Finding Time for Success

"We really don't know if we need more time," said Elena Silva, a senior policy analyst at the Washington think tank Education Sector. "Could we design schools differently? If more time is spent on engaged learning and less on classroom management and other things, then you don't really need to extend time."

David Baker, an education and sociology professor at Penn State University, said international math test data show that more class time doesn't always yield better scores. "Taiwan has high scores, and they have a lot of instruction time, but so do the Philippines, and they don't do very well," Baker said. "I think the school day is a bit of a nonissue. It deflects from the real issue of instructional quality."

Nancy Mullen, principal of Matthew J. Kuss Middle School in Fall River, Mass., said that longer mandatory school days ensure that every student benefits. Extra time for math and reading, she said, as well as fun lessons on Harry Potter chemistry, ham radios and drama helped Kuss become the state's first chronically underperforming middle school to shed that label and meet its targets under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

"We were doing a lot of things at once, so it's hard to determine the benefit of expanded learning time," Mullen said. "We have a new curriculum. I'm hopeful we're instructing in new and more exciting ways. If I had to place a bet, I'd say it was a combination of all of them."

Mullen said it was hard to know exactly how long to stretch the day. Last school year, Kuss students spent nearly nine hours in school four days a week, with one shorter day. By midyear, the schedule was wearing on teachers. This school year, Kuss scaled back to eight hours and 15 minutes a day.

Charter schools, with public funding but independent management, often lengthen school days. D.C. Prep teacher Melissa Long said her second-grade classes have grown richer with the longer school day. In Baltimore, where she previously taught, Long didn't have much time for social studies, let alone science experiments and other hands-on activities that get kids excited. "It was all math, reading and test prep," she said.

In a survey of almost 350 school systems, the District-based Center on Education Policy found that 44 percent cut time from elementary school subjects including science, social studies, art and physical education to make more time for reading and math -- the subjects the federal law stresses.

One recent Friday, Long's students measured their arm span in inches and the length of a long jump in centimeters, part of the 80-minute-a-day math lesson. They learned about words ending in "-ice" and talked about voting and elections during two hours of literacy work. There was still time to read "The Giving Tree" and start a discussion about the economics of needs and wants. Students also played chess and had art and physical education classes. There's also time built into each day to give struggling students extra help.

"Even though the hours are hard, it's worth it," Long said. "I see the difference in my kids and their families."

Second-grader Hevin Bellamy-Jones, 7, said she's happy to spend more time in school. "When you go home, you say, 'Mom and Dad, I don't need help. I learned it at school,' " she said. "We could learn better and we could get smart, and when we go to college we could get a certificate."