K-12 Education: Federal Funding for and Characteristics of Public Schools with Extended Learning Time
Released: 2015-11-30T00:00:00

Letter

Background

School Improvement Grants Program

The School Improvement Grants (SIG) program was created in 2002 and funds reforms in the country’s lowest-performing schools with the goal of improving student outcomes, such as their standardized test scores and graduation rates. Congress greatly increased SIG program funding, from $125 million available in fiscal year 2007—the first year the program was funded—to $3.5 billion in fiscal year 2009, although funding for the last two fiscal years has been $506 million a year. Before awarding formula grants to states, Education reviews each state’s application and approves the state’s proposed process for competitively awarding SIG subgrants to eligible entities, including school districts. As a part of its application, each state is required to identify and prioritize eligible schools and ensure that school districts with the persistently lowest-achieving schools receive SIG funding. School districts must then apply to states to implement one of seven intervention models in each SIG school, each with specific requirements for reform interventions, during a grant period between 3 and 5 years. Two of these intervention models, which are being implemented in the large majority of current SIG schools, require schools to extend learning time as part of the required whole-school reform strategies.

SIG requirements define increased learning time as using a longer school day, week, or year to significantly increase the total number of school hours. This additional time is to be used for (1) instruction in academic subjects, including English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography; (2) instruction in other subjects and provision of enrichment activities that contribute to a well-rounded education, such as physical education, service learning, and experiential and work-based learning opportunities; and (3) teachers to collaborate, plan, and engage in professional development within and across grades and subjects.

21st Century Program

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program (21st Century) is meant to support local communities in establishing or expanding community learning centers that provide opportunities for academic enrichment during non-school hours, such as before- and after-school and summer school programs, and related services to students’ families. The program provides formula grants to state educational agencies (SEA), which subsequently offer competitive subgrants to eligible entities, including school districts, community-based organizations, and other public or private entities. SEAs must provide an assurance in their applications for 21st Century grants that they will make awards only to eligible entities that propose to serve students who primarily attend schools eligible to operate a schoolwide program under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), which are schools with at least 40 percent of students from low-income families. In addition to activities designed to help students meet state and local academic achievement standards, program funds may be used to provide activities that complement and reinforce a student’s regular school-day program, such as art and music education activities, recreational activities, telecommunications and technology education programs, expanded library hours, literacy programs, and drug and violence prevention activities.

In fiscal year 2012, Education began to invite SEAs to waive specific ESEA provisions, which require community learning centers to carry out their activities during non-school hours or periods when school is not in session. The waiver allows grantees to use 21st Century program funds to conduct authorized activities during an extended school day, week, or year in schools that provide extended learning time for all students in the school. Education’s guidance for the 21st Century program defines “expanded learning time” as “additional instruction or educational programs for all students beyond the state-mandated requirements for the minimum number of hours in a school day, days in a school week, or days or weeks in a school year.” According to Education guidance, these activities can include supplemental academic enrichment activities that support a well-rounded education for students and increase collaboration and planning time for teachers, or for partnering with outside organizations, such as nonprofit organizations, that have demonstrated experience in improving student achievement.

K-12 Public School Funding

The vast majority of funding for K-12 public schools nationwide comes from state and local sources. For example, in school year 2009-2010, U.S. public schools received about 87 percent of their funding from state and local sources—43 percent from state sources and 44 percent from local sources. Federal funding has generally comprised about 9 percent of public schools’ funding from school year 2002-2003 through 2008- 2009. In school year 2009-2010, federal funding for public schools comprised about 13 percent, which was slightly higher than in previous years due in part to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. For public schools nationally, Education’s Title I, Part A of ESEA, is among the programs providing the largest amounts of federal funding.

Education Supports Extended Learning Time Primarily through the School Improvement Grants Program

Education Promoted Extended Learning Time in K-12 Public Schools with Nearly 1,800 School Improvement Grants

The School Improvement Grants (SIG) program is the only program administered by Education that provides funds specifically to establish extended learning time in a school, according to Education officials. Between school year 2010-2011, when changes were made to SIG to require extended learning time in certain instances, and 2014-2015, the last year SIG data are available, nearly 1,800 schools or approximately 94 percent of SIG schools had chosen either of two school improvement models that require extended learning time, out of the four available models (see fig. 1). The schools implementing either of those two models had to extend learning time alongside other key reforms such as developing new teacher and principal evaluation systems. However, these 1,800 schools represent a small fraction of the nearly 90,000 K-12 public schools nationwide. Further, among the lowest-performing U.S. public schools, less than 7.5 percent are receiving SIG funds, according to a 2012 Institute of Education Sciences study.

