1

onday, April 09, 2012

Chicago parents coalition releases white paper on ultra-long school dayMore Sharing ServicesShare|Share on twitterShare on facebookShare on diggShare on googleShare on stumbleuponShare on myspaceShare on email

At a  10 a.m. news conference, Chicago Parents for a Quality Education, billed as "a new coalition of Chicago Public School parents representing 16 parent and community and organizations" opposed to the 7 hour, 30 minute school day proposed by the Chicago Board of Education for next year, released  The Best Education or Just the Longest?   (.pdf), an 11-page report: 

Here is the summary statement: 

  Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools have proposed a 7.5 hour school for all CPS students from Kindergarten through high school. Chicago Parents for Quality Education supports a school day filled with evidence-‐based, quality educational activities that will support student achievement. Unfortunately, we do not believe that the Mayor’s proposal provides this level of quality.

Providing more time to repeat activities that are failing will not benefit our children. Numerous surveys have shown that parents support a longer day in Chicago, but not an excessively long day. Some parents desire a longer day because of after school safety or childcare needs, which can be met by quality afterschool programs. Mayor Emanuel and his CPS appointees have repeatedly spread misinformation about the need for a longer day, and have disregarded parent input on the subject.

The school day they have proposed would be the longest day of any major school district in the country, not one that merely (as they are fond of saying) brings us on par with the national average. As this paper will show, there are serious flaws in the Mayor’s proposal.

There is a large body of research on extended learning time, including at least 19 literature reviews covering dozens of research papers. These studies have been observational in nature – in fact there has never been a controlled study conducted – and the results at best are correlations of a number of factors. Many researchers agree that the body of research is inconclusive, and that where there have been positive results they are likely the result of the level of quality of how the time is used rather than the time itself.

This is backed up by the results of the Houston Apollo 20 program. One of the central strategies was individualized math tutoring (but not reading tutoring). Not surprisingly, the program has seen significant improvements in math, but minimal in reading. Within six months of starting the program, Houston revised the plan to eliminate the longer day component as more schools were converted to the program.

At the same time, CPS has seemingly ignored strategies that are backed by research, such as early childhood education, reducing class sizes, and individualized tutoring interventions. There has also been little or no discussion of the benefits of non-‐core subjects such art, music, physical education, recess, language, social studies, civics and technology.

The school districts that have tried a longer day have done so as a limited pilot, in part because of the tremendous costs. Based on the experiences in Massachusetts and Houston, implementing such a program citywide in Chicago could cost from $525 million to $825 million – just for the added time.

Yet CPS recently announced that it is facing a deficit in the coming year of $600 – 700 million, before considering the added costs of a longer day.

Mayor Emanuel is pursuing a course of action for Chicago Public Schools that is not backed up by research results or parent and community input, that CPS cannot remotely afford to implement, and one that we believe will not further educational achievement.

Posted at 10:01:00 AM

2

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2012/04/chicago-parents-coalition-releases-white-paper-on-ultra-long-school-day.html

Three CPS schools break from union, OK longer school day

BY STEFANO ESPOSITO  AND ARIEL CHEUNG Staff Reporters September 2, 2011 6:12PM

Three city elementary schools broke from the Chicago Teachers Union Friday, voting in favor of a controversial proposal to add 90 minutes to the school day this year.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard in a joint statement thanked the “courageous” teachers and principals for their “dedication to investing in our children’s future” at the three schools: Genevieve Melody Elementary, Skinner North Elementary and STEM Magnet Academy.

But the union blasted Emanuel and Brizard’s announcement as having nothing to do with improving kids’ education.

“This is political football school reform at its worst,” said CTU Vice-president Jesse Sharkey. “It’s old-style Chicago ward plantation politics.”

Sharkey accused the Chicago School Board of using “pressure, coercion and bribing,” to get the votes for a proposal that is “deeply unpopular among the vast majority of people who do this work in the city.”

Sharkey said based on his and other union leaders’ conversations with CPS teachers in recent weeks, it’s unlikely many other CPS schools will follow the example of Melody, Skinner and STEM. One teacher at Skinner, who asked not to be named, said she voted against the longer school day but said many of the staff probably felt pressured to agree to the change.

“The preference of the principal was known, there were some strong voices against [voting no], so it doesn’t take a lot to get to 50 percent,” the teacher said. “We’re a staff of 15 people, so it doesn’t take that much, especially with a lot of new staff members who are eager not to lose their jobs.”

CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said no schools have been pushed or prodded into accepting a longer school day this year.

“Several schools indicated to us over the last several weeks that there is a strong appetite to move toward a longer day because ... they don’t feel they have enough time in the classroom with students and they don’t have enough time for planning and collaboration,” Carroll said.

CPS officials say the additional 90 minutes could, among other things, allow teachers to devote more time to reading and literacy skills as well as “core academic subjects” — such as math, science and social studies. Students could also benefit from more time for lunch and recess breaks and “enrichment opportunities,” such as physical education, art, music and library time.

