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Longer School Days

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Are Long School Days the Answer to Educational Concerns?

There has been recent talk of longer school days, but one mom doesn't believe it's the right option for children.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about increasing the length of time that students spend in the classroom each day. Recently, it was announced that a pilot program will be introduced in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Tennessee and Colorado that will allow some cities and towns to lengthen the school day. The goal is to determine if the move to a longer school day will help students to achieve more academically. Here in Massachusetts two towns, Lawrence and Fall River, are expected to participate in the program which will add approximately 300 hours of learning time to the school year. The pilot program is expected to continue for approximately three years. Now, let’s face it. As moms we do joke around a lot about dying for …

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Bob

1:03 pm on Wednesday, January 9, 2013

I agree Dave! We also need to look at the delivery system (ie teachers). We need to get the unions out of the education business. My kids have had great teachers in Tewksbury and they have had very bad teachers too. The bad ones never seem to get rooted out and some of the good ones have left. We need to get back to teaching American Exceptionalism in our schools and challenge our kids to be …   more ›

Monday, December 3, 2012

Longer School Days Are Coming to Select Massachusetts Schools

Massachusetts is one of five states to add 300 hours of class time every year for certain schools. Will it help?

Will more time in school translate to greater student achievement? Federal and state officials are announcing today that Massachusetts, along with Connecticut, New York, Tennessee and Colorado, are participating in a pilot program to find out. Csmonitor.com reports that the program will add at least 300 hours of learning time in some schools starting next fall.  Fall River and Lawrence are the two Massachusetts towns included in the pilot project. Boston.com reports that this new program adds to an effort launched six years ago in Massachusetts to lengthen the school day in several school districts. The pilot program reportedly will last three years and include almost 20,000 students in 40 schools with an eye to bringing in more schools if…

TomH

5:59 pm on Monday, December 3, 2012

If the school year is still 180 days, and they want to add 300 hours a year, that averages out to one hour and 40 minutes per school day. What will they use this time for? Real classroom time? Extra study time? How are they going to negotiate with the teachers unions for these longer school days? Without any of these answers in hand, I think just keeping the kids supervised and out of mischief …   more ›

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