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For Immediate Release: October 2, 2007
Contact: Joe Ganley
617-290-3868 (Mobile)
617-520-7016 (Office)
EDUCATION LEADERS LAUNCH NATIONAL CENTER ON
TIME & LEARNING
Launch comes amid national momentum for accelerating improvement in public education
WASHINGTON, DC – Members of Congress and education policy and foundation leaders came together in Washington today to launch a new organization and a federal policy initiative dedicated to expanding learning time for the nation’s schoolchildren.
With funding support from a variety of national education foundations including The Eli and Edythe Broad Education Foundation, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the National Center on Time & Learning will research and support national, state, and local initiatives to add more school time for academic and enrichment opportunities.
“There are no silver bullets or easy answers in public education reform,” said Eli Broad, founder of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which has seeded the new Center with a major grant. “American education is not keeping pace with today’s global economy and we believe that giving our children more quality learning time will lead to higher academic achievement for all students and help keep them and our country competitive in the 21st century,” he said.
The launch of this new organization was announced at a reception on Capitol Hill and comes at a time when expanding learning time has gained significant national momentum.
Congress is currently considering allocating significant federal resources to school districts that want to expand their school day and year. Last week, Congressman Donald M. Payne, (D-NJ) introduced a bill to provide federal incentives for the planning and implementation of expanded learning initiatives. In addition, with support from Reps. Payne, George Miller (D-CA), and Howard McKeon (R-CA), funding for expanded learning time has been included in the discussion draft of the House of Representatives “No Child Left Behind (NCLB)” reauthorization bill. The Senate is expected to take up NCLB in the coming months, and key Senate education leaders have expressed support for the demonstration and federal funding.
“Expanded learning time programs provide students and teachers with the extra time and opportunities they need for students to succeed both in and beyond the classroom,” said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, (D-MA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions, who attended the evening reception. “We’ve seen it work in Massachusetts, and I look forward to expanding this success nationwide.”
Congressman George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor has expressed his support for federal funding.
"All children deserve a high quality education,” said Miller. “Expanded learning time is an important strategy for improving academic achievement and closing the achievement gap for students in high poverty schools."
The launch of the National Center on Time & Learning brings together the work of a number of organizations that have been promoting expanded learning time for the last several years. The event was hosted by the Center for American Progress, an independent policy organization that has documented and promoted effective expanded learning time programs and their impact on student achievement.
“We have seen the success that expanded learning time can have on schools across the country,” said John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress. “We are proud to work with the Congress, with other policy organizations, and with the new National Center on Time & Learning to help promote expanded learning time at the national level.”
The Center will be co-chaired by Paul Reville and Chris Gabrieli. Reville is the Chair of the Massachusetts Board of Education and is Founder and President of the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, an independent policy organization. He is also the Director of the Education Policy and Management Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Gabrieli is a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the Chairman of Massachusetts 2020, a non-profit organization that helped lead the first successful statewide initiative to add significantly more time to the school day. He is also a former candidate for Governor of MA.
The Center’s President, Jennifer Davis, is a former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education. She has advised leaders at the federal, state and local level on education policy and helped lead the Massachusetts initiative to expand learning time in schools statewide.
The successful Massachusetts initiative has thus far helped 19 schools redesign and expand their school schedules, with each school adding a minimum of 25% more time. The program is supported in FY 2007 by the Governor and legislature with a $13 million appropriation and administered by the Massachusetts Department of Education.
The National Center on Time & Learning is dedicated to expanding learning time to improve student achievement and enable a well-rounded education for all children. Through research, public policy, and technical assistance, we support national, state, and local initiatives that add significantly more school time for academic and enrichment opportunities to help all children meet the demands of the 21st century. For more information visit: www.timeandlearning.org.
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