Longer School Days Are Coming to Select Massachusetts Schools
Massachusetts is one of five states to add 300 hours of class time every year for certain schools. Will it help?
Will more time in school translate into greater student achievement? Federal and state officials are announcing today that Massachusetts, along with Connecticut, New York, Tennessee and Colorado, are participating in a pilot program to find out.
Csmonitor.com reports that the program will add at least 300 hours of learning time in some schools starting next fall.
Fall River and Lawrence are the two Massachusetts towns included in the pilot project. Boston.com reports that this new program adds to an effort launched six years ago in Massachusetts to lengthen the school day in several school districts.
The pilot program reportedly will last three years and include almost 20,000 students in 40 schools with an eye to bringing in more schools if it is effective, particularly lower-performing schools in lower-income communities. Each school district gets to decide exactly how the school time will be increased: longer school days? More of them? Both?
The pilot is part of a project called the TIME (Time for Innovation Matters in Education) Collaborative, a partnership between the Ford Foundation and the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL).
What do you think about this pilot project; do you think this is a constructive approach to improving student achievement?
edith ackerman
1:27 pm on Monday, December 3, 2012
It doesn't appear that Melrose is impacted, right?
Joanne Johansson
5:18 pm on Monday, December 3, 2012
Won't help. The attention span of a child is only so long and they are already done before 2:30. What are they going to add that will benefit them academically?
Josh Chace
10:23 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
All that simply proves Joanne is that the school, teachers, and curriculum aren't engaging enough. The student body also has FAR too much to distract them which is allowed in school, namely cell phones. Why kids are able to be on their phones and text, tweet, and surf the web are beyond me. Why isn't there a policy against this?
Lory Hough
8:51 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Actually, research shows that a longer day does make a difference academically. For example, Massachusetts ran a pilot program a few years ago, expanding the day at 10 schools. After the first year, proficient English language arts scores on the MCAS jumped 39 percent above the previous five-year average. Other scores rose, as well. And there are other benefits to a longer day, beyond just academic gains. The current education system is outdated -- it's based on a model created more than a century ago, when you didn't have both parents working all day. And a longer day doesn't mean kids have to be sitting quietly all day listen to teachers lecturing. A principal I spoke to once about this said the longer day let his school have a longer recess period. It allowed teachers extra time that they normally didn't have to tutor kids. He said they basically got rid of homework because the work normally sent home was able to be completed at school, with the guidance of teachers and tutors. At other schools, a longer day allows teachers the time to tackle subjects that often get short-changed in the rush to cover the basics that will be on the MCAS and on other standardized tests. It allows more time for creative options. For many kids, especially those with both parents working outside the home, it means a safe place to be for a couple more hours. There are obstacles, of course (money, culture shift...), but I think it's only a matter of time before most districts extend their days.
edith ackerman
11:41 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Curricula have always been adapted to shorter attention spans for younger kids - -it's not like anyone is talking about keeping kids in one setting doing one thing all day (like Lory says). Re: phones at school, there are explicit policies at MHS, but phones and other technology also support learning. For example, MHS students use their phones in some classes for “spot quizzes” that enable teacher to gauge comprehension immediately. And many teachers tweet homework assignments which might be needed during the school day. At MHS phones are only allowed for these kinds of approved uses, and between classes.