TPS Considers Extended Learning Time
District educators recently learned about a plan to implement Extended Learning Time in three district schools. Extended Learning Time is based on a model currently being employed in Mass. Where educators volunteered to lengthen the school year by 300 hours. Administrators there could choose to expand the school day, the school year or both.
Dr. Keith Ballard, superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools, recently led a contigent of dirstrict officials to Mass. and observed Extended Learning Time in action. He was impressed and now Tulsa Public Schools is considering the program on a limited basis.
The idea behind Extended Learning Time is simple. The near-universal school calendar of 180 six hour days is unchanged since it was designed over a hundred years ago. Recent developments have seen schools narrowing instruction to focus on math and English while reducing the allotted time for other academic subjects. Courses such as physical education and art have been curtailed or eliminated altogether.
“Fun is now part of the school day,” says Lisa Pryor, assistant superintendent at the Oklahoma State Department of Education. “The students really like being in school.”
“This is about seizing the opportunity for students and enabling us to do these things in difficult economic times,” says Chris Gabreli, chairman of the National Center on Time and Learning.
Updated 12-15-2009
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