Schools in Five States on Track to Expand Learning Time to Dramatically Improve Student Learning

This morning, leaders from five states joined the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) and the Ford Foundation in announcing a major new effort - called the TIME Collaborative - to expand and redesign the school calendars at 40 schools in 11 districts as early as next September. This means that over 19,500 students across the country will have nearly 6 million more hours to learn, explore and engage in enrichment opportunities in school.

At today's event in Washington, D.C., state and district leaders from the five participating states - Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee - discussed why they have chosen to participate in the TIME Collaborative and how their schools will be redesigned to better meet the needs of today's students and teachers. All schools will add at least 300 additional hours of instruction and enrichment to the school year. States will receive technical assistance from NCTL and capacity building grants from the Ford Foundation, which has committed $3 million a year over the next three years in support of each state's efforts. Learn more about the TIME Collaborative here. 
 
At today's event, NCTL also released Mapping the Field: A Report on Expanded-Time Schools in America. This report shows a significant increase over the last three years in the number of public schools that have expanded learning time. The report identifies 1,002 expanded-time schools across the United States, up from 655 schools identified the last time NCTL issued the report in 2009, an increase of 53 percent. The number of students being served has increased to 520,000 students, up from 300,000 in 2009. The most rapid growth has occurred among traditional district schools in recent years, not charter schools. As a result, district schools now account for 40 percent of all expanded-time schools, up from 20 percent of the total in 2009. 
 
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