ED. Magazine

Time Hasn’t Been on Their Side

By Lory Hough
14 Comments

In Massachusetts, after the first year of the initiative, “proficient” English language arts scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test at the 10 schools jumped 39 percent above the previous five-year average. At Edwards, the number of students scoring “proficient” on the math portion of the test rose 12.7 percentage points. At KIPP Ascend, where many fifth-graders start one or two grades behind in reading and math, after four years at the school, 100 percent of eighth-graders passed math and 94 percent passed reading on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.

Reville and Gabrieli both say it will probably take at least five years before they can really analyze the results in Massachusetts. “You can see success earlier when you look at how parents or how faculty feel — that you can find pretty quickly,” Reville says. “But when it comes to trends in student achievement, we really only have one set of results. We need to see a few more years. But we’re confident that we’ll see it happen.”

Damien Pankam, an eighth-grader at Edwards, says his grades have gone up since he started the longer day. “The teachers expect more but they also explain more,” he says. “There’s also more time to ask questions. That makes the work easier for us. The teachers also have extra time to review material that we did last year.”

edwards_school_step.jpg

Some of the evidence is not based on scores, but on how students act. Riley says that last year, about 20 sixth-grade families picked the as their first choice. This year, the number shot to 243 for 80 slots. And it’s not just parents doing the choosing: students want to be at schools with longer days. Domonique Toombs and Lauder Quitumba, Edwards eighthgraders, both say they’d even make the day longer if they could.

“I love stepping. If I have a bad day, stepping helps me let go of all of my anger,” Toombs says. “But, stepping [class] also goes like that,” she says, snapping her fingers. “I’d like to go even later, until at least 5:30 p.m.”

Quitumba agrees: “When I play sports, the teacher will say two more minutes and it’s time to go. It goes by too fast.”

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  • Bess Kapetanis

    Clearly the quality of teaching and learning is key to the success of ELT schools. Teachers must have rich professional development to engage, challenge, and provide students with 21st century skills. Perhaps,then, PD needs to be reenvisioned and expanded beyond current teacher collaboration within buildings. Quality online learning for teachers, for example, offers the flexibility to be incorporated within the ELT day or completed at other times convenient for teachers.

  • Cornell Woodson

    I think expanding the hours that students spend in school is not very creative and does not address many other issues that play a role in the success of students. I would like to know if anyone has studied when a person’s brain becomes completely functional in the morning and at what point in the evening does it slow down.
    In my high school we start at 8:25 p.m. and had a 20 minute break at 10 a.m. We did that because they found that starting to early was not helping anything because people are still waking up. Also, having a brief break and allow students to get a snack to energize themselves was helpful.
    Lastly, I really think if we want students to be successful we need to pay close attention to other aspects of their lives that cloud their minds when they are being taught geometry or discussing World War II. I know when I was in middle it was hard for me to concentrate on the work in front of me, because I was thinking about the bully that was going to chase me home after school. We need to support the whole student and not pieces of him or her.

  • Maria Leaver

    During the Australian summer holidays I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, The Story of Success. It resonated well with what I have observed having worked as a teacher for 30 years across various socio-economic environments. Generally, Gladwell maintains, students from high socio-economic groups are given more out of school oportunities. Gladwell calls this concerted cultivation and intense scheduling. It made me reflect on the absurdity of our “one size fits all” approach to education. If education is meant to be an equaliser, and it should have this potential, why ar we not providing opportunities within education systems for students from poorer homes to access extra time. What about, as Peter Senge says, some systems thinking about opportunities for all for concerted cultivation, and intense scheduling. Creative thinking, 21st century technology, an awareness of Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and a concern and love for all children could make this happen’. And in the words of Otto Scharmer’s Theory U, accessing our Open Mind, Open Heart and Open Will.

  • Qidi Lu

    Expanding the hours that a student spent at school is not a good idea if we wnat to improve their academic ability, since the same medicine would have different affect on different people. For the students who really want to study in a quite place, adding the hours at school would only have an opposite effect. While for the students who do not want to study at all, it would only be a waste of time and energy, for the student and the teacher as well. Students would not learn much if they are forced to do so.
    So, why not ask the students if they really wanna stay at school for a longer time before the school make this decision? If they want to study at home, let them go; if they do not wnat study, let them go; if they want more hours at school, keep them. That would be more efficient, at least, we should respect the students’ wishes.

