day- A loss of 543 hours of instruction per day

A report for the SMUHSD Budget Committee will reveal that the district must cut $1.5 million from its operating budget for the 2007-2008 school year. The 7 period day has been an experiment? that has stolen instruction minutes from the majority of students and has cost the district between $1.5 and $3 million per year to implement. If the district wants to regain its financial stability, it will eliminate the 7 period day until a time that it can offer ALL students the right to a full 7 period schedule. This was also the conclusion of the 7 Period Day Study Committee assembled to advise Superintendent Sam Johnson. He rejected their suggestion as unreliable.

The under-funded 7 period day has decreased the total amount of instruction time available to the students at Burlingame High School by 543 hours per day. While the schedule has added a class period to the school day, it has reduced the instructional minutes for the entire population. The 7 period day is only available to 35% of the student population and the time added? to create the 7th period has been taken from the other six periods. Class periods were reduced from 58 minutes to 51 minutes to create a 7th period in the school day.

This analysis reveals that 65% of the student population has sacrificed instructional time for the lucky 35% who can take a 7th period. The implementation of the 7 period day has resulted in a net loss of 543 hours of instructional time per day for Burlingame High School. On an individual basis, a student with 7 periods per day gains ony 9 minutes of instruction per day (over the six period 58 minutes per period day) while the rest of the student population taking six periods loses 42 minutes of instruction per student per day. This a yearly loss of 97,807 hours per year for the entire student population at Burlingame High School!

A visual representation of this loss is the number of students on Burlingame Ave before 9:00 a.m. or after 2:00 p.m. because they do not have (and cannot take!) a first or seventh period in their schedule.

The SMUHSD has spent an additional $1.5 to $3 million to reduce the instructional time of the school day at Burlingame High School, eliminating 543 instructional hours per day. It is no wonder that the district has a construction cost over-run of 65%, losing an additional $80 million and is now paying a bonus $12 million to Skanska for Construction Management.

It is time for the SMUHSD School Board to get serious and solve this financial mess.

Action steps
1. Eliminate the 7 period day.
2. Amend Measure M to reduce the COP debt by $80 million.

Note : BHS holds reduced days each Wednesday and during finals and special schedules. These changes will reduce the net loss on a yearly basis.

Assumptions for Analysis
1350 students
180 school days
Six period day class period length = 58 minutes
Seven period day class period length = 51 minutes

Under the Six Period Day all students can take courses in all six periods.
1350 students x 58 minutes per period x 6 periods = 469,800 instructional minutes per day

Under the Seven Period Day all students can take courses in six periods. In addition, 35% of the students may take a 7th period class. Class periods are reduced to 51 minutes.

1350 students x 51 minutes per period x 6 periods = 413,100 instructional minutes per day
473 (1350 x 35%) students x 51 minutes x 1 period = 24,098 instructional minutes per day

413,100 + 24,098 = 437,100 instructional minutes per day.

Six Period Day 469,800 instructional minutes per day
Seven Period Day 437,100 instructional minutes per day

Net loss of 32,603 instructional minutes per day

This is a net loss of 543 hours of instructional time per day for Burlingame High School.

An individual student analysis reveals the following conclusions.
473 students gain 9 minutes of instruction per day
878 students lose 42 minutes of instruction per day

– Written by JC

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11 responses to “7 Period Day- A loss of 543 hours of instruction per day”

  1. Anonymous

    When this issue was first brought up with the Board, Bill Pruitt, former Board Member, presented this argument. Unfortunately it fell on deaf ears.

    Yet, another education experiment gone bad!

  2. Anonymous

    What became of the district’s telephone survey (on the 7th period schedule) from about a month ago. Strange that we haven’t heard anything about the results. My kids aren’t interested in the 7th period day. Why? Because they’d rather get out of school at 2 instead of 3. A very honest answer from a teen, and I’ll bet that is the way most of them see this. Unfortunately, the electives aren’t intriguing enough to entice most kids to stay for an extra period, or to start early. Why do they think so many kids are wandering about, before and after school?

  3. me again

    At the last board meeting, a beautiful Powerpoint (which seems to have the same effect on the board as headlights do on a deer) showed the results of the survey. The survey asked respondents whether or not they were taking advantage of the seven period day and whether or not they want the choice next year. Sixty-Nine percent of those surveyed in this not very scientific study with questions crafted by a principal wanted the choice.

    I like choices too. However, the study did not ask what the consequences of this choice were. The board is so enamoured with Mr. Johnson and his “academic core” that they do not see the cost of this choice. In fact Trustee Peter Hanley suggested that if 69% of people wanted the seven periods they should have it. That sounds like an even further expenditure.

    My question what is going to happen when students fulfill all but fifteen credits by their senior year, how are they going to continue to prepare for college?

