Class time at Seattle high schools differs

At Garfield High in Seattle, classes last at least 55 minutes. At Nathan Hale High, they're often 50. Garfield has eight short days when students arrive late or leave early so teachers can collaborate and train. Nathan Hale has 40, and schedules 100 minutes each week for students to simply read.

At the end of the year, that means students at Garfield spend about 23 more hours in each academic class — roughly the equivalent of four more weeks of instruction, according to an analysis done by a parents group in West Seattle.

The question is: Does that matter?

The parents say it should, especially given State Board of Education regulations that say that each high-school class must have 150 hours of "planned instructional activities" per year.

The way the parents calculate it, only two of Seattle's 10 large high schools — Garfield and Roosevelt — offer that much time.

On Thursday, the parents sent their analysis and a petition to Seattle Public Schools and the state Board of Education, asking that class time be increased in schools where they say it falls short. It may be the first time anyone has formally challenged a high school or a school district on this issue.

"It's reasonable to assume that a student who gets more hours in a given year is going to get more out of their education," said Kevin Lorensen, a Garfield High parent who is one of the group's leaders.

But others say the matter isn't so straightforward. Not only is state law unclear about what can be counted in the 150 hours, some argue that time in class isn't as important as the parents might think.

Kathe Taylor, policy director at the State Board of Education, wonders if counting minutes is like missing the forest for the trees.

"If one school district can do in two hours what it takes another six hours to do, and the students achieve equally well, then you have to ask what difference does it make," she said.

Marni Campbell, principal at Nathan Hale, agrees.

"Raw minutes," she said, "is nowhere near the whole story."

The real proof of a school's schedule is student achievement, she said, and Hale's test scores exceed the district and state average. And Campbell says she's never had a complaint about class time from a Nathan Hale parent.

Seattle school officials say they're confident that all the district's schools meet the 150-hour rule. It calculates class hours differently than did the group of West Seattle parents, who were involved with a fight over whether West Seattle High should have a four-period block schedule or a standard six-period school day.

In the district's view, state law allows reading periods, testing and other activities to be included in the 150 hours — even the time students spend walking from one class to another.

At the same time, class hours is one of 10 issues that the district's high-school steering committee plans to study, said High School Director Michael Tolley.

The West Seattle group, however, thinks the issue needs a higher priority.

The group's goal, Lorensen said, is to spur the state to enforce the 150-hour rule, and to raise awareness of the issue.

He says he can imagine that parents and a school could agree that shorter class time might be all right to make way for other beneficial activities.

His group just thinks that parents should always be part of that decision, he said.

The group discovered the differences in class time between schools as part of its effort to bring a six-period day back to West Seattle High. (And when that school had a four-period block schedule, it sought and received a state waiver.)

Even though that debate is over, Lorensen said the parents felt a responsibility to raise questions about class time at other schools.

They define "planned instructional time" simply as time spent in class. They don't think it should include the five to 10 minutes between classes, or the hours students spend taking the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or sleeping because school starts late due to teacher-training activities.

"Are those really things we want to count as class time?" asked Lorensen. "From a parent's perspective, I would say no."

They also doubt it's a coincidence that two of the district's top-performing schools — Roosevelt and Garfield — also have the longest class times.

Arcella Hall, director of secondary reinvention at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, says she can't recall anyone challenging a high school on its class times before.

Some high schools, however, do seek a waiver from the 150-hour rule.

Last year, Hall managed those requests at OSPI. There were 27, she said, and all were granted.

The committee that considered the waiver requests asked for evidence of support from the superintendent, the school board and the community, she said. It also looked at the school's academic record.

If that's all in place, Hall said, then "I'm willing to support it."

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com