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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.