  4. Parent

    I think this online survey was a bit tainted. When asked if your child had 7 periods, parents who answered “No”, were disconnected from the survey. This did not allow these parents to give their input. I can think of only one reason this would happen….The district did not want to make it look like people were unhappy with 7 period day.
    FYI Sam Johnson was told by 2 different entities he could not afford a 7th period day and if he chose to go forward with it he needed to go to the voters with a parcel tax.
    Also this 7th period day was only structured to support the bottom 33% of the achedemic population. (IE algebra support, English support classes).

  5. Anonymous

    That’s correct. Under the guise of being all things to all interested students, it turned out (just as many had predicted) that our district in fact couldn’t afford to offer interesting electives (like Palo Alto’s high schools), to make the 7th period day a true asset. As structured, it really is designed mainly to support those struggling with the Core. I still think that the money spent should be examined and compared to the cost of hiring private tutors for those who do struggle. One-on-one help or in a small group setting would perhaps be more effective, and cost cutting at the same time. But unfortunately, we still have this group of trustees who don’t listen to input from the public, so any other ideas are dead on arrival.

  6. sam

    Do you people who complain about the “loss of instructional time” have any idea how much time most, if not all, teachers at BHS spent in pre 7 period days digressing from the subject they were supposed to be teaching to go off on tangents unrelated to ANY school work? Perhaps if you inquired and got honest answers from students you would see that your concern over lost time is somewhat misplaced…you ought to be asking that teachers be more closely monitored to make sure THEY are staying on task and teaching–rather than complaining re the district or just ruminating on something(unrelated to the subject they are supposed to be teaching) that happens to catch heir interest on a given day. This isn’t to say that this observation is universally true since there is at least one math teacher at BHS who actually used/uses his time to instruct…but after the experience of 4 years and approx 20 teachers, my student assured me that this teacher is unique in this regard…

  7. Mac

    Sam– it really has less to do with the amount of time teachers spend jabbering and more to do with the financial cost of the program– the district simply can’t afford it. If you’re truly interested in monitoring teachers, I recommend you earn an administrative credential and become a school principal so it can then be your job.

  8. sam

    Everyone on this blog has been complaining about lost instructional time…now you raise money…can’t make up your mind???

  9. KRN

    Sam,
    Time is just one of the issues that was not taken into consideration when the 7 period day was implemented. NO ONE did any type of study or analysis on the implementation of the 7 period day, they just implemented it.

    We now know a LARGE number of problems with the semi-funded 7 period day.

    1. Only 35% of the students can take a 7th class even though 100% of the families pay taxes to go to school. The SMUHSD has stated that ONLY student needing academic help or students taking an elective can have a 7th class. Students are NOT allowed to take an additional academic course as a 7th class (what sense does tha make?)

    2. As stated above, there is a severe loss of instructional time each day. Most students lose almost an hour of each day. (Did your family get a reduction in taxes to go along with the reduction in instruction ?)

    3. Student athletes took a severe hit with the loss of an athletic period and games and practices moving later in the day. In the past, athletes began practice at 2 p.m. and games at 3 p.m. as they has a 6th period scheduled as athletics. Did only missed a minor amount of class for games. Now… student athletes are scheduled into a 7th period class and they miss 6th and 7th period on game days. To make matters worse, some games do not start until 4:00p.m. (keeping kids in class) and the students do not get home until 7:00 or 8:00 when they can then begin to eat and complete homework.

    I could keep going.

    The 7 period day needs MUCH BETTER planning and full financial support for 100% of the students if it is to continue. It seems that the damage outweighs any benefit. (measured in real terms, not emotion)

  10. bill

    I personally think the concern over athletics is vastly overrated–kids are in school for academics, not to become athletes. If 7 periods makes athletics more diffucult, then too bad–let those kids find their ticket to college through academics. Time to give the concern over athletics a back seat where it belongs. And the issue re teachers wasting hours of time digresssing on issues not related to school work is a well known fact among students. Further, how many kids are really wanting to take 7 periods and being deprived? Not many, I think–I’d bet that the 35%+/- who are taking the 7th period are about all who are really interested. And finally, I’m a Burlingame tax payer and I don’t have a problem with the idea of getting the kids who need more help the time to get that help even if it does not directly benefit me or my student. I continue to see the teachers’ opposition as hiding some more sinister motive–perhaps just always opposing whatever Sam Johnson proposed or perhaps not wanting to deal w/ the trouble of adjusting lesson plans–though I’d agree with one of the other posters–my students sources lead me to believe there are very few teachers in the district who don’t seem to still find time to spend class room time airing thier grievances re the district or their school’s admin. And what about the teachers who will probably lose their positions if the 7 period day is ended–those that teach the “extras” like art/ theater/music–how do you justify putting more value on athletics and making sure kids don’t have to stay out too late for that and then turn a blind eye to the many arts baseds programs that will be history if the 7 period day is ended?

  11. Teacher

    The loss of instructional minutes is indeed a problem. What most forget and fail to consider is the equally significant loss of the reduced English and math classes that ensured a ratio of 20:1. The district/Superintendent Johnson discontinued this program a couple years back. So freshmen who need the individual attention to transition into high school level studies lose not only minutes but more individualized instruction in math, reading, and writing.

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