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(Albany, NY) Jeff Smink, New York State Director at the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), submitted testimony at the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee’s Hearing on the Governor’s 2013-2014 Executive Budget on Elementary & Secondary Education.

Colleen Beaudoin is the Managing Director of School and District Support at NCTL.

As we quickly approach the end of January, it’s hard to believe the amount of progress the schools that comprise the TIME Collaborative have already made. 

As someone who has been thinking about the implications of expanded time in school for many years, I always find it instructive to consider the views of those who are relatively new to the subject and to think hard not only about the questions they have, but the reasons why they may have come up with those questions in the first place.

Last night, NCTL’s co-founders, Chris Gabrieli and Jennifer Davis, along with Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll and Salem Superintendent of Schools Stephen Russell, spoke at community meeting as the city begins to explore expanding the school day in more of Salem's schools. 

From Chris Gabrieli, Co-Founder & Chairman, National Center on Time & Learning:

“With his budget proposal today, Governor Cuomo is putting New York at the forefront of the movement to redesign and expand learning time in schools. The plan put forth today is smart, flexible, fair and bold and gives schools, teachers and kids the time they need to succeed in the 21st Century.

Today, Governor Deval Patrick called for an additional $70 million, including $5 million in FY14, investment to strengthen and expand learning time for middle school students in high-need schools across the Commonwealth. This proposal builds on the evidence of over 90 expanded-time schools across the state, including 19 schools in the MA ELT Initiative as well as charter, turnaround, and pilot schools.

I don’t think I’ve ever linked to an ESPN story in a blog post for NCTL, but you’ll forgive me this exception.  Wednesday, those responsible for voting for inductees into Baseball’s Hall of Fame, the members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, collectively decided that no one on the ballot was worthy of getting in this year. 

We applaud Governor Cuomo for his smart, flexible, fair and bold proposal to give schools, teachers and kids the time they need to succeed in the 21st Century. It’s smart to learn from the more than 1,000 pioneering schools in New York, Massachusetts and across the country that already successfully expand learning time for their students. 

This post originally appeared on the Time to Succeed Coalition blog.
 
The New NY Education Reform Commission, tasked by Governor Andrew Cuomo to examine the current structure of New York state’s education system, released its first set of recommendations today in a report entitled “Putting Students First."

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to view an early screening of a documentary film featuring Tony Wagner, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who set out to explore how Finland became “he highest performing education system in the world.”  In the film he demonstrates how the intensive training of teachers, their continued collaboration, and their core approach to education—having students solve problems, rather than memorize information—all contribute to Finland’s success.

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