Since 1991, the National Education Commission on Time and Learning has been examining the quality and adequacy of student learning time. Innovations being considered address provision of additional learning opportunities, children's well-being, employee productivity concerns, and efficient use of school facilities. Promising practices include the…

This report by Maine's Task Force on Year-Round Education to the State Board of Education explores the feasibility of changing the school calendar--to distribute instructional time over more calendar months in order to enhance student learning. The new schedule could reduce teacher and student absenteeism, limit the loss of learning during summer…

Four dissimilar schools each respond to a learning challenge by questioning set-in-stone thinking and taking risks. A K-8 school in Toronto bypasses the traditional--and problematic--long summer vacation to follow a balanced calendar model. Students attend school year-round with two-week breaks scattered throughout the year; both remedial and…