3

Carroll said teachers at Skinner and STEM voted to begin the longer day on the first day of school, while teachers at Melody plan to begin in January. The votes also called for teachers to adopt waivers, allowing them to veer from their current contracts.

In exchange for working a longer day, teachers at the three schools have accepted a “lump sum” equal to 2 percent of the average teacher salary in the district, Carroll said. That works out to $1,275 for teachers at Skinner and STEM, and $800 for teachers at Melody, because they are starting later, Carroll said. Skinner and STEM will also each receive $150,000 to help cover the cost of moving to the longer day, Carroll said. Melody is set to receive $75,000, Carroll said.

The School Board and the teachers union have been involved in a high-profile and nasty battle over a longer school day. Last week, the CTU rejected an offer of a 2 percent raise for elementary school teachers in exchange for working the longer day to begin in January. At the time, CTU President Karen Lewis said teachers would not be “bullied” by public attempts to ram through a slapdash plan. Emanuel and Brizard are eager for the longer day to begin this year, saying students are being cheated — getting 10,000 fewer minutes of classroom time annually than the national average.

A new school reform law gives CPS the power to unilaterally impose a longer school day and year but not until the current contract expires June 30.

In addition to Melody, Skinner and STEM, there are 12 other CPS schools that currently have days lengthened anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes beyond the standard school day, Carroll said.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/7431070-418/three-cps-schools-say-yes-to-longer-school-day.html

CPS Agrees To Pay Teachers Fair Wages for Longer School Day03/28/2012

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have settled a long-running dispute over CPS’s unlawful implementation of a longer school day at 13 neighborhood schools without properly compensating the teachers for the extra hours of work. The agreement was signed by both parties following today’s Board of Education meeting.

CPS unilaterally implemented the Longer School Day Pioneer Program beginning on September 26, 2011, with the last implementation date in January 2012, at a total of 13 schools. To induce teacher cooperation, CPS paid teachers up to $750 stipends and up to $150,000 to each school that participated in the program.  The CTU filed Labor Board charges, alleging that the Longer School Day violated its bargaining rights, and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board unanimously voted on October 20, 2011 to seek injunctive relief blocking CPS from implementing the program at any of other 600+ public schools whose staff is represented by the CTU, and referring the initial 13 schools to a hearing before an Administrative Law judge.  Rather than face a court fight, CPS agreed not to impose the longer school day at any more schools this school year.

“Today’s settlement is a great victory for collective bargaining in Chicago, and a step forward for the Chicago Public Schools,” says CTU President Karen GJ Lewis.  “The longer school day will give CPS students the schools they deserve only if sufficient resources are devoted to making it work, including fair compensation for teachers.  We have serious reservations whether CPS will devote sufficient resources system-wide to maintain reasonable class size, educate the whole child, provide robust wrap-around services, and provide quality facilities.  But CPS makes its first good faith step in that direction today.”

4

Today’s settlement resolves the fate of the 13 schools.  The agreement effectively guarantees those teachers the same salary for the 2011-12 school year that teachers will receive next school year when the longer school day is implemented system-wide.  Under the agreement, CPS will initially pay over $300,000 in prorated payments of up to $1,500 for each teacher employed at the 13 schools.

CPS has also agreed that when the labor contract is concluded for the 2012-13 school year, these teachers will be paid the difference between this year’s compensation (including the $750 stipend and $1500 settlement) and next year’s negotiated salary.  The effect will be that the salaries negotiated for next school year – when Mayor Rahm Emanuel imposes the longer school day at all CPS schools – will be paid to the teachers at the 13 schools retroactively for this year.

http://www.ctunet.com/blog/cps-agrees-to-pay-teachers-fair-wages-for-longer-school-day

Academy, September 6, 2011. Emanuel appeared at STEM after the school's teachers voted to extend the school day.

by REBECCA VEVEA | Sep 7, 2011

As Chicago Public School students began the new school year Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel continued his push to implement a longer school day this year, offering hundreds of thousands of dollars to any elementary school willing to break with the Chicago Teachers Union and add extra time.

At a back-to-school event at STEM Magnet Academy, Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard offered up to $150,000 in discretionary funds and a roughly 2 percent raise for teachers at schools who elect to lengthen their day as part of a newly-created “Longer School Day Pioneers Program.”

On Friday, STEM was one of three schools where teachers’ voted to waive part of their contract and lengthen the school day by 90 minutes in exchange for that incentive package. Two other elementary schools—Genevieve Melody Elementary and Skinner North Elementary—also voted to lengthen their day, and there could be more to come, district officials said.“There’s other schools calling and we’re going to see which schools want to do it,” Emanuel said. “We’re going to have it school by school until all our children finally get the length of day and length of year that they deserve.”

