Time for a Change: The Promise of Extended Time Schools for Promoting Student Achievement

This report analyzes the practices of eight public schools which feature at least fifteen percent more time than the conventional schedule.  The study dissects how these schools – chosen specifically because they had demonstrated success – managed to effectively organize, staff, pay for and sustain a school built around more time and to understand how these educators believe the additional time strengthens their capacity to enable all students to achieve proficiency.  The research was conducted with generous support from the L.G. Balfour Foundation, a Bank of America Company.

To read the executive summary, click here.
To read the full report, click here.

The Massachusetts Expanding Learning Time to Support Student Success Initiative

The Center for American Progress wrote this case study of the Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time Initiative to explore the challenges and successes of creating a statewide initiative to expand learning time. The report chronicles the first year of the initiative.

To read the report, click here.

Prisoners of Time

In this re-print by the Education Commission of the States, the National Education Commission on Time and Learning argues that the traditional school schedule of 180 6-hour days is insufficient for students to meet the rigorous standards of today's society.

To read the report, click here.

Research Digests

Over the last few decades, scholars have investigated various facets of how time relates to learning, especially how educators can capitalize on time within the classroom and within various activities during the school day to promote student learning.  Despite this rich area of research, there has been little effort to scan the breadth of this field to provide synthesis.  The summaries listed below provide a thorough introduction to the theoretical and experimental work that supports the notion that more time generally promotes more learning.

1.      Read about the experimental evidence for time as a major factor in learning.

2.      Read about the effects of extending learning time in real-world, classroom settings.

3.      Read about the effects of longer class periods.

4.      Read about how instructional time varies across the country and across the world.

5.      Read about the effect of dedicating school time to enrichment activities and to recess.

All research digests are in pdf format.

Bibliographies

Annotated bibliography of the important works cited in the research digests listed above.

Comprehensive bibliography of over 150 sources related to time and learning.