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<DIV class=timestamp>August 22, 2011</DIV>
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<H1><NYT_HEADLINE version="1.0" type=" ">Shortchanged by the
Bell</NYT_HEADLINE></H1><NYT_BYLINE>
<H6 class=byline>By LUIS A. UBIÑAS and CHRIS
GABRIELI</H6></NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT>
<DIV id=articleBody><NYT_CORRECTION_TOP></NYT_CORRECTION_TOP>
<P>AFTER a summer of budget cuts in Washington and state capitals, we have only
to look to our schools, when classes begin in the next few weeks, to see who
will pay the price. </P>
<P>The minimum required school day in West Virginia is already about the length
of a “Harry Potter” double feature. In Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Milwaukee,
summer school programs are being slashed or eliminated. In Oregon and California
this year, students will spend fewer days in the classroom; in rural communities
from New Mexico to Idaho, some students will be in school only four days a week.
</P>
<P>For all the talk about balancing the budget for the sake of our children,
keeping classrooms closed is a perverse way of giving them a brighter future.
</P>
<P>What’s needed is more time in classrooms, not less. Our school calendar, with
its six-and-a-half-hour day and 180-day year, was designed for yesterday’s farm
economy, not today’s high-tech one. While many middle-class families now
invest in tutoring and extra learning time, less-privileged children are left on
the sidelines, which only widens gaps in achievement and opportunity. </P>
<P>Two years ago President Obama said that the “challenges of a new century
demand more time in the classroom.” Plenty of research suggests that one of the
strongest indicators of scholastic achievement is the amount of actual time
devoted to learning. Therefore, we need to move schools toward longer days and
years. Ideally, increasing learning time by 30 percent would mean more
individualized support; a more well-rounded education in a broader array of
subjects, from science and foreign languages to arts and robotics; and less
unsupervised after-school and summer time. For parents, it would mean a school
day better aligned with the typical work day. </P>
<P>The good news is that more than 1,000 schools in the United States are now
using expanded schedules. Almost every high-performing charter network in the
country, from KIPP to Achievement First, uses significantly more scheduled time
to achieve impressive academic gains, and many public schools, spurred by local
initiatives, innovative state policies and federal leadership, are also adopting
this promising practice. </P>
<P>In Boston, for example, the Edwards Middle School has gone, in five years,
from the worst-performing, least-desired middle school to a model of success
after it increased scheduled teaching time by 30 percent. Students there now
outperform the state average proficiency rate in math and have nearly closed
achievement gaps in literacy. This has occurred in a school where over 80
percent of the students come from low-income families. </P>
<P>Perhaps most surprising, some schools have shown that these changes can be
made without spending more money. Brooklyn Generation School replaced most
administrators with teachers and staggered all employees’ schedules, allowing it
to increase learning time by 30 percent without additional cost. Class sizes
have been reduced and the burden on teachers lowered. Last spring, 90 percent of
seniors graduated on time. Remarkably, when these students entered high school,
only about 20 percent were at grade level. </P>
<P>These ad hoc efforts are great for the students involved. But we really need
a more comprehensive national effort to make expanded learning time the norm in
American education, especially for our neediest students, through smarter use of
local, state and federal resources. More hours of learning — not fewer — can
make a world of difference. </P><NYT_AUTHOR_ID>
<DIV class=authorIdentification>
<P>Luis A. Ubiñas is the president of the Ford Foundation. Chris Gabrieli is the
chairman of the National Center on Time and Learning.
</P></DIV></NYT_AUTHOR_ID><NYT_CORRECTION_BOTTOM>
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<DIV class="wrapper opposingFloatControl"><BR
style="CLEAR: both">_______________________________________________</DIV></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Wayne A. Fox<BR><A
href="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com">wayne.a.fox@gmail.com</A><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>