New Report Profiles Schools With Expanded Time As National Leaders Call For More Time In School

BOSTON, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report by the National Center on Time & Learning has found that a growing number of U.S. schools have broken from the traditional school calendar and expanded learning time to improve educational outcomes.  The report is based on a database developed by the National Center on Time & Learning and is the first effort to catalogue schools operating with days substantially longer than the six-hour norm and in many cases a calendar that exceeds the standard 180 day school year.  

The report comes at a time of great momentum for the issue nationally.  In March, President Obama called for expanded learning time as part of his education agenda, stating "We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day."  In his Senate confirmation hearing, Arne Duncan said, "I think our school day is too short, our week is too short, our year is too short."  And the guidelines for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), including the highly competitive Race to the Top grant, channel unprecedented federal funds to education and include lengthening the school day and year as a strategy for improving schools.  

"Across the country, we are seeing a growing number of schools recognizing that we need to give our children more time to reach the higher standards we have set for them," said Jennifer Davis, President of the National Center on Time & Learning. "As policy makers and educators focus on raising student achievement and ensuring a well-rounded education, there is a new recognition that expanded time must be part of the equation."

The report and accompanying database was supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and comes over 25 years after A Nation at Risk called for a longer school day and year.  The report, Tracking an Emerging Movement: A Report on Expanded-Time Schools in America, identifies 655 schools in 36 states serving more than 300,000 students and includes key characteristics and survey data on 245 schools on how the added time is utilized and funded.  Significant findings from the analysis of the profiled schools include:

• On average these schools offer about 25 percent more time than the national norm, which would translate over the course of a school career to over three additional years in school for participating students;
• While many of the schools included are public charter schools, more than one-quarter of the schools identified are standard district public schools;
• Compared with national averages, schools with expanded time serve a more heavily minority and poorer student population;
• 75 percent of schools that convert from a traditional school schedule to an expanded school day pay their teachers more for the additional time worked, an average increase of over 13 percent, while only 44 percent of new schools that start up offer increased compensation; and
• Data suggests that more time may boost academic achievement, with students in schools with a significantly expanded school day outperforming their district peers.