AndreaGail
3rd December 2012, 05:49 PM
going to school til 3pm was bad enough
Colorado gets $1 million to study lengthening school days
WASHINGTON — Nine schools in four metro-area Colorado school districts will lengthen school days to 6 p.m. and be put under a microscope to see how effective longer days are to student success, thanks to a million-dollar grant from a nonprofit education organization.
The $1 million Colorado received from the nonprofit National Center on Time and Learning Monday will go to studying how well the longer school day works and implementing the extra time at the nine schools in Adams County, Boulder Valley, Denver Public Schools and Jefferson County to boosting student achievement.
The longer days will start in these districts in the 2013-2014 school year. The extra time could now include an hour of exercise, an hour of art or additional study time.
There are already 54 schools in Colorado with longer school days, but, with the exception of a few charter schools, the programs are new and still in formative stages.
Because union contracts already dictate an 8-hour work day in Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper said elongating the day is a matter of shifting and layering teacher schedules.
"The common theme you hear again and again is you need more time with the kids, whether it's an rural school district, whether it's an urban school district, whether it's out in an affluent suburb," Hickenlooper said in a speech here Monday. "The kids, especially the kids coming from difficult neighborhoods, broken families, single parents, that extra time with their teachers ... means all the world."
Also important to researchers, boosting teacher achievement.
"Teachers are so buried," said Helayne Jones, executive director at the Colorado Legacy Foundation, which is helping administer the program. "We're hoping this gives them some space to ... work together."
The traditional school day — along with taking summers off — is a by-product of a century-old agrarian culture in which children needed to help their families harvest.
That schedule is obviously not the model anymore for most communities.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy joked Monday, "if we do all this who is going to bring the crops in?"
Connecticut is also a recipient of money.
Hickenlooper said it makes no sense for every teacher to start at the same time every day and then scoot kids out of the building early in the afternoon — especially those kids who don't have parents getting home from work for several hours.
"I'm not sure who, except the students, would fight against requiring that they're structured until 5 p.m.," said Hickenlooper. "This is going to enhance what we already have and to enhace where it's needed. What we're trying to do is enhance flexibility."
The school slated for the longer day are:
Adams 50
• STEM 3-8 Magnet School (opening in SY2013-14)
Boulder County
• Angevine Middle School
• Centaurus High School
• Pioneer Elementary School
• Sanchez Elementary School
Denver
• Godsman Elementary School - Innovation School
• Kepner Middle School
Jefferson County
• Pennington Elementary School
• North Arvada Middle School
Read more: Colorado gets $1 million to study lengthening school days - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22115984/colorado-gets-1-million-study-lengthening-school-days#ixzz2E2lZRKwI
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22115984/colorado-gets-1-million-study-lengthening-school-days
Colorado gets $1 million to study lengthening school days
WASHINGTON — Nine schools in four metro-area Colorado school districts will lengthen school days to 6 p.m. and be put under a microscope to see how effective longer days are to student success, thanks to a million-dollar grant from a nonprofit education organization.
The $1 million Colorado received from the nonprofit National Center on Time and Learning Monday will go to studying how well the longer school day works and implementing the extra time at the nine schools in Adams County, Boulder Valley, Denver Public Schools and Jefferson County to boosting student achievement.
The longer days will start in these districts in the 2013-2014 school year. The extra time could now include an hour of exercise, an hour of art or additional study time.
There are already 54 schools in Colorado with longer school days, but, with the exception of a few charter schools, the programs are new and still in formative stages.
Because union contracts already dictate an 8-hour work day in Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper said elongating the day is a matter of shifting and layering teacher schedules.
"The common theme you hear again and again is you need more time with the kids, whether it's an rural school district, whether it's an urban school district, whether it's out in an affluent suburb," Hickenlooper said in a speech here Monday. "The kids, especially the kids coming from difficult neighborhoods, broken families, single parents, that extra time with their teachers ... means all the world."
Also important to researchers, boosting teacher achievement.
"Teachers are so buried," said Helayne Jones, executive director at the Colorado Legacy Foundation, which is helping administer the program. "We're hoping this gives them some space to ... work together."
The traditional school day — along with taking summers off — is a by-product of a century-old agrarian culture in which children needed to help their families harvest.
That schedule is obviously not the model anymore for most communities.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy joked Monday, "if we do all this who is going to bring the crops in?"
Connecticut is also a recipient of money.
Hickenlooper said it makes no sense for every teacher to start at the same time every day and then scoot kids out of the building early in the afternoon — especially those kids who don't have parents getting home from work for several hours.
"I'm not sure who, except the students, would fight against requiring that they're structured until 5 p.m.," said Hickenlooper. "This is going to enhance what we already have and to enhace where it's needed. What we're trying to do is enhance flexibility."
The school slated for the longer day are:
Adams 50
• STEM 3-8 Magnet School (opening in SY2013-14)
Boulder County
• Angevine Middle School
• Centaurus High School
• Pioneer Elementary School
• Sanchez Elementary School
Denver
• Godsman Elementary School - Innovation School
• Kepner Middle School
Jefferson County
• Pennington Elementary School
• North Arvada Middle School
Read more: Colorado gets $1 million to study lengthening school days - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22115984/colorado-gets-1-million-study-lengthening-school-days#ixzz2E2lZRKwI
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22115984/colorado-gets-1-million-study-lengthening-school-days