An education reform gaining traction locally has nothing to do with reading or math: It's a plan to start the school year earlier.
This change would not make the school year longer — it would just begin sooner and end sooner. The Los Angeles Unified School District hails the idea as a step forward academically, arguing that students would be better prepared for exams.
They would take first-semester exams sooner — before the winter vacation erodes that term's learning. And the High School Exit Exam and Advanced Placement exams would come later in the academic year, after teachers had covered additional material.
The Board of Education is expected to vote on the new calendar in December. Eighteen schools already made the change this summer.
But some parents and teachers don't want to exchange the typically temperate days of June for the scorchers of August, especially in the San Fernando Valley.
Under the plan, schools would start 15 days sooner in 2011, on Aug. 15, rather than the traditional Tuesday after Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 5. The school year would end June 1 for nearly all regular campuses within the nation's second-largest school system.
Polytechnic High in Sun Valley is one of the schools that already has been scheduling exams before winter break. That approach is better, said student Grace Wheeler.
"It gives us time to relax during our break rather than having to study every day for the test," said Grace, a senior.
The earlier start will also coordinate better with community college schedules for students who want to take enrichment classes, said Zsuzsanna Vincze, L.A. Unified's administrative coordinator for school management services. And high-schoolers would be able to compete earlier for summer jobs.
Younger students wouldn't share in these benefits, but district officials want to avoid forcing families with more than one child to juggle different schedules.
One thing is certain: The new calendar would create a hotter school year, judging by high temperature readings at the Pierce College weather station in Woodland Hills.
From 2006 to 2010, the daily high rarely dipped below 90 degrees in the period from Aug. 15 to Aug. 31. In that five-year stretch, 31 of 85 days soared to 100 degrees or higher, and another 21 days reached at least 95 degrees. For an equivalent period starting June 2, the temperature reached 100 degrees or more seven times, and 95 degrees or more an additional 12 times.