Expanding Equity through More and Better Learning Time
Author: Del Razo, Jaime L.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Improvement,Time Factors (Learning),Extended School Day,Educational Change,Change Strategies,Time Management,Improvement Programs,Partnerships in Education,Nonprofit Organizations,Equal Education,After School Education,After School Programs,Student Improvement,Elementary Secondary Education

At the start of the New Year and the second Obama administration, a national dialogue about extending and improving the school year for &quot;all&quot; students--especially those students who face limited resources within and outside their schools--should be a national priority. Students from affluent families already make up for the short school day and year by counting on their parents to fill these crucial, and sometimes dangerous, afterschool hours with a cornucopia of rich learning experiences. Middle-class families use their own resources to fill their children&apos;s afternoons, summers, and vacations with private tutoring for academic enrichment, music and art lessons, science camp, and sports activities. Parents know--and research proves--that these activities are not &quot;extra&quot;--they are essential to rounding out their children&apos;s education and giving them the skills and experiences that prepare them for college and successful careers. Expanding learning time is as much about improving the quality of the actual amount of time a child learns as it is about expanding the quality and diversity of a child&apos;s learning. Many parents cannot provide such activities for their children. They may not have the money to pay for extra classes and care, and they are often the same parents who work longer hours--including those crucial afterschool and school vacation hours. Similarly, due to the systemic inequities of America&apos;s public school system, these families&apos; children attend schools that have fewer educational resources: less-qualified teachers; fewer educational materials; fewer science, arts, and sports opportunities on campus; and unsafe schools and neighborhoods. This is why creating quality schools, with more resources and better teaching and learning, becomes just as important as extending the actual time. In this article the authors assert that ensuring college readiness extends beyond the reach of schools and districts. It calls for tapping into the resources of the community--higher education, community organizations, businesses, funders, recreation programs, and civic organizations--to support learning outside of schools and align it with what happens inside schools. They describe work currently being done by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform (AISR) with the Ford Foundation, National Center for Time and Learning (NCTL) and UCLA&apos;s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA) to systemically gather evidence of new and creative reforms using measures that extend beyond standardized testing. The authors go on to examine what the research says and describe the Ford Foundation&apos;s More and Better Learning Time (MBLT) initiative. Next, eco-system level indicators and the More and Better Learning Time initiative&apos;s goals for the future are examined.