That report, Prisoners of Time , was released in May 1994 amidst widespread public and editorial approval. It contained several straightforward messages. Learning in America is a prisoner of time. Times have changed, and the nation's schools must change with them. The reform movement of the last decade is destined to founder unless it is harnessed to more time for learning.
Time is the unacknowledged design flaw in American schools.
When Prisoners of Time was released, the Commission, whose legislative mandate expires in September 1994, asked its staff to prepare a supplementary volume summarizing the research reviewed by the Commission members as they developed their recommendations, and also to suggest an agenda for further research into important questions on which the Commission had found little or inadequate information. I am pleased to enclose the results for your consideration, and to express the Commission's gratitude for the work of Cheryl M. Kane, the director of our research efforts and the author of this volume. With this volume, the work of the National Education Commission on Time and Learning draws to a close. I know I speak for every member of the Commission in expressing our gratitude to each of you for your support of our work.