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 announced 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?
Rose Saia
10:18 pm on Monday, December 3, 2012
Jonathan Kozol wrote "Death at an Early Age" revealing the massive flaws in the Boston public schools in the 1960s and later covered poor student achievement in New York, New Jersey and St. Louis. Hie correlated economics and social status to poor student achievement and when interviewed, said that there was one thing that could pervasively improve education and schools ... "Money." When this point was disputed, he remained firm that it would level the playing field. So, should we send our kids to school for more hours or give under performing schools the resources, I.e, money, they need to succeed? And also give those students and families the ability to eat three healthy meals a day in a country where obesity is a problem. We could provide incentives for teachers who work tirelessly in these schools so our best and brightest make this their career choice. Sending students in underperforming schools for more hours will keep them off the streets or away from video games but what role is school playing then?