Over the last several years, public education in the U.S. has experienced a remarkable growth in the number of schools that have expanded their schedules beyond the conventional calendar of 180 6.5-hour days. Spurred by significant policy activity at the federal, state, and local levels, more and more educators have capitalized on opportunities to…

Expanding learning time has become a leading strategy for closing the achievement and opportunity gaps that plague high-poverty schools in particular. With more time, educators are able to deepen the curriculum, embed enrichment classes and activities, and engage in frequent opportunities for teacher collaboration and professional development.…

The purpose of this study was to analyze student academic performance data from year-round calendar high schools across the United States in comparison to those of traditional calendar high schools within the same states. This study sought to determine if the mean passing scores of students for the last three academic years in four important…

More schools than ever are expanding their schedules beyond the traditional limits of six and a half hours a day, 180 days of the year. Schools serving predominantly high-poverty populations make up the vast majority of this emerging movement as they try to overcome the widespread failure of schooling to meet academic goals for high-risk students.…

Since 2000, Maryland has provided state supplemental funds to Head Start and Early Head Start (EHS) programs to improve access. Local EHS programs may use funds, through child care partnerships, to extend the EHS day or year. Maryland's approach to building on EHS includes: (1) Increase the capacity of existing Head Start and EHS programs to…

Policymakers are promoting expanded learning time to help low-performing students, but the know-how and resources for implementation are lacking. Providence's expanded-school-day pilot is a partnership between the school district and the Providence After School Alliance, a nonprofit that manages after-school programs for low-income students in…

The community of East Lake, home to Charles R. Drew Charter School (Drew), is 6 miles from downtown Atlanta. In 1995, crime in East Lake was 19 times higher than the national average. Now, violent crime is down 95 percent. In 1995, 88 percent of residents were unemployed. Now, only 5 percent receive welfare. In 1995, just 5 percent of fifth…

Schedule redesign is only one small part of the much larger approach to turning around low-performing schools. Even so, most states' No Child Left Behind waiver applications show a disappointing lack of detail on learning time. While they've done some careful thinking about schedule redesign, states must continue to think critically and…

This article presents a report on expanded-time (ET) schools in America produced by the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), with the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Extracting and analyzing information from NCTL's database of 655 schools, this report describes trends emerging among these schools, including issues…

This study looks at the question of whether charter schools are more innovative in their provision of extended time policies than a matched set of traditional public schools. Data for this study was collected from a sample of traditional public and charter schools that partner with the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) for interim…

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, and the Education Commission of the States (ECS), with a mission to foster both the exchange of ideas on education issues among the states and long range strategic…

The Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time (ELT) initiative was established in 2005 with planning grants that allowed a limited number of schools to explore a redesign of their respective schedules and add time to their day or year. Participating schools are required to expand learning time by at least 300 hours per academic year to improve student…

This spring, officials in Fairfax County, Virginia, like those in localities across the country during these economic hard times, were in a fiscal bind and looking for any way to close a projected $650 million budget shortfall. School officials began looking seriously at slashing one line item: the nearly $3 million the county spends to fund a…

Extended school years are being considered by districts around the country as educators search for new ways to raise student achievement. The addition of time to the school calendar is also supported by President Barack Obama, who recently stated that American students do not spend enough time in school. This Information Capsule addresses research…

The Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time (ELT) initiative was established in 2005 with planning grants that allowed a limited number of schools to explore a redesign of their respective schedules and add time to their day or year. Participating schools are required to expand learning time by at least 300 hours per academic year to improve student…