FOCUS ON LEARNING Expanded Learning Time: The High Performers Massachusetts has 7 of the 30 expanded learning time schools across the country that are highlighted in a new report, Time Well Spent: Eight Powerful Practices of Successful, Expanded-Time Schools. The report, which is sponsored by the National Center on Time and Learning, shows that combining expanded learning time with the following practices results in improved performance: • Making every minute count or maximizing added time, • Prioritizing increased hours that are tailored to the school and their students, • Individualizing the added time for each student based on diverse needs, • Building a positive school culture of high expectations and mutual accountability, • Providing new experiences for students that make their education more well-rounded, • Preparing students for the future by encouraging college readiness and career goals, • Strengthening instruction by providing increased time for teacher professional development, and • Evaluating how well goals are met by assessing and analyzing data. “Expanded learning time is not the only lever for improving low-performing schools. Yet, as some of the most successful schools demonstrate, more time is a powerful lever for boosting student achievement, closing opportunity gaps, and improving teacher effectiveness. The challenge is to use the time wisely and well.”
Time Well Spent
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Expanding the school day is proving to be about more than simply adding time. It’s giving participating schools and communities the chance to expand learning, broaden opportunities and deepen relationships. It’s eliminating the frustrating need to decide between literacy or art, science or social studies breadth or depth. And in the most impressive ELT schools, it is eliminating achievement gaps, too.” — Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time Initiative: 2010-2011 Update, http://www.mass2020.org/files/file/2011%20MA%20Update(1).pdf, Accessed on October 14, 2011.
— National Center on Time and Learning, Time Well Spent: Eight Powerful Practices of Successful, Expanded-Time Schools, http://www.timeandlearning.org/TimeWell Spent_LO_RES_FINAL.pdf, Accessed on September 30, 2011.
Why Charters Succeed Charters [charter schools] are succeeding in part because they are providing lowincome kids the extra learning time and academic support that suburban kids get through tutoring or at home.” — Scot Lehigh, “On charter time,” The Boston Globe, September 28, 2011, A13. NOVEMBER 2011
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