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Monday, January 6, 2014

The Educated Reporter: Ten Questions To Ask On Expanded Learning Time

The Educated Reporter: Ten Questions To Ask On Expanded Learning Time:

Ten Questions To Ask On Expanded Learning Time



Amid the push to improve public education, a frequent complaint by educators is that there isn’t enough time in the school day to adequately cover everything students are supposed to be learning – or to address the myriad challenges they bring with them to class every day.

As a result, school districts nationally are looking for ways to expand learning timefor students. In some instances, that effort means adding minutes to the traditional day or providing weekend programs. In others, the focus is on stemming the well-documented and often substantial learning loss that occurs during the long summer break.

Much of the attention is put on minority students and students from low-income families who are already struggling in school. (For more on the educational equity gap in high-poverty schools, and how expanded learning time might be used to address it, consider a recent op-ed by Lucy Friedman, president of ExpandedED Schools by TASC (The After-School Corporation), which provides programs and