More Learning Time Without More Money?
Lengthen the school day! Shorten the summer break! Keep U.S. students in school longer to make them more competitive with their international counterparts! To realistic educators, enthusiastic calls for expanded learning time may seem like pie in the sky. In tight fiscal times when schools are scrambling just to maintain current programs and staffing, how can we possibly afford to expand instructional time?
More learning time doesn't necessarily require more resources--just flexible use of the resources we have, according to Ben Lummis, Vice President of the National Center on Time and Learning. In a May 12 webinar sponsored by Schools Moving Up, Lummis described how some schools are using creative staffing, flexible scheduling, community partners, and technology to expand learning time without adding cost or asking teachers to work a longer day. Some examples:
- Rocketship Mateo Sheedy Elementary School in Palo Alto, California, incorporates a 100-minute learning lab into each school day. Students engaged in computer-based math and reading lessons, supervised by