  • katriona

    Interesting idea. If you want public school teachers to do this, its going to mean two things….first, money. secondly, very clear parameters around extended duties. I teach all day and go home to being a parent of school age children that need my help with their homework. How can I help my own kids at night if kids I teach during the day are calling me? There are privacy issues there as well. Another consideration is as teachers who are also parents, how are we supposed to have time to get our kids to the doctors or dentists or their commitements if we’re teaching so long? Whats the matter with various tutorial programs and on site assistance without lengthening the day?
    What happened to the outstanding success we had with homogeneous grouping, and why wont anyone talk about doing that again? not everyone is born to be a rocket scientist and it is foolish for educators to be expected to train every kid to be one. As a middle school teacher, activities have to be switched every 25 minutes in order to keep students’ attention. How much are they going to listen after 60 minutes, let alone 110? After an hour they’ll be so disinterested they wont listen to anything, even a chance to earn free iTunes downloads.
    thanks for listening.

  • chris perez

    I am a student of the Edwards Middle School and i beleive that the academics and the different types of programs and oppurtunities that they provide really help us as students with the things that we must prepare for and get through both academically, socially, and physically.

  • angela

    I think expanding the school day is a great idea. NCLB has obliterated the time that used to be devoted to recess, arts, gym etc. to teach to tests. Why not give young students the opportunity to exercise and use their creative talents during the extended school day? France has always had extended days as well as a Saturday schedule. I wonder what India’s and China’s student schedules are?
    Most parents have to work 8 to 12 hour days and take another hour commute to get home. Although an extended day is not supposed to be “in loco parentis,” it could certainly augment their work schedules. To respond to the teacher who commented on “How are we supposed to have time to get our kids to the doctors or dentists or their commitments if we’re teaching so long?” Welcome to the world of the parents, they’ve been doing this all along.

  • Juan

    All I can say is that I love music no matter what.

  • heimarbeit ohne kosten

    Teens with great talents should be well taken care of and should be encouraged to do well in their respective endeavors.

  • Anonymous

    Expanded learning time is a good idea so that students have longer time in school, studying and being busy in school activities.

  • Janestadermann

    I agree. If schools are trying to create an enriched person through education, then the student’s perspective, especially from teenage years is crucial in order to expect a reciprocal respect for the education system. Providing opportunities for a extra subjects and constructive time use is an excellent idea but to force it as an expectation could lead to an overload for the student which may lead to poorer results or lack of motivation if they feel overwhelmed: with some it would work, others not. The biological makeup of teenagers goes through a big shift during these years, when they actually need more sleep than a younger child and their waking/sleeping body clock is in misalignment with ‘regular hours’. They need time for themselves, and whether they decide they want to spend this furthering school work or on more creative or sporting extra-curricula hours, then this should be up to them. The rat race comes all too soon and they need to be given their own -not imposed- mindset.

  • http://www.thatwayhat.com/ Geoffrey

    I agree with Qidi Lu and Janestadermann up to a point — students should get a choice because by their nature some will benefit more from more time in school while others will be stifled or bored. Especially for lower income students who may have less attention at home from parent and fewer alternative choices for their time out of school, longer school hours may be beneficial. The problem with a complete choice is that it relies on the parents being concerned about making the best choice and/or the students able to direct themselves wisely in their choice. Probably longer school hours unless a somewhat compelling reason (with an alternative plan) is presented for not participating would be a good compromise on the compulsory vs choice issue.

  • http://www.thatwayhat.com/ Geoffrey

    I agree with Qidi Lu and Janestadermann up to a point — students should get a choice because by their nature some will benefit more from more time in school while others will be stifled or bored. Especially for lower income students who may have less attention at home from parent and fewer alternative choices for their time out of school, longer school hours may be beneficial. The problem with a complete choice is that it relies on the parents being concerned about making the best choice and/or the students able to direct themselves wisely in their choice. Probably longer school hours unless a somewhat compelling reason (with an alternative plan) is presented for not participating would be a good compromise on the compulsory vs choice issue.

  • http://www.joycheapbuy.com/ Jerry Hardy

    In my opinion,for the students who really want to study in a quite place, adding the hours at school would only have an opposite effect. While for the students who do not want to study at all, it would only be a waste of time and energy, for the student and the teacher as well. Students would not learn much if they are forced to do so.

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