Students benefit from longer school days
March 17, 2010 2:16 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Mike Feinberg: Schools that cut out a day to save money are making a crucial mistake
- Author co-founded KIPP schools; they have longer days and are outperforming others
- Feinberg says more time means more learning for children, programs don't have to be cut
- Americans will be competing with Chinese, where kids get much more schooling
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Editor's note: Mike Feinberg is co-founder of the Knowledge Is Power Program, KIPP, and is the superintendent of KIPP Houston. KIPP is a network of 82 high-performing public charter schools serving 21,000 children in 19 states. In 2004, Mike was named an Ashoka Fellow, awarded to leading social entrepreneurs, and in 2008, he received the Presidential Citizens Medal.
Houston, Texas (CNN) -- School districts nationwide are trimming funds, for custodians to school supplies, to address widening budget gaps. Even public schools in affluent communities such as Mill Valley, California, and Scarsdale, New York, are scrambling to make ends meet.
In a final act of desperation, more than 100 school districts in 17 states have done the unthinkable --they've eliminated an entire school day each week. This decision is particularly wrongheaded as results from the Massachusetts Extended Learning Time Initiative last year showed that schools with expanded schedules improved at double the state rate in English and math.