To join the program, a simple majority of teachers at a school must vote to waive portions of the existing union contract that deal with length of day and salary. Last month, the union rejected the district’s offer to give elementary school teachers a 2 percent raise in exchange for adding 90-minutes to the school day.CPS recently closed a projected $712 million deficit by cutting programs, positions and increasing property taxes. It would cost about $70 million If all of the district’s 450-plus elementary schools moved to a longer day. A district spokeswoman insisted CPS will find funding for extended day incentives.

“Any school that wants to do this, we will support them,” said Becky Carroll. “We’ll find a way to pay for it.”

The union accused CPS of bribery and coercion in a letter to the district’s labor relations office late Friday.

“This method is an intentional act to divide the union and diminish the legitimate authority of the union to collectively bargain on behalf of its entire membership,” the letter said.

CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the roughly 60 teachers at the three schools that approved a longer day do not represent the overall sentiment of CPS teachers. By targeting individual schools and dangling a large sum of money in front of them, the district is simply trying to find “poster children for teachers who don’t support their own union,” he said.

District officials maintain that the principal and teachers at the three schools came to them seeking a longer school day.

STEM principal Maria McManus said her staff had been discussing a longer day since August 1, when staff received their schedules. “The teachers asked for it,” she said.

After staff members expressed the desire for a longer day, McManus said she met with Jennifer Cheatham, the district’s Chief Instruction Officer, to see if it was possible to implement a longer school day. A few days later, McManus received the “Principal’s Guide to Conducting a Waiver Vote on a Longer School Day” from the district’s central office, with the word “confidential” watermarked across each page.

This is STEM’s first year of operation and it did not yet have a union delegate. Last Friday morning, staff elected Luke Albrecht to the post and by Friday afternoon, 13 of the school’s 17 teachers voted in favor of a waiver that would allow STEM to have a longer school day.

5

A STEM staff member who participated in Friday’s meeting said a CTU representative came to the school to speak to the staff about the waiver vote. The staff member said the representative seemed to be using “scare tactics”, at one point telling teachers he would put on his “mean hat.”

“He made it seem like it was more about the rights and compensation and less about the importance of the extra time,” she said. “He didn’t really hear our voice.”

The union confirmed that it has had numerous conversations with teachers at the three schools that voted for the longer day but it declined to offer details.

McManus said STEM teachers were not aware of the district’s $150,000 bonus offer before they took their vote. Still, teachers at other schools are now calling her teachers “sellouts,” she said.

The use of a waiver vote to amend sections of the union contract is not uncommon. Staff at some schools have used them to implement recess by moving the teachers’ lunch to the middle of the school day rather than the end. Yet they remain contentious for the union.“Waivers were intended to address the fact that individual schools have unique circumstances,” Sharkey said. “They were never intended to be a chance for the district to implement something system wide when the union says no. That was never the intention of the waiver process”

The current union contract expires on June 30, 2012. The union and the district have been negotiating over salaries since the Board of Education voted in June to deny teachers a previously-negotiated 4 percent raise, citing a $712 million deficit.

Negotiations broke down roughly two weeks ago. Sharkey said CTU president Karen Lewis has reached out to Brizard and is waiting for a response. The current discussion over lengthening the school day “belongs in the contract negotiations,” Sharkey said. “It doesn’t belong in the realm of dueling press releases.”

But Emanuel has shown no signs of backing off. With television cameras in tow, Emanuel visited all three of the schools that voted for a longer school day Friday. During his appearance at STEM, he urged parents to push for waivers at their children’s schools. “I hope parents continue to say, ‘How can my school do what STEM did?’” Emanuel said.

Many STEM parents were in favor of a longer school day. Sadika Langston, whose son is in first grade at the new school, said she was thrilled when the news broke over the weekend.

“Since when does CPS do things fast?” she said.

Academy, September 6, 2011. Emanuel appeared at STEM after the school's teachers voted to extend the school day.

by REBECCA VEVEA | Sep 7, 2011

As Chicago Public School students began the new school year Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel continued his push to implement a longer school day this year, offering hundreds of thousands of dollars to any elementary school willing to break with the Chicago Teachers Union and add extra time.

At a back-to-school event at STEM Magnet Academy, Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard offered up to $150,000 in discretionary funds and a roughly 2 percent raise for teachers at schools who elect to lengthen their day as part of a newly-created “Longer School Day Pioneers Program.”

On Friday, STEM was one of three schools where teachers’ voted to waive part of their contract and lengthen the school day by 90 minutes in exchange for that incentive package. Two other elementary schools—Genevieve Melody Elementary and Skinner North Elementary—also voted to lengthen their day, and there could be more to come, district officials said.“There’s other schools calling and we’re going to see which schools want to do it,” Emanuel said. “We’re going to have it school by school until all our children finally get the length of day and length of year that they deserve.”

