Texas Education Agency Recommending Year Round School Year

The academic calendar for the the start of 2020 was thrown a curve ball with the coronavirus. The Texas Education Agency is recommending three different options for schools to look at in the wake of everything going on.

The Texas Education Agency is expecting the 2020-2021 school year to have more short term disruptions to class schedules, along with more student absences. The Agency is also trying to figure out a plan for the learning loss during the past few months. They have laid out three different options for schools districts to consider.

The first option involves optional summer classes. The calendar would include the 180-day traditional school calendar and up to 30 days for something additional. The TEA says the goal of this option would be summer enrichment to make up for what was lost during school closures.

The second option is a "intersessional calendar." The 180 learning days would be spread out over the full year, with intermittent breaks for targeted remediation with a subset of students. Meaning, students who are struggling in specific areas would receive targeted instruction during the intermittent breaks.

The third option is a full year redesign. It involves a "revamped 7x6-weeks calendar [and] daily schedule changes to increase teacher planning time and student play."

If any school district is considering these changes, the Texas Education Agency says school districts need to get lots of approval. The districts need to talk to parents, teachers and staff as well as obtaining school board approval. We will see if any schools in our area decided to try something new this upcoming school year.