AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION
OF
A COMPACT SCHOOL DAY FOR
FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN’
FRANCIS
X.
ARCHAMBAULT, JR. AND DIETER
H.
PAULUS
Boston University University
of
Connecticut
A question that
is
currently the source
of
much controversy both in and out of
educational circles is: How can teachers and students best spend their time in a
modern elementary school? Even a cursory reading of the pertinent literature re-
veals a plethora of possible resolutions to the problem and thereby the lack of agree-
ment on a single, clear-cut problem solution. Despite this disagreement on form,
most educators concur that the extant system is not the best of all possible academic
worlds.
Of the numerous alternative solutions that have been advanced, one of the more
feasible and efficacious involves a shortening of the traditional school day. This
abbreviation of “normal” classroom activity provides a block of time that can be
utilized advantageously for more highly individualized instruction and/or for
enrichment. Which option is employed is determined by the specific needs of each
student.
The Darien, Connecticut school system utilized this approach in their initial
Compact Day Program, which was conducted with
a
sample
of
first-grade students.
The children were dismissed
1
to
2
hours early each day, but small groups of children
in the selected first grades remained in school for one afternoon a week, and more
frequently
if
necessary,
to
meet with their teacher to discuss specific academic
problems.
If,
however, the students displayed no academic weakness the time was
devoted to enrichment.
The specific question asked in this evaluative research was, then: How is the
performance of first-grade students affected by a Compact Day?
To answer this question both quantitative and qualitative analyses were per-
formed. To provide the data for the quantitative analyses the achievement of
students who participated in the program was measured in October and November
of the subsequent academic year and was compared with the performance of a
randomly selected group of students who did not receive the benefits of the program.
This delayed measurement was used to determine whether the students would
retain the knowledge that they had acquired and to analyze the extended rather
than immediate effects of the program. The responses to
a
series of questionnaires by
teachers, students, and parents involved in the program provided the data for the
qualitative analyses.
METHOD
As
previously mentioned,
a
sample of first grades was selected for the initial
Compact Day Program. The sample consisted
of
six classes, three from each of two
schools selected to participate in the study
as
“experimental” schools, and
a
control
group of three classes randomly selected from the remaining schools in the system
‘The authors would like to thank Dr. Richard Dempse
formerly Assistant Superintendent
of
schools in Darien, Connecticut and currently Chairman
of
tl; Department
of
Secondary Education
at the University of Connecticut,
for
his cooperation in this evaluative endeavor.