Among the things that set the Success Academy charter schools apart from public schools is the length of the school day: eight hours 45 minutes for elementary students, nine hours 15 minutes for middle schoolers.
But on Tuesday, Eva S. Moskowitz, the head of the Success network, which operates 34 schools in New York City, said the students’ days would get shorter. Her reasoning: Because we can now.
“We have gotten much better at teaching over time, and our teacher training has gotten more effective, so the amount of time it takes us to get to mastery has actually improved,” Ms. Moskowitz said in an interview on Wednesday.
Starting in August, elementary students will spend 45 minutes less at school, while middle schoolers’ day will be trimmed by one hour 45 minutes. Some middle school students in need of extra support will come in early for a “zero period.”