Starting next school year, Franklin teachers will get more time each week to figure out which students are struggling and how to get them back on track.
That also means students in Franklin’s elementary, intermediate and middle schools will get out of class 40 minutes early every Wednesday.
Franklin is the fifth local school district to let students out early so teachers have more time to meet and discuss teaching strategies. School officials say teachers need to have time to reflect and learn so that they can better serve their students.
Center Grove schools began releasing students early in 2006. Initially, officials wanted to give teachers more time to work on projects, such as reviewing their curriculum, but the time has transitioned to focusing on sharing teaching strategies and monitoring student progress. Clark-Pleasant schools began an early release day in 2012, with the aim of also providing more time for teacher training. Other school districts with early release days include Greenwood and Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson schools.
In past years, Franklin school officials have tried to squeeze in training time for teachers during the regular school day, but that ends up often be rushed, leaving little time for in-depth conversations, Franklin schools superintendent David Clendening said.
Teachers will meet for training in groups with other teachers from similar grade levels or subjects and will set goals based on the needs of their students, Clendening said. They can also review student data and have training about teaching methods, Clendening said.
For Center Grove, that time has allowed teachers to learn new ideas and teaching strategies from each other, assistant superintendent Jack Parker said.
“Teaching is a very complex construct, and it takes constant development and studying of best practices to stay on top of what is best for kids,” he said. “Teachers have very little time to do that.”
One of Center Grove’s initial projects was having teachers map out their curriculum, showing what topics they planned to teach and when. Teachers in grades below and above them would see what students were being taught, and plan their lessons to make sure students have a smooth transition between grades.
Now, the teachers meet in what are called professional learning communities, groups of teachers sorted by classes and subjects they teach. Their main focus is analyzing student data and working to make sure that students that fall behind are helped to catch up and that those who are ahead are still challenged and motivated, Parker said.
At an elementary school, that might mean focusing on extra training in a specific subject, such as math or reading, if students are behind, he said.
Center Grove has had improved student test scores, including on ISTEP, but officials need more time to say that the learning communities are impacting those scores, Parker said. But they believe that it has impacted how students have performed the last couple of years, he said.
The changes to school hours at Franklin schools will require adjustments by parents, but after-school care programs will be extended, Clendening said. School officials have also been coordinating with other local after-school programs that students attend, such as Boys and Girls Club or Girls Inc., to make sure those organizations are ready for the changing times as well, he said.
Franklin Community High School already has a late start on Wednesday morning that teachers use for training time. A committee decided that letting school out early was better for younger students.
When the late start began for high school students, the idea was to give students one morning a week to get extra sleep, something studies say is essential for teenagers, Clendening said. But with younger students, school officials didn’t want to interrupt their morning routine, which is why they opted to go with the option to release them early, he said.