To join the program, a simple majority of teachers at a school must vote to waive portions of the existing union contract that deal with length of day and salary. Last month, the union rejected the district’s offer to give elementary school teachers a 2 percent raise in exchange for adding 90-minutes to the school day.CPS recently closed a projected $712 million deficit by cutting programs, positions and increasing property taxes. It would cost about $70 million If all of the district’s 450-plus elementary schools moved to a longer day. A district spokeswoman insisted CPS will find funding for extended day incentives.

6

“Any school that wants to do this, we will support them,” said Becky Carroll. “We’ll find a way to pay for it.”

The union accused CPS of bribery and coercion in a letter to the district’s labor relations office late Friday.

“This method is an intentional act to divide the union and diminish the legitimate authority of the union to collectively bargain on behalf of its entire membership,” the letter said.

CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the roughly 60 teachers at the three schools that approved a longer day do not represent the overall sentiment of CPS teachers. By targeting individual schools and dangling a large sum of money in front of them, the district is simply trying to find “poster children for teachers who don’t support their own union,” he said.

District officials maintain that the principal and teachers at the three schools came to them seeking a longer school day.

STEM principal Maria McManus said her staff had been discussing a longer day since August 1, when staff received their schedules. “The teachers asked for it,” she said.

After staff members expressed the desire for a longer day, McManus said she met with Jennifer Cheatham, the district’s Chief Instruction Officer, to see if it was possible to implement a longer school day. A few days later, McManus received the “Principal’s Guide to Conducting a Waiver Vote on a Longer School Day” from the district’s central office, with the word “confidential” watermarked across each page.

This is STEM’s first year of operation and it did not yet have a union delegate. Last Friday morning, staff elected Luke Albrecht to the post and by Friday afternoon, 13 of the school’s 17 teachers voted in favor of a waiver that would allow STEM to have a longer school day.

A STEM staff member who participated in Friday’s meeting said a CTU representative came to the school to speak to the staff about the waiver vote. The staff member said the representative seemed to be using “scare tactics”, at one point telling teachers he would put on his “mean hat.”

“He made it seem like it was more about the rights and compensation and less about the importance of the extra time,” she said. “He didn’t really hear our voice.”

The union confirmed that it has had numerous conversations with teachers at the three schools that voted for the longer day but it declined to offer details.

McManus said STEM teachers were not aware of the district’s $150,000 bonus offer before they took their vote. Still, teachers at other schools are now calling her teachers “sellouts,” she said.

The use of a waiver vote to amend sections of the union contract is not uncommon. Staff at some schools have used them to implement recess by moving the teachers’ lunch to the middle of the school day rather than the end. Yet they remain contentious for the union.“Waivers were intended to address the fact that individual schools have unique circumstances,” Sharkey said. “They were never intended to be a chance for the district to implement something system wide when the union says no. That was never the intention of the waiver process”

The current union contract expires on June 30, 2012. The union and the district have been negotiating over salaries since the Board of Education voted in June to deny teachers a previously-negotiated 4 percent raise, citing a $712 million deficit.

Negotiations broke down roughly two weeks ago. Sharkey said CTU president Karen Lewis has reached out to Brizard and is waiting for a response. The current discussion over lengthening the school day “belongs in the contract negotiations,” Sharkey said. “It doesn’t belong in the realm of dueling press releases.”

But Emanuel has shown no signs of backing off. With television cameras in tow, Emanuel visited all three of the schools that voted for a longer school day Friday. During his appearance at STEM, he urged parents to push for waivers at their children’s schools. “I hope parents continue to say, ‘How can my school do what STEM did?’” Emanuel said.

Many STEM parents were in favor of a longer school day. Sadika Langston, whose son is in first grade at the new school, said she was thrilled when the news broke over the weekend.

“Since when does CPS do things fast?” she said.

http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/emanuel-cps-expand-push-for-longer-school-day/

7

The Five Biggest Misconceptions about the Longer School Day

1. "I'm waiving all of my collective bargain rights"

The waiver merely changes the school scheduling details, it has no effect on your collective bargain rights or the existing collective bargaining agreement. But you don’t have to take our word on this. CPS is willing to spell out, in as much detail as teachers need, exactly which rights will NOT be waived in each vote. We’ve lengthened the ballot for two schools already to help allay concerns around rights.  We are happy to provide all of the support and detail teachers need to be comfortable with waiver content.

2. "I won't be able to earn overtime"

The waiver, in no way, takes away your right to overtime pay for hours put in after the new dismissal time.

3. "My union won't support me if I vote yes"

Unions are required to fairly represent all bargaining unit members including dues paying members and fair share fee paying members.

4. "The time will be used for test prep – or to warehouse kids."

The Longer Day Pioneer Program will add 90 minutes of instructional time to students' days for more reading, math, science and enrichment programs like art, music and physical education, which help boost student achievement at their schools. It will not be used for more test prep.

