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Instructional Hours

Graphic chart for instructional hours

Winter weather can occasionally require school closures to ensure the safety of students and staff. Groveport Madison Schools is committed to keeping families informed and providing clarity about how these closures affect instructional time throughout the school year.

In the past, Ohio required school districts to make up a specific number of missed days due to weather or other emergencies. That requirement has changed. The state now measures school calendars based on total instructional hours, rather than the number of days students are in attendance.

Ohio establishes a minimum number of instructional hours that districts must provide each school year. The Groveport Madison Schools calendar is intentionally designed to exceed the state’s minimum instructional hour requirements.

This chart outlines the state-required minimum instructional hours, and the total instructional hours built into the Groveport Madison Schools calendar

Because the district calendar exceeds the state minimum, not all hours missed due to weather closures are automatically required to be made up.

While flexibility exists within the calendar, Groveport Madison Schools recognizes the importance of in-person learning. Throughout the school year, the district evaluates instructional time and student learning to determine whether additional instructional hours are necessary. If significant learning loss is identified, the district may consider adding instructional time. If total instructional hours were to fall below the state minimum, the district would be required by the state to make up that time. 

As part of the minimum hours, districts and schools may use:

  • Up to two equivalent days for the purpose of individualized parent-teacher conferences and reporting periods
  • Up to two equivalent days for the purpose of professional meetings of teachers

Due to staggered starts, some grade levels have fewer hours. The school calendar has a maximum of 176 school days, plus the four allowable days mentioned above for a total of 180 school days with three 2-hour early releases.

(Click the table above to print a PDF version.)