Can Longer School Days Close the Achievement Gap?

Kelly Chen:

In an experiment aimed to raise achievement in America's public schools, 11 school districts across five states -- Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee -- will be extending their class time learning by at least 300 hours, starting in 2013. The three-year pilot program, which will serve more than 20,000 students in 40 schools, hopes to improve under-performing schools and make students more competitive internationally.

By a standard school calendar, students attend six-and-a-half hour school days for 180 days a year. Of the 1,000 schools already participating in expanded-time schedules, students attend on average 7.8 hours of school a day, according to a report by the National Center on Time & Learning.

Under the pilot program, 11 school districts will add at least 300 more hours to the academic calendar by extending hours within a day or adding more days to the academic year.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 5, 2012 3:29 AM
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