Arguments for longer school day grow with national opinion

I got an advance look at the first count of U.S. public schools that have significantly expanded learning time. The report, released Monday by the National Center on Time & Learning, reveals that a surprisingly large number -- 655 -- give students an average of 25 percent more time than the standard 6 1/2 hours a day, 180 days a year. But I was disappointed that only about 160 in that group are regular public schools.

The District has 18 schools on the list, more than in all but 10 states. But they are charter public schools. The majority of D.C. children are in regular schools. They have not had a chance to see what a big jump in learning time might do for them.

The Washington area suburbs are also disappointing. Maryland has only two schools on the list, both charters in Baltimore. One -- the KIPP Ujima Village Academy -- has cut back its hours under union pressure to pay teachers the standard hourly rate for the extra time. The only Virginia schools on the list are the two An Achievable Dream schools set up by the Newport News school district to help impoverished students.

I like longer school days because I have seen them help bring significant increases in achievement in several charter school networks, including Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, YES and KIPP. Most important are their great teachers, the flame of learning. But increased time is the fuel.

Keep in mind, however, some of the D.C. schools on the extended-time list are not high-performing at all, a point made by Elena Silva, a senior policy analyst at the Washington-based think tank Education Sector:

"Research shows that extending the right kind of time to the students who need it most can improve student learning and effectively close achievement gaps between poor and minority students and their more affluent peers. . . . But the preponderance of evidence on extending time in schools suggests that the benefits of adding time to the school day or year are by no means certain or universal."

Christopher Gabrieli, chairman of the National Center on Time & Learning, said more time doesn't help unless teachers know how to deal with each child. "The guys who use more time the best individualize instruction the most," he said.

Charters are more likely to have longer school days because they are usually nonunion and don't have to follow their districts' teacher contracts. One reason why Maryland has few charters, and why KIPP Ujima is in trouble, is that Maryland requires its charters to be unionized.

The states with the largest portion of traditional schools on the list are Louisiana (40 out of 56), where unions are weak, and Massachusetts (34 out of 77), which has a state-funded program to lengthen school days.

David Farbman, author of the report, said many state officials did not know which schools had extended the school day or year, so there are probably more that were not identified. The report missed at least two D.C. schools, the KIPP AIM Academy and the KIPP WILL Academy, which have nine-hour days. (About 10 percent of schools on the national list are part of KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, the subject of my most recent book.)

Americans are split on extending school time. It costs money. But President Obama has put it on his agenda, unions are backing some efforts, and support for a modest increase has grown. Asked in 1982 whether they would favor increasing the school day by an hour, only 37 percent of Americans surveyed said yes. That number has nearly doubled. More schools should try it.

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