Time to Learn: How a New School Schedule is Making Smarter Kids, Happier Parents, and Safer Neighborhoods

by Christopher Gabrieli, Warren Goldstein

Across the country, an educational revolution is taking root. Kids are learning more. Teachers are free to teach beyond the test. And parents aren’t worried about what their kids are up to after school. What accounts for this change? The simple answer is, “More time to learn.” The current school day—6 hours and 180 days per year—is obsolete. It fails to provide students with the academic foundations and well-rounded education they need to succeed and thrive in the twenty-first century. The old school day is also out of step with the reality of working families without a stay-at-home parent to manage their children’s after-school time. Using an additional one to two hours, the new school day reworks the schedule so that children can master core academic subjects, receive individualized instruction and tutoring, and be exposed to a broad array of topics such as the arts, music, drama, and sports.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 25, 2008

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Authors Christopher Gabrieli and Warren Goldstein site statistical data from the RAND corporation and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (the nation's report card), among others, to advance the idea that American schools are losing ground in the international competition of literacy, numeracy, and tecnological aptitude. They also describe a school system striving to serve the needs of its students, but failing to do so given the performance pressures of high stakes testing and the realities of budget shortfalls: schools don't have the time to serve individual student needs and must limit experiential, project-based teaching and enrichment programs in favor of math and reading instruction to meet the demands of testing requirements. And often schools don't have the resources in time or money to make significant gains even after targeted intervention in math and reading.

Though the authors laud the efforts of school districts across the nation to provide an engaging educational experience for students, the book describes a system in trouble, one which does not universally meet the needs of students or families. While suburban, affluent families are more likely to make up for the shortfall with purchased afterschool programs and enrichment activities, most urban families and no poor family can match that allocation of resources.

Additionally the book cites the growing concern for students in households with two working parents and the burden of child care placed on those families. Gabriele and Goldstein argue that an expanded school day used effectively to include enrichment activities, tutoring, and best practices driven by real student performance data at the classroom/school level will produce results in student learning, relieve the stress of managing afterschool care for working parents, and promote safer neighborhoods.

The author's cite district wide statistics and anecdotal evidence from teachers, students, and community members to support their claims--mostly from the Expanded Learning Time Initiative in the state of Massachusetts.

I found the book engaging, the idea intriguing, but the writing repetitive. If I hadn't truly had a deep interest in the subject matter, I would have found the repetition more than boring--it would have been off-putting. But I was glad to see a discussion of the effective use of increased time, not the adding of time for time's sake. And I thought the discussion of re-imagining the role of homework was useful.

[Marissa Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty dry read, but the info is useful. The authors advocate for longer school days to bring such benefits as increased arts and language instruction, longer class periods for in-depth study, and tutoring to improve students' proficiency.

For society in general, it would be awesome if kids had more time for learning skills and were kept off the streets/out of trouble for more hours of the day. Personally, though, I'd like less institutionalized school time for my children, allowing more time for learning alone, having family fun, and just being creative.

[Nicholas Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but light on hard facts. This is an interesting book that puts forward a passionate and largely compelling case for the extension of the school day. Although I felt quite won over by the force of the narrative, it would have been improved by a deeper base of evidence with more detailed research to confirm many of the theories put forward. Would recommend but look forward to seeing a second edition.