School Improvement Grant Requirement ... - Bibb County Schools

School Improvement Grant
Requirement: Increased Learning Time
Impact on School Start/End Times
Presented by:
Susanne Griffin‐Ziebart, Deputy Superintendent of School Improvement
and Redesign
Todd Harris, Director of Transportation

According to United States Education
Department (i.e., USED), what is the definition
of “increased learning time”?
“Increased learning time means increasing the length of the school
day, week, or year to significantly increase the total number of school
hours so as to include:
• Time for instruction in core academic subjects including English,
reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages,
civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography;
• Time for instruction in other subjects and provision of enrichment
activities that contribute to a well‐rounded education, such as
physical education, service learning, and experiential and work‐
based learning opportunities; and
• Time for teachers to collaborate, plan, and engage in professional
development within and across grades and subjects.”
“Accordingly, to fully implement the turnaround or transformational
model, a local education agency (LEA) must use a longer school day,
week, or year to provide additional time for all three types of activities
as part of the LEA’s comprehensive needs‐based plan for turning
around the entire school.”

Additional Guidance from USED
Increased learning time activities can include before
school, after school, Saturday, and summer
activities. However, this cannot be the only process
used and violates the third requirement of ILT (i.e.,
Provide increased learning time in the core content
areas for all students).
For Georgia, 300 hours of ILT is required. Of this 300
hours, 60 hours are required for ILT for students
during the school year. This is the equivalent of
adding 20 minutes to each day for a 180 day school
year. Schools are encouraged to exceed the
minimum.

USED Guidance for Meeting the 300
Hour ILT Requirement
• Schools must demonstrate
that they have added at least
60 hours to the school year.
Evidence will include a
submission of the daily or
annual schedule. Options
include:
• Lengthening the school day
• Lengthening the school year
• Schools may use a
combination of before school,
after school, Saturday, and
summer activities to meet the
remaining 240 hours of ILT.
The activities must be
available to all students.
• Possible implementation
models include:
• Lengthening the school day
• Each instructional block is
increased
• Every Tuesday/Thursday, the day
is increased for a dedicated ILT
focus in math/literacy
• Every day, the day is increased for
a dedicated ILT focus in
math/literacy
• Lengthening the school year
• The school has a dedicated
intercession for two weeks that
all students MUST attend
• LEAs must have evidence to
support effective
implementation (i.e., old/new
bell schedules and/or parent
letters regarding changes).

It is the expectation of the
federal and state education
departments that all SIG
1003(g) schools are fully
implementing ILT for the
2012‐2013 school year.

Pertinent District Policy
• Board Policy: District Organizations School Day
• Descriptor Term: AF
• Date: December 13, 1990
• “The times for the opening and closing of the daily session(s) for
employees and students shall be regulated by the superintendent.”
• “The minimum work day for professional employees shall be eight
hours with the employee present for seven and one‐half hours at the
assigned duty location. Duties for which the base salary is paid will
include administration, supervision, teaching and teacher
preparation, staff meetings, conferences with students and parent
planning conferences, and related school activities within the
community and extra class responsibilities.”
• “The school day for students in grades one through twelve shall
consist of at least six (6) hours of instruction.”

Opportunity for Bibb County
Schools
• We have five SIG schools (i.e., Central, Hutchings, Northeast,
Rutland and Southwest).
• In order to meet the 60 hour ILT requirement during the
school year, we must adjust high school bell times, minimally
for SIG schools.
• Adjusting bell times would require an adjustment in
transportation schedules.
• In order to design transportation to meet the SIG
requirements, we would need to:
• Provide additional routes for SIG schools only and increase
transportation costs significantly; or
• Adjust routes for all schools to minimize additional transportation
costs.

Gathering Input: Other Districts
Dr. Sharon Campbell held conversations with other SIG coordinators,
principals, and state School Improvement Specialists from the districts of
Peach, Henry, Spaulding, Richmond, and Burke counties at the recent SIG
conference at Calloway Gardens.
• Burke County
• Providing ILT in the morning
• Providing “Power Period" of 30 additional minutes between 2 periods
• Henry County
• Providing 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the afternoon
• Adding three minutes to each class period (i.e., 7 period day)
• Richmond County
• Adding 30 minutes to the day (i.e., 15 minutes in the morning and 15
minutes in the afternoon)
• Griffin (Spaulding County)
• Working on designing the structure
• Planning to add minutes to the school day

Gathering Input: BCSD
• Donna Jackson, Heritage
Elementary
• Dr. Efrem Yarber, Bloomfield
Middle School
• Emanuel Frazier, Union
Elementary
• Judy Vickers, Skyview Elementary
• Lanny Davis, Porter Elementary
• Matt Adams, Howard High School
• Dr. Sherri Flagg, Miller Middle
School
• Steve Jones, Appling Middle
School
• Todd Harris, Transportation
NOTE: Other high school principals
were at the SIG conference when the
feedback meeting was held.
Administrators
• Committed to meeting federal
and state requirements
• Committed to creating a “win‐
win” for all levels
• Collaborative, honest and flexible

Bell Time Proposal
Current Bell Times
• High School ‐ 7:30
AM to 2:30 PM (7
hours)
• Middle School ‐ 7:50
AM to 2:40 PM (6
hours, 50 minutes)
• Elementary School ‐
8:45 AM to 3:15 PM
(6 hours, 30 minutes)
Proposed Bell Times
• High School ‐ 7:30
AM to 3:00 PM (7
hours, 30 minutes)
• Middle School ‐ 7:50
AM to 3:10 PM (7
hours, 20 minutes)
• Elementary School ‐
8:45 AM to 3:45 PM
(7 hours)

Because we have a two tier bussing
system, it is impossible to move
high school start/end times
without incurring significant
transportation costs OR without
impacting middle school and
elementary school start/end times.

Benefits
• This schedule extends each school's dismissal
time by 30 minutes providing additional
instructional time for all students at all levels.
• Maintains current start times at all levels (i.e.,
no earlier start times for secondary students).
• The schedule exceeds the USED requirements
for SIG schools to add 60 hours to the school
year.
• The schedule will not have a drastic cost
impact for transportation.

Remaining Opportunity: Addressing the PM
Operational Delays at Some Elementary
Schools
Some strategic procedures could be implemented to address the
delays at certain elementary schools including:
• Improving dismissal procedures at feeder secondary schools
• Placing all secondary schools on the same schedule
• Customizing bell times at certain elementary schools to
increase the operational gaps (e.g., Skyview and Springdale)
• Adding a few additional routes to reduce middle school
double runs and give assistance in target elementary zones
• Designing an alternative school bell schedule that allows the
system to maximize it's resources during normal operational
hours

Questions?