Los Angeles Unified School Summary

The article I read is about the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The topic of the article deals with having students get an earlier start in the school year, and ending early. This would affect all levels of students; like elementary, middle, and high school aged. The main purpose of changing the entrance and exit of a school year is, because schools want better test scores. Schools would start fifteen days before the regular school year, which would be in August instead of September. By starting the school system earlier, students would be able to take first-semester exams before their winter vacation. The school board believes this would be an advantage to student who are in high school, because they would be able to take the
I feel that the ones who will benefit more from this are students that are in high-school, not so much students in elementary and middle-schools. It benefits students in high-school, because I think their test scores matter more than other students. By taking the exit-exam later on in the school year it will help students, because they would be more prepared and more knowledgeable of the subjects and questions being asked. By allowing more time to prepare for that test I think more students would pass it in the first shot, and by doing that, then who ever pays for the test whether it be the state or district it would save money on re-test. It would also benefit those who take advance placement classes, because they would also get to study longer for them, and maybe by doing that they would have a higher chance of getting into better
By taking first-semester exams sooner, I feel that those scores would not turn out high. Students would be to anxious to get out for winter break that they would not focus on test. Another disadvantage that deals with those tests is that they will not get as much time to prepare for them like the tests in the second-semester. It will also be hotter in class rooms during the first-semester, so this will allow most students to not be able to concentrate; this would be more of the case in elementary schools. The biggest disadvantage I see is with reading and math. Most students struggle with these two subjects, and by giving them less time to practice they will not be able to succeed in it the way they should. Without these two skills being better than average, how does the school district expect that test scores will be better. Schools should focus more on reading and math, especially in elementary schools, because these are the foundations they need in order to move out of high-school, and on to further