Although only about 1,800 schools have received assistance through SIG grants, this assistance can be vital to a school in helping to implement key reforms such as extended learning time. According to an Education report on the 2012-2013 school year, the average 3-year grant was $2.6 million as of that year. Education found that 68 percent of SIG schools in school year 2010-2011 (referred to as Cohort 1), 79 percent in school year 2011-2012 (referred to as Cohort 2), and 83 percent of SIG schools in school year 2012-2013 provided extended learning time. This is to be expected given that, as previously noted, most school districts have chosen a SIG model that requires extended learning time. On average, Cohorts 1 and 2 had 76 and 96 more hours, respectively, than all public schools in school year 2011-2012, according to Education’s analysis of SIG grant reports. Additionally, a 2014 Institute of Education Sciences study found that 71 percent of SIG schools surveyed had extended learning time, while only 60 percent of non-grantee schools had taken steps to increase learning time. However, Education officials also told us some schools increased learning time by very little, some by as little as 10 minutes a day.

Very Few Grantees Used 21st Century Grants to Support Extended Learning Time

In contrast to SIG, where most SIG schools are implementing extended learning time, as of July 2015, Education officials reported that only a fraction of the 21st Century learning centers it funds—about 69 out of 10,000 nationwide—are supplementing local extended learning time initiatives by taking advantage of waivers of ESEA requirements that allow them to provide 21st Century program activities and services during an extended school day. Therefore, as required by statute, more than 99 percent of the centers continue to use these subgrants to serve students outside school hours, which according to Education officials is typically in after-school programs where attendance is voluntary. The average subgrant per center was about $113,000 per school year. Regardless of whether subgrantees conduct activities during extended learning time or not, centers are to follow the same program rules about what types of activities can be funded. Further, Education said schools cannot use these funds to establish new programs to extend the school day. Rather, they can be used only to supplement other programs and activities for all students in schools that had extended the normal school day, week, or year.

Education reported in its fiscal year 2015 budget justification that using 21st Century funds in this way could improve 21st Century program performance by minimizing or eliminating participation problems that many schools and other providers have experienced. For example, Education reported that nearly half of students attending 21st Century activities attended for fewer than 30 days in school year 2012-2013. Two extended learning time providers we interviewed said that changing from voluntary after-school activities to programs during the extended school day, which is generally mandatory for all students, helped reach underserved students who may not have chosen to attend if the activities were offered after school.

Since 2012, 27 states have applied for ESEA waivers to allow 21st Century grantees to conduct authorized activities during the school day to support extended learning time, and all were approved by Education. However, as of July 2015, only 11 of those states have schools that have implemented extended learning time programs. With regard to states’ limited use of these waivers, Education officials said that while the waivers have been available since mid-2012, extended learning time can be expensive to implement and it takes time for states to plan and collaborate with districts, schools, and community organizations. Additionally, Education officials said states are not required to report the number of eligible entities using this waiver flexibility, so these numbers may be low. Education is currently collecting data on conducting activities during the school day in schools with extended learning time for its 21st Century programs for the first time, and officials told us they plan to report detailed figures in February 2016 on the number of hours and locations of all 21st Century programs in schools with extended learning time.

Schools May Use Other Education Funding During Extended Learning Time

Education officials told us that most Education funding streams are designed for use during the school day–regardless of the length of the school day or year–and as such, schools may use these funds during extended learning time, consistent with other program requirements. For example, schools may use funds from Title I, Part A of ESEA to serve all students in schools that operate a schoolwide program in which they serve a high-concentration of students from low-income families. Education officials said that these funds could be used to supplement local funding to extend the school day for all students in those schools. Officials added that Charter School Grants may support eligible charter schools with or without extended learning time programs. Charter School Grants are primarily designed to assist in the planning, program design, and initial implementation of charter schools, either through the creation of new charter schools or the replication or the expansion of existing high- quality charter schools with demonstrated records of success. In another example, Education officials told us that Full-Service Community Schools grants, which support partnerships among schools, school districts, and community-based organizations for coordinated academic, social, and health services can be used to provide those services during extended learning time.

