Peaks and Valleys
In each issue of the ELTimes, we will interview an ELT principal to get a candid analysis of the
particular challenges and the rewards of creating “a new day for kids”.
Nancy Mullen is Principal of Matthew J. Kuss Middle School in Fall River. The school has 512 students in grades 6, 7 and 8.
What have been the peaks of the ELT experience at Kuss?
This year at Kuss was very exciting because students, parents, and the whole community have truly become engaged in the Expanded Learning Time program.
Students are busy with projects and standards-based learning until about 4:15 everyday. I think what surprises visitors most is the energy level of the students later in the day. They really remain engaged and many stay even beyond the longer school hours for special programs such as Ham Radio and drama.
ELT has also engaged parents. More parents are now picking their children up from school at the end of the day because they’re available to do so. We’ve seen parent support grow tremendously as a result of ELT.
> To read the interview, click here.
Promising Partners
This section features a community partner who is participating in the Expanded Learning Time
Initiative.
Expanded Learning Time (ELT) schools are well acquainted with the challenge of building effective partnerships with community-based organizations. Between finding partners that can align programming with curriculum standards and dealing with scheduling and staffing issues – partnership building is a tall task.
Fortunately for ELT schools in Malden, the Partnership for Community Schools in Malden (PCSM), headed by Director Karen Steele, has had plenty of practice building partnerships between schools and community-based organizations since its inception in 2000. When the City of Malden decided to build 5 new schools back in 1999, they wanted these new schools not just to be schools in the traditional sense – but to be true community buildings. With this goal in mind, Mayor Richard Howard created PCSM. The organization was tasked with coordinating and overseeing the delivery of services by community-based organizations to children and families in Malden.
> Click here to learn more about the Partnership for Community Schools in Malden's involvement in ELT.
Union Matters
This section highlights the work that Massachusetts 2020 is doing to engage union leaders in all communities across the state to participate in the ELT planning process.
Ralph Devlin is the Professional Development Specialist at the Massachusetts Teachers Association. He spoke to Massachusetts 2020 about his advice for districts on how to work with and include unions in the ELT planning process.
What do you think is most important for teachers, union leaders, principals, and administrators who are considering expanding learning time to keep in mind?
I think it’s most important for anyone involved in expanding the school day or year to remember that to do it well, you have to be very thoughtful and consider new solutions. Easy answers aren’t going to work with this. The point of expanding learning time is to help students do better than they are now and help teachers be more effective. That won’t happen if you simply try to add a little time to each class and keep the same schedule. This will take some creative, out-of-the-box thinking, and really requires people to think of new options for staffing, scheduling and teaching.
> Click here to read more about Union Matters.
Quote of the Month
“What we need, I believe, is kids who are ready to learn, teachers who are ready to teach, principals and superintendents who are ready to be accountable, and workers who are ready to excel... Being ready means extended learning time, so that there is more time for teachers to spend with individual kids and room in the daily schedule for music, art, exercise, community service, mentoring and other ways to expand a young person’s mind and experience, and to occupy young people in safe and supervised setting after the conventional school day ends.”
- Governor Deval Patrick, Commencement Address at the University of Massachusetts Boston, 6/1/07
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