For the 2019-2020 school year, DCPS has eliminated the extended school year plan and moved the parent-teacher conferences around to allow for more time before the end of the terms. 

With the previous model, 13 extended-year schools started their first term a week earlier and ended a week later than traditional schools. According to DCPS, “The decision to get rid of the extended year plan was made based on multiple factors, including concerns from educators about student and staff burnout and feedback from families about the challenges they face when they have children enrolled in both traditional and extended-year schools.” 

DCPS has also made some changes to the scheduling for parent-teacher conferences for the 2019-2020 year. Last year, the parent-teacher conferences were on November 6, four days after the due date for term one grades. Now, the conferences are on October 11, four weeks before the end of the advisory. In addition, the second parent-teacher conference has been moved forward from the second week of March to the third week of January, in between advisories two and three. 

DCPS has moved the third and final conference ahead by a week. The conference was on May 28 a year ago, leaving three weeks between conferences and finals. The conferences will now be held on May 22, allowing for a solid four-week buffer between the two.

Union representative and Wilson health teacher Rebecca Bradshaw-Smith “had no idea that they moved the conferences up.” She also talked about how DCPS invited interested workers to attend meetings where the schedule for the school year is planned, but never followed up on when or where to attend the meeting.

These changes will grant students more time between parent-teacher conferences and the end of the advisory to improve their grades using the feedback from the conferences.