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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
05/12/2024 03:54 AM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20230&cosponId=41048
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House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: June 20, 2023 10:56 AM
From: Representative Jesse Topper
To: All House members
Subject: Providing our students flexible instructional time in school
 
In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation which will provide increased flexibility in the way school districts, intermediate units, and career and technical centers schedule instructional time in Pennsylvania to allow for increased individualized education, student support, and more focused workforce development.

Current law requires all public kindergartens, elementary and secondary schools to be kept open for at least 180 days AND 900/990 hours each school year.  My legislation will change that requirement to 180 days OR 900/990 hours of instruction per year.

Counting seat time is an outdated method of providing instruction to todays’ students.  In fact, Pennsylvania is one of only 18 states that require both a day and hour requirement.

This ties our school districts, intermediate units, and career and technical centers to rigid schedules, rendering them unable to customize schedules for various groups of students based on their abilities, interests, and grade level.  All students learn at different paces - some require less time to obtain the skills – others require more support and more time.  Adjusting the current statute will allow schools to develop their school calendar around the specific needs of the local community, school and students.

If provided with a 180-day OR 900/990- hour requirement, schools will be better equipped to be more creative and innovative in their practices, including:
  • Increasing schedule flexibility.  Longer days and shorter school year or longer school year with shorter days will allow accommodation for weather conditions, professional development, and community events.
  • Focusing on quality rather than quantity and customizing students’ instructional time to fit their needs.
  • Providing additional assistance to students, such as students with Individualized Education Plans, or English as Second Language, can be accommodated based on their learning needs.
  • Providing flexibility for career preparation and engagement, such as apprenticeships, internships, and career and technical education programs.
  • Providing flexibility in instructional time based on subject areas– some courses require a longer, sustained learning time and some require shorter learning time.
  • Allowing remote learning to be tracked more accurately through the use of hours, not days for full-time remote learners (just like cyber charters).
  • Increasing the engagement of students with more problem-based learning and experience-based learning, along with mastery of their core skills.
No student is the same and it is beyond time to modernize our system so that more students have the ability to obtain individualized instructional plans. Please join me in sponsoring this legislation to provide flexibility and innovation for our school districts, intermediate units, and career and technical centers.
 


Introduced as HB1507