Representatives from several organizations we interviewed also identified ways that Education programs can contribute to extended learning time. For example, a representative from a teachers’ union we interviewed told us the union worked with a school that used Title I funds to hire a site coordinator who helped the school manage implementation of a longer school day. Representatives from extended learning time organizations also told us that Title II funding, which is used for teacher development, was helpful for schools with extended learning time because it allowed them to use the longer day for more professional development. A representative from an organization representing school superintendents said school districts may be using Title VI funds, which provide assistance to rural schools, to extend learning time.

Education officials cautioned that schools that use federal funds during extended learning time must meet all applicable requirements for those funds, including requirements related to allowable costs and any statutory “supplement not supplant” requirement. In general, this requirement precludes a grantee from using federal funds for activities that it would conduct, in the absence of such federal funds, with state or local funds.

Schools with the Most Time in School Share Certain Characteristics and Use the Additional Time for Different Purposes

Average Length of K-12 Public School Day Was Just Under 7 Hours, and Those with the Most Time Add Hours to the Day, Not Days to the School Year

On average, we estimate that K-12 public schools nationwide have a 6.7- hour school day and a 179-day school year, according to our analysis of Education’s School and Staffing Survey (SASS) data for the 2011-2012 school year, the most recent data available (see fig. 2). Specifically, an estimated 65 percent of schools have school days that are from 6.5 to 7.5 hours.

Further, K-12 public schools that have the most time in school have an estimated average of 1,341 hours in a school year, which is about 137 more hours (or about four more weeks) than the estimated national average of 1,204 hours, according to our analysis of Education’s SASS data for the 2011-2012 school year. The schools with the most time are going well beyond the hours required per year by most states. Specifically, a 2015 Education Commission of the States study found that most states require between 900 and 1,080 hours per year for all grades.

The 9,000 schools in the top 10 percent of schools with the most school hours tend to add time by lengthening the school day more so than adding days to the school year. Specifically, according to our analysis of SASS data, schools in the top 10 percent of schools with the most time typically have a school day that is estimated to be one hour longer than all other schools. Further, representatives from the three extended learning time organizations we spoke with told us that most schools extended the day as opposed to adding days in the year. One representative told us that the typical schools they partner with have about three additional hours per day and operate Monday through Friday until 6 p.m.

Time Varies by School Type and School Location, but Little by Grade Level

Charter schools generally include more hours in a school year than traditional K-12 public schools (see fig. 3). Specifically, charter schools have an estimated average of 1,285 hours in a school year compared to an average of 1,209 hours for traditional public schools, according to our analysis of Education’s SASS data for the 2011-2012 school year. Further, a larger proportion of charter schools fall into the category of schools with the most time (30 percent) as compared to 9 percent of traditional public schools. Specifically, of the estimated 2,754 charter schools nationwide, 867 are in the top 10 percent of schools with the most hours. As we have previously reported, charter schools typically operate with more autonomy than traditional public schools. Consequently, charter schools may have fewer barriers than traditional public schools to extending their hours.

Similarly, the time that K-12 public schools spend on learning differs by region of the country and by school setting (e.g., urban or rural). Schools in the South have an estimated average of 1,253 learning hours per year, in the Northeast schools reported an estimated 1,197 hours, in the Midwest an estimated 1,192 hours, and the West an estimated 1,146 hours. The additional hours means that schools in the South provide, on average, approximately 3 weeks more learning time per year than schools in the West. The average number of school hours also differs according to a school’s setting. An estimated 7 percent of suburban schools were in the top 10 percent of schools with the most learning time, compared to 10 to 12 percent of schools in urban, small town, and rural settings.