5. "This is an unprecedented action"

Actually, the use of waivers to expand the school day is a fairly routine action, one fully in compliance with the collective bargaining agreement between the CTU and CPS

http://www.cps.edu/Programs/DistrictInitiatives/LongerDay/Pages/MisconceptionsAboutLongerDay.aspx#sub1-tab

What will a longer day look like?0More Sharing ServicesShare on printShare on emailShare on twitterShare on facebook

The additional 90 minutes per day will benefit students by providing the opportunity to:

Spend more time on core academic subjects including math, science, social studies.

Work on literacy skills and provide reading intervention for struggling students.

Broaden enrichment opportunities including physical education, art, music, library time.

Give students an adequate mid-day lunch and recess period so that they can recharge.

Provide students with individualized interventions to help improve skills in math, science and core subjects as well as behavioral interventions and supplemental work for gifted students.

Provide teachers with 60 minutes each day with preparation time, including one day of collaboration

Sample Schedule of Schools Who Have Approved Extending Their School Day

Disney II ElementarySchool already had a longer day, which they used to add time to both language arts (30 minutes) and math instruction (10 minutes)School will add an average of 25 minutes each day to special classes (ie. gym, art, music)Additional 25-30 minutes will be added to core instruction (literacy for primary grades; science for intermediate grades)

Mays ElementarySchool is going to the additional time for core instruction: 60 minutes for math and 30 minutes for science/social studiesSchool already provides daily recess and has a robust schedule of special classes

STEM Elementary

15 additional minutes for current events/global issue review

20 additional minutes for special issues, including STEM program

20 additional minutes for literacy

8

20 additional minutes for math

15 additional minutes for enrichmenthttp://www.cps.edu/Programs/DistrictInitiatives/LongerDay/Pages/LongerDayDetails.aspx

Senators Kirk, Bennet Meet with CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard to Discuss Value of Longer School Day

Tour Skinner North Elementary, One of 13 CPS Schools Offering a Longer School Day This Year

October 7, 2011

Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard met with Senators Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) today at Skinner North Classical Elementary School to discuss with parents and teachers their implementation of a 90-minute longer school day, as part of the Longer School Day Pioneer Program.  They also discussed the value of longer school days in boosting student achievement.

Sen. Bennet, a national leader in education reform and a former superintendent of the Denver Public Schools (DPS), recently co-sponsored the Improving Student Achievement and Engagement through Expanded Learning Act, S.1311. This bill would allow districts like CPS to use their federal 21st Century Learning Center funding for extended learning time rather than solely for after-school activities.

CPS recently launched the Longer School Day Pioneer Program, which supports schools implementing 90 additional minutes of instruction each day. The CPS longer school day focuses on adding core instruction such as math, science and literacy as well as enrichment learning and an adequate recess and lunch break. This year,13 CPS schools have begun or will launch a longer school day. The district plans to implement the additional learning at all of its schools in the 2012-13 school year.

“We know that our students need additional instruction time in front of a teacher in core subjects like reading, math and science as well as enrichment in art, music and PE in order to increase student achievement,” Brizard said. “Senators Bennet and Kirk are demonstrating that there’s broad, bipartisan support across the nation for longer school days.  Chicago students already receive 15 percent less instructional time than students in other large cities – if we don’t act now to implement a longer day, our students will fall even farther behind.”

Sens. Kirk and Bennet met with Brizard, teachers and parents to discuss how additional learning time can be used to increase student achievement. Bennet’s reform efforts in Denver have resulted in a 42 percent decline in the DPS dropout rate over five years and a 29 percent increase in college enrollment between 2006-2010.

“In Colonial America, people had the sense to organize the school day around when kids needed to be in the field. In industrial America, people had the sense to organize the school day around factory time. Those days are gone,” Bennet said.  “As we work to organize the school day for the 21st century, teachers, parents and principals should all be part of the conversation.”

CPS has a school day shorter than other major school districts nationwide, which has contributed to stagnant academic growth for CPS students. Today, more than 150,000 CPS students are attending underperforming schools and only 57% of students are graduating from high school. In addition, last year only 31% of 8th graders were at or above the college readiness benchmarks in reading and only 7.9% of high school juniors met college readiness benchmarks on the state PSAE tests.

Skinner North, 640 W. Scott Street, is one of 13 CPS schools which joined the Longer School Day Pioneer Program in order to add 90 more minutes of instruction every day this school year and serve as a model for the district’s plan to lengthen the school day for all CPS students beginning in the 2012-13 school year. Skinner North’s new schedule will add 15 minutes to math instruction,15 minutes to language arts instruction,45 minutes to enrichment in such areas as World Language, Computer Education, Spanish, and Arts Integration and will add 20 minutes each day to special classes (ie. gym, art, music)

Currently, CPS is preparing the district for system wide implementation of a longer school day and year in school year 2012-2013. CPS is taking this time to develop a strategic plan to properly prepare every school in the district. CPS has created a longer school day advisory committee consisting of a diverse group of education stakeholders representing parents, teachers, students, principals, and faith and community leaders from throughout the city who will help shape the guidelines that schools will follow in adding 90 minutes of instructional time to their day. CPS is also conducting webinars with principals and soliciting feedback from teachers and focus groups to include their input on the front end of this process. The longer school day pioneer schools will also provide critical feedback and guidance on everything from best practices to the financial needs and other resources schools will need when implementing the longer day next school year.

