Longer school hours. Good...or bad? It was announced just a few hours ago that 5 states; Tennessee, New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, will increase school hours by at least 300 hours starting in some schools buy 2013. This will affect almost 20,000 students in 40 schools. "Spending more time in the classroom...will give students access to a more well-rounded curriculum that includes arts and music, individualized help for students who fall behind and opportunities to reinforce critical math and science skills."
For some people, like Education Secretary Erne Duncan "more classroom time has long been a priority for [him], who warned a congressional committee in May 2009 — just months after becoming education secretary — that American students were at a disadvantage compared to their peers in India and China. That same year, he suggested schools should be open six or seven days per week and should run 11 or 12 months out of the year."
The National School Board Association's Center for Public Education on the other hand, doesn't agree with the notion of 'American schools have fallen behind in classroom time,' they pointed out that high-performing countries like Finland, South Kora and Japan accuatully spend less time in school than most U.S. students.
For the full story go to http://news.yahoo.com/5-states-increase-class-time-schools-221441177.html
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