Expanded School Days Gain Popularity

posted by: Alix | October 24, 2011, 09:22 PM

One of the most debated aspects of school reform has been the issue of the traditional school schedule. Currently, most of the country operates on the traditional short, five-day school week with summers off, a system largely based on a century's old calendar that has little significance for the majority of American students. As reformers seek to find a schedule that works, many have argued for school week models that not only add instructional time, but do so based on the highest student need.

In Rhode Island, for example, districts are piloting a new system that adds an extra hour to the school day, five days a week, focused on building on the stem subjects—science, technology, engineering, and math. For two of those weekly hours, students leave the classroom for field-based instruction led by their teacher in partnership with community providers. On the other days, the additional hour is reserved for instruction related to the field experiences.

In Texas, a Houston district adopted strategies from high-performing charter schools for its Apollo 20 Initiative that added five days to the year and an hour of instructional time to the day, four days a week as a means to turn around a failing urban district.

Similarly in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in a heated battle with the teacher unions to increase instruction time under their current system. Urban schools advocates insist that with longer days students will have more time in the classroom obviously, but also will be kept off the streets during the times students in inner cities might be more likely to get into trouble.

While many experts assert that these programs can be extremely beneficial, funding constraints are traditionally a factor in implementation. "Quite honestly, there is no way with our economy that we could robustly afford to expand the school day for all of our kids," said Hillary Salmons, architect of the Rhode Island program. "For this model to be scalable, we need to be strategic with limited funds."

Still, districts in New York, Florida, and elsewhere are expanding the school day as a turnaround strategy with other states, like Colorado, investing in research to determine whether expanded learning is an effective use of state funds. With a No Child Left Behind overhaul underway in the Senate, additional states may consider expanding as the current draft of the legislation suggests the strategy as a school turnaround option.

The National Center on Time & Learning, an organization that tracks these programs, estimates that 1,000 schools around the country currently have expanded-learning-time models, all of which vary in performance and outcomes. While the number grows exponentially yearly, reform experts contend that expanding the day can be an effective tool; however, more time isn't a magic bullet. "We need to make sure we're doing all we can to use time smarter and more efficiently before simply demanding more of it," said AEI's Frederick M. Hess.

Clearly while factors including funding, and the overall strategy of implementing a longer school day are elements to consider, the average school calendar will undoubtedly be modified and modernized in the years ahead.

What do you think about the longer school day model? Would it work for your school?
Comment below.

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