ELT: Gaining Momentum Across the State

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

While it is great news that two additional schools will receive the state's ELT grant this year, perhaps even more exciting is the way in which an ever-increasing number of schools and communities across the Commonwealth are expanding learning time outside of this grant opportunity. From innovation schools to charter schools, the growing interest in expanding learning time as a strategy for turning around struggling schools remains exciting.
 
Massachusetts' schools are building off of the lessons learned from the state ELT Initiative to expand time in creative ways. In Salem, their interest in and commitment to expanded learning time is described in this piece by Salem State researcher, Dr. Kevin Fahey. In Boston, Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School, a school that made expanded time a cornerstone of their turnaround strategy, was featured prominently in Governor Deval Patrick's speech at the Democratic National Convention. Both in Massachusetts and across the country, stories of schools expanding time to meet their students' needs are now commonplace  - and that is due to the initial work here in Massachusetts.