The priorities outlined in a CPS longer school day include:

9

Spending more time on core academic subjects including math, science and social studies.

Providing opportunities for students to work on literacy skills in all subject areas.

Broadening enrichment opportunities including physical education, art, music, and library time.

Giving students an adequate mid-day lunch and recess period so that they can recharge.

Providing students with interventions and supports to help improve skills in math, science and core subjects.

Additional time for teachers to collaborate in groups to develop strong learning environments for their schools.

For more information on the CPS Longer School Day Pioneer Program please visit the Longer School Day Pioneer Program Page.

About CPS

Chicago Public Schools serves 405,000 students in 675 schools. It is the nation’s third-largest school district.

http://www.cps.edu/News/Press_releases/Pages/10_07_2011_PR1.aspx

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 04/19/2012

What new research on extended school day saysBy Valerie Strauss

This was written by Jodi Grant, executive director of the nonprofit Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit organization that works to ensure that all children have access to affordable, quality afterschool programs.

By Jodi Grant

Two new studies are flashing warning signs about the move to extend the school day.  The Department of Education has made extended learning time a centerpiece of its reform efforts. This could have been a breakthrough moment for our nation’s education system, encouraging community partnerships to expand learning in ways that help students succeed and bring new resources into our schools. As decades of research on afterschool and summer learning programs show, community partners and innovative teaching approaches can help engage and excite students in learning, boosting achievement.

But the extended day approach   being implemented in many schools as a result of the department’s push to increase instructional time  falls short.  It largely ignores the deep body of research on what makes effective expanded learning.   Instead, too many schools are merely adding another hour or so of regular class time onto the school day.  Not surprisingly, two very recent studies suggest we might not accomplish much with this approach to improving schools. 

The  first study   is from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress. GAO surveyed states about their experience with implementation of the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. Researchers found that 26 states said they didn’t think they would be able to sustain the program’s extended learning time reforms after their federal grants expired, because they were too expensive. Just 10 said they thought they could keep it going.

GAO also found that SIG schools are challenged by the planning required to implement increased learning time well.  SIG schools find it to be a complex and time consuming planning process and one that often is not embraced by stakeholders, including parents.  So it’s expensive, challenging and may not be sustainable.

10

A second report, this one from the nonprofit think tank Education Sector, finds that schools’ results from extending their day depend to a great degree on how they implement the extension. The key to success, the study finds, is taking the opportunity to look at how time is used overall, as part of comprehensive reform. In other words, simply extending the school day and offering more of the same can’t be relied upon to do the trick.

The need for significant planning, combined with the need to position increased learning time as part of comprehensive reform, calls into question the use of three- to five-year discretionary grant programs like SIG and 21st CCLC to implement a longer school day.   Fortunately, there are alternatives to increasing learning time for all students that are easier to implement, less costly and therefore more likely to be sustained – and they have shown strong results.

The Ed Sector report highlights several successful extended learning efforts that go beyond adding more time to the classroom, including The After-school Corporation (TASC) model in New York, Citizen Schools in Boston, and the Providence After School Alliance model in Rhode Island.  These models share a common foundation: strong afterschool programs, built around hands-on, experiential learning, and involving community partners. The approach builds on the regular school day, but with learning methods that engage students in different ways.

Many afterschool, before school and summer programs that offer this kind of experiential learning are supported – or were supported in their critical early years – by funds from 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the chief federal funding stream for afterschool programs.  That funding stream is in grave jeopardy right now, with the Department of Education encouraging states to divert afterschool those funds to programs to extend the school day.

So it would be wise, at this juncture, to step back and think for a moment.  What’s made expanded learning so successful over the years?  What role have community partners played in supporting learning and helping sustain expanded learning?  As the reams of research show, afterschool and summer programs   give kids a chance to learn differently:  to explore academic subjects in a more informal, hands on setting, to take on team and leadership roles, to learn from a variety of community experts on everything from video production to robotics.   Policymakers would do well to heed these lessons as they focus on improving the nation’s schools. It’s important to look before you leap when our children’s education, and their future, hangs in the balance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-new-research-on-extended-school-day-says/2012/04/18/gIQAnmV3RT_blog.html

Opponents of CPS' longer school day join forces against plan

Jonathan Goldman, a member of the local school council at Drummond Montessori,… (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago…)

April 10, 2012|By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Chicago Tribune reporter

For several months, the greatest resistance to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed 71/2-hour school day came from parents in middle-class and upper-middle-class communities who say their kids don't need the extra class time.Now, in an effort to show opposition is more widespread, groups fighting the mayor's plan have assembled a broader, citywide coalition that includes community organizations that have fought district efforts to close failing schools or open charters in low-income neighborhoods.

