Last fall, 10 Massachusetts public schools embarked on an experiment: Lengthen the school day by at least 25 percent, give students extra doses of reading, writing, and math, and let teachers come up with creative ways to reinforce their lessons.
The extra time appears to be working.
As a whole, schools with longer days boosted students’ MCAS scores in math, English, and science across all grade levels, according to a report to be released today. And they outpaced the state in increasing the percentage of students scoring in the two highest MCAS categories.
The data, to be presented at a national conference in Boston on expanded learning time, is the first comprehensive look at the effectiveness of extra time. The promising state test results show that a longer school day, with more opportunities for hands-on learning, has had a positive impact on student achievement, educators said.
One thought on “Longer school day appears to boost MCAS scores”
Comments are closed.
The full report is at http://www.mass2020.org/full_report.pdf.
Several things to note. Only 8 schools are surveyed. The schools involved already high performing schools “that serve large populations of poor students.”
The study is not an experimental study. The additional hours range from 6 to 20, the curriculum is different (two are KIPP schools), range of time on core curriculum differs, use of time differs; some spend on non-core subjects, others on subjects such as art, music which were cut, some use it for staff development, and class planning, some to increase time between classes.
And to quote from the report:
“Of course, simply adding time to the schedule of any school, without having other significant elements in place, is unlikely to result in sizeable improvements in student performance. Time is not the driver of success; rather, it is a resource that educators can tap to make their work more effective. Visionary principals, talented teachers, committed parents, the consistent use of rigorous data and assessment tools, and the teaching of rich educational content, all tend to be more effective when more time is available.”
The additions costs/student is between $900 and $1540 more, funded by corporate donations and other fund raising activities. Some costs are kept down by non-teachers, volunteers.