Conversely, there is little difference in annual school hours by grade level—such as elementary, middle or high school (see fig. 5). For example, for 90 percent of all public K-12 schools nationwide, middle schools have the most learning time, with an estimated 1,213 hours in a school year. The difference is relatively small, however; middle schools have an estimated 38 more hours per year than elementary schools and an estimated 36 more hours than for high schools. For the 10 percent of schools with the most learning time, high schools have the most time, with an estimated 1,428 hours in a school year, but again, the difference is small. High schools have an estimated 17 hours more time than elementary schools and an estimated 10 hours more time than middle schools. One extended learning time provider we spoke with works to extend the learning day for low-income middle school students by providing academic support and project-based apprenticeships. Another extended learning time provider told us its extended learning time model is typically for kindergarten through eighth grades.

Schools with the Most Hours in a School Year Serve Larger Proportions of Low-Income and African American and Hispanic Students

Our analysis of SASS data for the 2011-2012 school year shows that K- 12 public schools with the most time have a larger proportion of students receiving free or reduced price lunch—an estimated 61 percent—than all other schools whose student body population comprises 51 percent of these students (see fig. 6). Further, public K-12 schools in the top 10 percent of schools with the most time have a larger proportion of African American and Hispanic students—an estimated 9 percent more African- American students and 7 percent more Hispanic students—than all other schools.

One explanation for this could be that, according to our analysis, charter schools serve higher percentages of low income, African American, and Hispanic students than traditional public schools. African Americans account for approximately 27 percent and Hispanics for 28 percent of the charter school student body population nationwide compared to 13 and 21 percent in traditional public schools, respectively. Further, among public schools in the top 10 percent of schools with the most learning time, charters serve a higher percentage of African American and Hispanics students compared to traditional public schools. Specifically, African Americans account for approximately 37 percent of students in these schools and Hispanics account for 44 percent, compared with 19 and 25 percent in traditional public schools, respectively.

Further, one of Education’s largest grant programs can be used to supplement local initiatives during extended school days or years and targets schools with a high concentration of low-income students. Specifically, Title I, Part A of ESEA provides funds to school districts and schools that serve high concentrations of low-income students. Further, representatives of extended learning time organizations we interviewed told us that the schools they work with tend to extend the school day to improve achievement for students who are low-income and minority who may not have access to the same enrichment activities as their more socioeconomically advantaged peers. One representative from an extended learning time organization told us that its programs seek to close gaps in opportunity and educational achievement for disadvantaged communities.

Schools with the Most Hours Spend More Time on Instruction

Public K-12 schools with the most hours in a school year use this additional time for different purposes, including more instruction in math and literacy, and more time for the arts and physical education. For example, during the 2011-2012 school year, eighth-grade students in schools with the most time (the top 10 percent) are estimated to have spent an additional 1.3 hours per week, on average, in English language arts, math, and science instruction compared to eighth-graders in all other schools. Further, third-grade students in schools with the most time spent an estimated additional 48 minutes per week, on average, in music, art, and physical education classes than third-graders in all other schools, according to our analysis of SASS data. Representatives from the three extended learning organizations we spoke with told us that their programs provide students more time for instruction in academic subjects and for enrichment activities, such as a debate club and project-based learning activities in science.

Teachers in the schools with the most time spend more time providing instruction to students as compared to all other schools. Specifically, teachers in schools with the most time (the top 10 percent) teach an estimated 1.3 more hours per week compared to all other schools, with a weekly total of 31.2 hours compared to 29.8 hours. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the hours spent in a school year on professional development between schools with the most time and all other schools. Further, according to a representative from one extended learning time organization with whom we spoke, schools often partner with external participants or providers of after-school programs to provide academic instruction or enrichment activities during the school day.

Agency Comments

We are not making recommendations in this report. We provided a draft of this report to the Department of Education for comment. Education provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional committees, the Secretary of Education, and other interested parties. In addition, the report will be available at no charge on GAO’s web site at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff should have any questions about this report, please contact me at (617) 788-0580 or nowickij@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to this report are listed in appendix I.

Appendix I: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff Acknowledgments

In addition to the contact named above, Elizabeth Sirois (Assistant Director), Sheranda Campbell (Analyst-in-Charge), and Lucas Alvarez made significant contributions to this report. Assistance, expertise, and guidance were provided by Susan Aschoff, James Rebbe, Kirsten Lauber, John Mingus, Carl Barden, and James Bennett.