"We believe we can have a bigger impact, the broader we are. My hope is that (the mayor) will see this isn't a pocket of parents in Lakeview and Beverly. That all parents are concerned about this stuff," said Wendy Katten, director of Raise Your Hand, which wants a longer day, just not 90 minutes.

11

Her group, led largely by North Side parents, has questioned how CPS will pay for a longer day in light of the district's massive deficit.

Katten said she has been reaching out to community groups around the city for two years in an effort to form a consensus around educational issues. Among those joining the new coalition, called Chicago Parents for Quality Education, are the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, the Logan Square Neighborhood Association and the Lawndale Alliance.Dwayne Truss, vice chair of the Austin Community Action Council, a CPS-sponsored community group, said parents in West Side communities like West Garfield and North Lawndale have also questioned the need for a longer day.

"It's about having a dialogue with parents," Truss said. "You have to engage parents in order to figure out what's best."

The coalition's goals are similar to those of the Chicago Teachers Union. Among those are support for additional arts and language programs — proposals that would require more teachers to be hired.A CTU spokeswoman said the union had nothing to do with the coalition's formation, and Katten said she's "not interested in the battle between labor and management."

As part of Monday's news conference outside Emanuel's office at City Hall, the coalition gave the mayor's staff a report it put together that questions research supporting the longer day.CPS officials have said most Chicago residents support Emanuel's campaign promise to extend the school day from 5 hours and 45 minutes to 71/2 hours, especially in struggling neighborhoods where schools are falling short educationally and also provide a refuge from violence.

District spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler pointed to the positive reception for the longer day at the 13 non-charter schools that went to it earlier this school year.

"There is broad support throughout the city for extending our school day to provide students with the time they need to be successful in the classroom," Ziegler said. "You need to look no further than our Pioneer schools, whose parents are passionate supporters of the full day because they've seen firsthand how their children are benefiting from the additional instructional time they now have with their teachers."

All CPS schools have submitted plans to implement the longer school day for next year, and district officials plan to make a final decision on the longer day this month.

Among those refuting CPS' claims on Monday was Phillip Jackson, executive   director  of Black Star Project, a member of the new coalition. The project contracts with CPS for student mentoring, tutoring and after-school programs in troubled South Side neighborhoods.Jackson said he doesn't buy into CPS' claims that the longer day will keep students safe.

"Simply going to a longer school day without going to a higher-quality school day is not going to get the job done," Jackson said. "And we feel like you must have parental and community involvement in major decisions about the children in public schools, and we have not seen that."

The new coalition is evidence that a wide range of parents don't feel like they're being heard by CPS, said Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education.

"In the past, middle-class parents' concerns were met and CPS was pretty comfortable not listening to low-income parents concerned about schools being closed, primarily in African-American and Hispanic communities," Woestehoff said. "This is something that is finally, dramatically affecting middle-class families."

Tribune reporter Joel Hood contributed.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-10/news/ct-met-cps-longer-day-0410-20120410_1_2-hour-school-school-day-cps

12

What's to Gain with a Longer School Day? By Hannah Boyd

It’s no secret that American schools are in trouble. Forget foreign languages, physics and art; many struggle just to teach kids the three R’s. In a bid to get students up to speed on standardized exams, many schools have cut P.E. and recess. 50% of kids do no after-school activities at all, leaving them bored and often unsupervised when the bell rings at 2:30. But all of these problems have a simple solution, according to Christopher Gabrieli and Warren Goldstein, the authors of Time to Learn: How A New School Schedule is Making Smarter Kids, Happier Parents, and Safer Neighborhoods. The answer? More school.

Goldstein and Gabrieli argue that adding about two hours to the traditional six hour day would: Narrow the achievement gap. While affluent families supplement their children’s educations with

private classes, camps, and tutors, low-income students fall further and further behind. “Adding to the school day allows schools to give them the same individualized attention, the same added homework help and tutoring and the same opportunities to develop their musical, arts, drama, athletic and other dimensions,” say the authors. In the year after Massachusetts tested the Expanded Learning Time Initiative, which added about two hours to the school day, participating schools narrowed the achievement gap in English by 35% and science by almost 15%.

Make life easier on working families. School lets out at 2:30. Work doesn’t. While parents worry, many kids go home to empty houses or dangerous streets. Best case scenario? Too much tv. Worst case? You don’t want to know.

Improve student motivation. No, your child probably won’t jump for joy at the thought of a longer school day, but having the time to study fun stuff as well as the core material necessary to pass standardized exams wins over many skeptics. Students in extended-day programs report that the quality of the teaching changes too; teachers have more time to answer questions, engage in dialogue, and get to know students. And having time for recess and extracurriculars doesn’t hurt, either.

Improve children’s health. The days when kids spent the afternoon biking and playing catch are long gone, yet many schools don’t have time to offer gym class or even recess. With a longer school day, kids would have time to burn off some calories as well as the restless energy that often makes it hard to focus.

