Schools across the nation are experimenting with longer school days. On average, U.S. students are spending 6.5 hours of their day inside a school building. Some educators are thinking that if they have the students longer, they can accomplish more.
One model that public schools are looking to is the Knowledge is Power Program, which oversees public charter schools nationwide.
Those schools typically serve low-income middle-school students, and their test scores show success. Students generally go from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week and for a few hours every other Saturday. They also go to school for several weeks in the summer.
That amounts to at least 50 percent more instructional time for students in such programs than in traditional public schools, according to the report.
With the No Child Left Behind Law and its expectation that all students be on grade level in reading and math by 2014, the longer school day gives educators more time for these subjects without having to let go of recess or enrichment classes.
At Edwards Middle School, an extended-day school in Boston, students are staging musicals, designing book covers for favorite novels and coming up with new cheers to boost school spirit.
The article on dallasnews.com tells about students who are loving the enrichment courses they get to take because of a longer school day. My concern is that a lot of kids already have activities outside of school that they enjoy. I hear complaints from parents whose kids are having trouble balancing their outside interests with homework. Some say their kids spend close to three hours per night on assigned work. With a longer day, is there less homework? Will we have students who are literally doing school work during all waking hours?
Are we treating all students the same because of NCLB? I'm glad that I didn't have to stay in school until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. My favorite part of every school day was coming home and having time to unwind and have a school snack. I guess the snack would have been out if it was time to have dinner.