Research has been showing that the most important development in K-12 education over the past decade has been the emergence of a growing number of urban schools that have been convincingly shown to have dramatic positive effects on the achievement of disadvantaged students. Those with the strongest evidence of success are oversubscribed charter…

This article describes a ten-year effort led by youth, community organizers, and a range of partners that resulted in two new, successful high schools and showed the power of grassroots mobilization for social justice. Since opening in 2009 and 2010 respectively, Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School for College and Career Preparation and…

Despite the abundance of legislation and research initiatives concerning children's participation in decision-making, there is less research in this area with regard to extended school non-attenders. Using semi-structured interviews, this research explores how the views of children and their families who have experienced school non-attendance can…

In 2005, the Clarence Edwards middle school in Boston was failing. It was one of the lowest-performing schools in the city and on the verge of closure. Today, the school is thriving as one of Boston's highest-performing middle schools. The catalyst for this dramatic turnaround was the implementation of a new, partner-dependent expanded learning…

Herein, we address the reformation of Ontario early learning. Over the next 3 years, all 4- and 5-year-olds in Ontario (Canada) will be able to attend full-day early learning with child care, before and after school provided by the Government of Ontario Ministry of Education. The benefits of such a change are both academic and societal and are…

Extended learning opportunities have emerged as a useful way to rethink how schools are organized and funded. That includes reconsidering who teaches and how they go about their work. That effort should be guided by four key policy considerations and goals: 1. Reengineer the role of teacher. 2. Rethink K-12, higher education, and community-based…

Expanded learning time (ELT) refers to a longer school day, week, or year. ELT schools are becoming common in the United States and aim to provide all students with additional opportunities for learning, recreation, and enrichment. ELT schools differ from afterschool programs that take place immediately following the regular school day and serve a…

In the context of government decentralisation and integration of services, over the last 15 years Sweden has been developing an all-day school based on inter-professional teamworking and adopting a holistic approach to working with children. The article describes these recent educational reforms in Sweden, which have sought to re-structure the…

Over the past decade, expanded learning opportunities (ELOs) have begun to redefine the traditional boundaries between the school day and after school, and between the school building and the community. Traditional after-school programs provide services during a set-aside period of time, whereas ELOs strive to integrate school and after-school…

From their beginning, community schools have expanded the learning day as a central component of their comprehensive strategy. Community schools of the early twentieth century served as centers of the community where students, families, and community members came to learn, to become civically engaged, and to prepare for the workforce. In this way,…

As federal and state policymakers and many education researchers and experts suggest, expanding the learning day for students makes sense. Given the demographic trends--women increasingly entering the workforce and low-income families working multiple jobs--children and youth need supervision and opportunities to learn in the hours between 3:00…

This case study investigated a m-learning initiative by a large school district in the United States to provide iPod touch devices 24/7 to teachers and students of English Language Learners. We described the initiative and presented the research findings of its implementation for two years at elementary and middle school levels. The results…

The After-School Corporation (TASC) follows the national discussion on expanded learning initiatives with much interest. TASC believes that by increasing the amount of time that students spend in school, students can participate in diverse activities that go beyond the structured school curricula that characterize many of the schools nationwide.…

Since their start in Houston in 1994, KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) charter schools have been the most celebrated of the No Excuses schools. Employing strict discipline, an extended school day and year, and carefully selected teachers, No Excuses schools move disadvantaged students who start behind their peers academically up to and above…

At the start of the New Year and the second Obama administration, a national dialogue about extending and improving the school year for "all" 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…