The advantages of a longer school year are obvious, but how we’d implement it is less clear. A number of things have to fall into place: parents have to want it, teachers have to agree to work longer hours, school districts have to find additional funding and come to terms with teachers’ unions, and schools need to undergo a massive overhaul so that students spend their time actually learning rather than languishing in failing schools. 

“Young people today need exceptionally strong academic skills if they are to thrive in the 21st Century economy and society,” say Goldstein and Gabrieli. Despite the difficulties inherent in making systemic change, Time to Learn makes a compelling argument that students don’t need new schools; they simply need a little more time.

Obama Proposes Longer School Day, Shorter Summer VacationPublished September 27, 2009AP

WASHINGTON -- Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe."Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go."Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.Fifth-grader Nakany Camara is of two minds. She likes the four-week summer program at her school, Brookhaven Elementary School in Rockville, Md. Nakany enjoys seeing her friends there and thinks summer school helped boost her grades from two Cs to the honor roll.But she doesn't want a longer school day. "I would walk straight out the door," she said.Domonique Toombs felt the same way when she learned she would stay for an extra three hours each day in sixth grade at Boston's Clarence R. Edwards Middle School."I was like, `Wow, are you serious?"' she said. "That's three more hours I won't be able to chill with my friends after school."

13

Her school is part of a 3-year-old state initiative to add 300 hours of school time in nearly two dozen schools. Early results are positive. Even reluctant Domonique, who just started ninth grade, feels differently now. "I've learned a lot," she said.Does Obama want every kid to do these things? School until dinnertime? Summer school? And what about the idea that kids today are overscheduled and need more time to play?Obama and Duncan say kids in the United States need more school because kids in other nations have more school."Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than our students here," Duncan told the AP. "I want to just level the playing field."While it is true that kids in many other countries have more school days, it's not true they all spend more time in school.Kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests -- Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013). That is despite the fact that Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong have longer school years (190 to 201 days) than does the U.S. (180 days).Regardless, there is a strong case for adding time to the school day.Researcher Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution looked at math scores in countries that added math instruction time. Scores rose significantly, especially in countries that added minutes to the day, rather than days to the year."Ten minutes sounds trivial to a school day, but don't forget, these math periods in the U.S. average 45 minutes," Loveless said. "Percentage-wise, that's a pretty healthy increase."In the U.S., there are many examples of gains when time is added to the school day.Charter schools are known for having longer school days or weeks or years. For example, kids in the KIPP network of 82 charter schools across the country go to school from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., more than three hours longer than the typical day. They go to school every other Saturday and for three weeks in the summer. KIPP eighth-grade classes exceed their school district averages on state tests.In Massachusetts' expanded learning time initiative, early results indicate that kids in some schools do better on state tests than do kids at regular public schools. The extra time, which schools can add as hours or days, is for three things: core academics -- kids struggling in English, for example, get an extra English class; more time for teachers; and enrichment time for kids.Regular public schools are adding time, too, though it is optional and not usually part of the regular school day. Their calendar is pretty much set in stone. Most states set the minimum number of school days at 180 days, though a few require 175 to 179 days.Several schools are going year-round by shortening summer vacation and lengthening other breaks.Many schools are going beyond the traditional summer school model, in which schools give remedial help to kids who flunked or fell behind.Summer is a crucial time for kids, especially poorer kids, because poverty is linked to problems that interfere with learning, such as hunger and less involvement by their parents.That makes poor children almost totally dependent on their learning experience at school, said Karl Alexander, a sociology professor at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, home of the National Center for Summer Learning.Disadvantaged kids, on the whole, make no progress in the summer, Alexander said. Some studies suggest they actually fall back. Wealthier kids have parents who read to them, have strong language skills and go to great lengths to give them learning opportunities such as computers, summer camp, vacations, music lessons, or playing on sports teams."If your parents are high school dropouts with low literacy levels and reading for pleasure is not hard-wired, it's hard to be a good role model for your children, even if you really want to be," Alexander said.Extra time is not cheap. The Massachusetts program costs an extra $1,300 per student, or 12 percent to 15 percent more than regular per-student spending, said Jennifer Davis, a founder of the program. It received more than $17.5 million from the state Legislature last year.The Montgomery County, Md., summer program, which includes Brookhaven, received $1.6 million in federal stimulus dollars to operate this year and next, but it runs for only 20 days.Aside from improving academic performance, Education Secretary Duncan has a vision of schools as the heart of the community. Duncan, who was Chicago's schools chief, grew up studying alongside poor kids on the city's South Side as part of the tutoring program his mother still runs."Those hours from 3 o'clock to 7 o'clock are times of high anxiety for parents," Duncan said. "They want their children safe. Families are working one and two and three jobs now to make ends meet and to keep food on the table."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/27/obama-proposes-longer-school-day-shorter-summer-vacation/#ixzz1wCYP0Hia