Every child is unique and learns in different ways. Some children are identified as needing special education services to support his or her learning at school. Parents can play a major role in shaping the services a child receives. This guidebook has been written for parents, guardians, and surrogate parents of a child (ages 3 to 21 or…

The nation has achieved an 82.3 percent high school graduation rate--a record high. Graduation rates rose for all student subgroups, and the number of low-graduation-rate high schools and students enrolled in them dropped again, indicating that progress has had far-reaching benefits for all students. This report is the first to analyze 2014…

The After-School Corporation (TASC) follows the national discussion on expanded learning initiatives with much interest. TASC believes that by increasing the amount of time that students spend in school, students can participate in diverse activities that go beyond the structured school curricula that characterize many of the schools nationwide.…

Since their start in Houston in 1994, KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) charter schools have been the most celebrated of the No Excuses schools. Employing strict discipline, an extended school day and year, and carefully selected teachers, No Excuses schools move disadvantaged students who start behind their peers academically up to and above…

Many low-performing schools across the nation have increased learning time in response to federal requirements for the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. The conditions governing federal waivers of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) also require certain schools to redesign the school day, week, or year to include additional…

The One Year Plus policy of Baltimore City Public Schools described in this Newsletter has the potential to breathe new life into "special education" for students with disabilities. In recent decades, many waves of K-12 education reform--including the No Child Left Behind Act, charter schools, alternative teacher recruitment paths,…

New Labour's extended schools initiative added to existing models of community schooling. The paper identifies the key principles behind extended schooling, making comparisons with historical models and contemporary trends in community education. Part one examines New Labour's use of extended schools to deliver their social policy agenda. Part two…

Research has long suggested that significantly increasing quality time in school for teaching and learning can have a positive impact on student achievement. Recognizing this connection, federal guidance requires low-performing schools to increase student learning time if they are implementing two popular reform models using school improvement…

The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), an organization dedicated to redesigning and expanding school time to improve opportunities and outcomes for high-poverty students, has again teamed up with the Education Commission of the States (ECS), whose mission it is to foster the exchange of ideas on education issues among the states, to…

There is limited research demonstrating direct instruction (DI) as an effective language intervention for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and developmental disabilities (DD). Existing research has shown that instruction using partial implementation of DI programs resulted in student learning (Ganz, 2007) and instruction using whole…

The impact of class time lengths on student achievement is a complex issue with multiple extraneous factors and without definitive answers. A major theme across many of the studies reviewed is that the amount of instructional time is not so important as how that time is spent. Key points include: (1) The commonly held conception that students in…

The organisation of time at school has important implications for adolescents' development and achievement, and educators' management of out-of-school time. However, this has been a somewhat neglected research area. This paper comprises a scoping review of existing literature and secondary analysis of data on school time, in order to map out the…

Attention has been directed toward extended school time as a measure to improve academic achievement. The school year and day length have varied over time and across localities depending on the particular needs of the community. Proponents argue that extending time will have learning and non-academic benefits. Opponents suggest increased time is…

The authors supervised and trained pre-service teachers while conducting extended school year (ESY) services for pre-kindergarten and elementary students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD). Each classroom was responsible for conducting communication assessments and developing interventions focused on…

Considering the broader context of school reform that is seeking education strategies that might deliver substantial impact, this article examines four questions related to the policy and practice of expanding learning time: (a) Why do educators find the standard American school calendar insufficient to meet students' educational needs, especially…