School-Community Partnerships

Lead Author: Kathleen Traphagen
Contributing Writer: Thomas Zorich

Authors: David Farbman, Dennie Palmer Wolf and Diane Sherlock

Advancing Arts Education through an Expanded School Day: Lessons from Five Schools, presents case studies of five schools utilizing the longer student and teacher days to prioritize time for arts education as they work to improve overall academic instruction and focus on individual student achievement.

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In 2004, Kuss Middle School became the first school declared “Chronically Underperforming” by the state of Massachusetts. But by 2010, Kuss had transformed itself into a model for schools around the country seeking a comprehensive turnaround strategy. Kuss is using increased learning time as the primary catalyst to accelerate learning, deepen student engagement, and improve instruction, and has become a rare example of a school on the path to successful turnaround.

Just a few years ago, Boston’s Clarence Edwards Middle School was on the verge of being shut down. But by 2009, a renaissance at the Edwards made it one of the highest performing and most desired middle schools in Boston, dramatically narrowing and even eliminating academic achievement gaps while delivering a far more well-rounded education to its high-poverty student population. This is the story of how they did it.

Released in November 2011, Strengthening Science Education: The Power of More Time to Deepen Inquiry and Engagement. As this report illustrates, improving U.S. student achievement in science requires a more in-depth, multi-layered approach to science instruction that, in turn, requires more time in the school calendar, particularly for high-poverty students.