To complete the first semester before Christmas, the school year must often begin several weeks before Labor Day.
Here in Pinellas County, concerns about standardized testing and finishing the first semester before winter break prompted officials to announce two years ago that school would open this year on Aug. 7, 15 days earlier than in 2001.
The main benefit of the August start is to allow high school students to finish the first semester before winter break. .
The rationale behind this "August creep" is for students to finish the fall semester before winter break, and for students taking Advanced Placement tests in May to receive more instructional days earlier in order to maximize their success.
Since my institution was temporarily closed as a result of Hurricane Katrina, university officials plan to fit in two semesters before August 2006.
At the beginning of the semester, just before spring break, and at the end of the semester, students were asked to fill out a survey in which they were asked six questions, on a scale from 0 to 10 (0, worst; 10, best): 1) How much do you like biology? 2) How competent are you in biology? 3) How much do you like mathematics?
Sontag attended the University of California, Berkeley, for a semester, before in 1949, at the age of 16, she was admitted to the University of Chicago, where she formed strong bonds with teachers including critic Kenneth Burke and political philosopher Leo Strauss, intellectual father of the current neoconservatives.
Students still receive the primary benefit of the early start: finishing the fall semester before the winter break, King said.
The district also wanted to know how people feel about having the first semester finish before winter break and about the timing of enrichment and intervention programs.
The argument of having students take their fall semester finals before winter break so that they don't forget the material while on vacation isn't sound.
If the union approves the new calendars, the 2014-15 school year would begin on Aug. 12, with the first semester ending before winter break and all students finishing on May 29.
