Expanded Learning Time or Money?

Campus Report ^ | July 24, 2008 | Rachel Paulk

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Expanded Learning Time or Money?

by: Rachel Paulk, July 24, 2008

The Center for American Progress recently held a panel pushing for the implementation of and lauding the benefits of expanded learning time (ELT) programs in schools nationwide. Most programs involve either lengthening the actual school day or increasing the number of days in a school year; to date, mostly charter schools and some elementary and middle schools have been able to integrate a functional ELT program into their curriculum.

Proponents assert that the added time helps teachers expand and further expound on core classes like reading and math, though the added time is most often used to add “hands-on enrichment activities” and programs on values. As Gretchen Bueter, panelist and Principle of Grove Patterson Elementary School in Toledo, Ohio, stated, “enrichment is important because that’s what fulfills the children.” Bueter’s elementary-through-middle school successfully implemented an ELT program about eight years ago.

Critics of the ELT movement assert that instead of expanding the time children spend in school the curriculum should be focused on the core ‘R’s—reading, writing, and arithmetic. The ELT program also comes with some significant strings attached—Elena Rocha, education consultant and author of the newly released CAP report “Expanding Learning Time in Action,” noted that “teacher burnout is a legitimate concern.” Also demanding attention are the changes in time for the bus drivers, additional salary for the supporting faculty, and the effects of the time change on members of the general community.

Marguerite Roza, a Research Associate Professor at the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, noted in her newly released CAP report that the financial aspects of implementing an ELT program typically resulted in 6-16% additional spending or an increase between $280-$720 per pupil....

[mnehring]

bump for later

[tommythev]

If they want to increase learning, they should increase time spent in gym and recess. More physical activity would eliminate probably half of the hyperactivity and help the boys to sit still without being drugged. My contention is that by cutting these outlets in order to spend more time on academics, schools have shot themselves in the foot.