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By James Vaznis School administrators in Middleborough, Norwood, and Wareham are exploring the possibility of extending the school day by roughly 90 minutes at some schools in an effort to boost student achievement. Extending the day beyond the traditional six hours could go into effect for fall 2009, possibly putting students in class shortly after sunrise and keeping them there until sunset in winter. "This is not child care," emphasized Norwood schools Superintendent Edward Quigley. "It will be an academically based approach to boost student achievement. We'll be looking at programs that best meet the needs of students." The schools under consideration include Wareham Middle School, Norwood's Coakley Middle School, and Middleborough's Burkland Intermediate School and Nichols Middle School They are among 16 schools in the region that have fallen short on federal performance standards for at least five years. The federal No Child Left Behind Law requires these schools to undergo a radical overhaul to turn performance around. The Massachusetts Department of Education encourages lengthening the school day as one approach. The state last week awarded the three districts, along with 25 others statewide, $7,000 planning grants to research a longer school day and build community support. Administrators at each school would make the final decision on how to structure a longer day. Brockton looked into a longer school day last year and plans to apply for state funding soon to start it next fall at two schools. The state offers schools $1,300 per student in additional aid. So far 19 schools in nine districts - including Boston, Cambridge, and Fall River - have enacted longer school days since the state program began last year. US Senator Edward M. Kennedy and two other top-ranking education policymakers are so convinced a longer school day is worthwhile that they are pushing for a national program. "The school schedule and structure, created over 100 years ago, no longer meets the needs of today's students," said Jennifer Davis, president of Massachusetts 2020, a foundation pushing for more economic and educational opportunities for children that is monitoring the Bay State's experiment with a longer school day. Davis said students need more time in school for project-based lessons and other activities that foster the development of higher-level skills necessary for success in the 21st century: critical thinking, problem solving, and writing. She said she has been impressed with what she has observed during the past year in schools with a longer day. "You can walk into a school at 4 p.m. and see kids are still excited about learning," Davis said. "It's a very creative reform where schools have truly redesigned the school day in the core academics while adding a variety of enrichment programs." Under the Massachusetts program, schools must add at least 300 instructional hours to the school year, about a 30 percent increase in the minimum hours the state sets for a traditional school year. Most schools achieve that exclusively by extending the school day, but a few have added some extra days too. The additional time is devoted to shoring up core academics such as math, English, and writing, while also expanding enrichment activities. Schools need to train teachers and provide time for them to coordinate lessons with one another. Building broad community support early in the planning process is critical for success, advocates of a longer school day say. The biggest obstacles, they say, tend to be teacher compensation and parent opposition. In the coming weeks, Middleborough, Norwood, and Wareham plan to form a committee of administrators, teachers, parents, and possibly students to research the longer day. Wareham may form a separate committee of students so they more freely share ideas and concerns, without feeling intimidated at a table of adults. Because faltering performance is sparking the drive for a longer day, administrators are particularly worried that some parents might feel that the children who are doing well in school are being penalized. In most cases, a small group of students is responsible for the disappointing performance. One option Norwood will examine is extending the school day only for struggling students. "We definitely will need to have parents involved," said Jan Rotella, director of curriculum and instruction for Wareham schools. "We will need to sell this to parents as a good thing. . . . We'll have quite a marketing challenge ahead of us." Rotella and other administrators say the longer day can be a boon for even high-achieving students. Those students, they say, would have time to tackle additional material, possibly allowing students to acquire enough knowledge so that in high school they can take college-level placement courses, which would save them tuition dollars in college. Brockton, for instance, is pushing for a longer day at Gilmore Academy, specifically to help high-achieving students. The academy, which is a middle school that is in compliance with federal performance standards, caters to students in a gifted and talented program. The school this year adopted a time-intensive college-level curriculum that might be tough to squeeze into a traditional school day. However, the district's other school targeted for a longer day, Huntington elementary, is struggling under federal accountability standards. Schools struggling to meet federal performance standards, particularly those identified for "restructuring," have tried a variety of approaches over the past five years to boost student achievement. Measures have included new curriculums and textbooks, extra tutoring for struggling students, and clustering students in smaller groups. But some schools have concluded there simply aren't enough hours in the day. "The state requires more and more material to be covered in elementary and middle school, and to have the time to get through all the material is a challenge," said Theresa Craig, coordinator of curriculum and professional development for Middleborough schools. "A longer school day will be a big change, which is why we are taking the time to plan, identify what obstacles there might be and how to overcome those obstacles. "If a longer day is done properly," she said, "we will have greater opportunity to go deeper in instruction." |
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