Bethpage Union Free School District in New York is a high-performing district by almost any current accountability measure. Yet administrators and teachers worried that they were not doing enough to prepare their students as critical thinkers for the 21st century. Inspired by the curriculum framework of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the…

The Martin Luther King School in Boston and nine other Massachusetts public schools used a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Education to expand their school days by at least two hours. Each school lengthened the time students spent in reading and math instruction. Farbman focuses on the Martin Luther King School's foray into an extended…

Facing financial difficulties, the Webster County Public School System in rural Kentucky implemented a four-day school week to save money on transportation and staffing. The district's research in the experience of other rural districts had indicated that such a calendar change could increase efficiency and also yield some unexpected benefits.…

The Murfreesboro, Tennessee, City Schools have doubled the amount of time schools are open without raising taxes. Instead of going home to empty houses, kids participate in an extended school program offering over 100 courses in recreation, academics, arts, and life skills. Parents and organizations foot the costs; no child is excluded for…

Outlines the development of the Kramer Model, a project developed in the Little Rock School District (Arkansas). It includes an early childhood and elementary program housed in the same building that is an "extended day school". (MD)

Reviews current psychological research on the effects of time, discusses policy and practical implications, and proposes "productive time" rather than "allocated time" or "time-on-task" as a new focus of educational reform. Productive time allows students to engage in lessons adjusted to their differences in learning rate and background knowledge.…