Longer day + charter school = success?

An article about the benefits of an extended school day, featuring KIPP TEAM in Newark:

"We have time for academic basics and enrichment," said Steve Mancini, a KIPP spokesman. "The current [public school] system allows for either/or -- basics or extracurriculars. We turn the 'or' into an 'and.' "

 

Students at TEAM, for instance, spend their Saturdays working on art projects or learning karate. "There is very little drill and kill," said Hill, referring to the rote method of test preparation. "We consider it our charge to make the time they are here fulfilling."

 

It is unlikely, however, that the idea is one that will sweep the nation anytime soon.

 

"It's a very complex issue, and just adding more time isn't necessarily going to get you what you want," said Ada Beth Cutler, education dean at Montclair State University. "A focus on high quality teaching might pay off better than longer school days."

 

Cutler and other experts, including the folks at KIPP, agree that an increase in time alone is not enough. "It's not just about more time," she said. "It's about what happens in that time."

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Longer day + charter school = success?

 

Friday, March 30, 2007

By PATRICIA ALEX, Bergen Record 

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk1JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MTAyMDQ4JnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NA==

 

Imagine going to work from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, and bringing about two hours of work home during the week. Now imagine adolescents keeping that schedule.

 

They do at the TEAM Academy, a Grades 5-8 charter school in Newark where a lengthened school day has helped bring dramatic leaps in student achievement.

 

"It's a 12-hour workday plus weekends," said Ryan Hill, the school's founder. "Students don't really like it at first, but they get over it."