The ELT Initiative Welcomes Two New Schools

This is a guest post by NCTL's Manager of the Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time Initiative, Emily Raine

This year, Governor Patrick and the Massachusetts Legislature affirmed their commitment to meaningful school reform by increasing the line-item that supports the first-in-the-nation statewide Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Initiative to $14.17M. This increase has enabled two new schools to join the Initiative. Last spring, with our support, a dozen schools participated in an ELT planning process and submitted an implementation plan to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) in May. From this first-rate group, ESE selected two schools, McKinley Elementary in Revere and Huntington Elementary in Brockton, to implement their new school day this year.
 
McKinley and Huntington are not entirely new to expanded learning time; both schools had considered expanding time in the past, and had worked for a number of years to build support among teachers, families, and students for the opportunity. Two years ago, Huntington added an hour to the day on its own initiative. Now, the state ELT grant will allow them to build on this foundation and to fully expand their day and include more targeted academic support, enrichment, and collaboration opportunities for their faculty, students, and partners. In addition to adding over an hour to each day, McKinley opted to add five days to the year. The school started earlier than other district schools in order to establish the routines and relationships that are so important to creating a culture of excellence, and to assess and group students for their new academic support and enrichment classes. Congratulations to McKinley and Huntington, and welcome to the ELT Initiative!