Extended school days more than just child care

David Pomerantz

Parents of children who are spending more time in school thanks to a new state-funded initiative say that the longer school day is “better for their child,” according to a recent survey.

The extended school day exists in 10 Massachusetts schools that received a total of $6.5 million, or $1,300 per student, to lengthen their school day under the state’s Expanding Learning Time to Support Student Success Initiative (ELT). Three of the schools are located in Boston.

The schools use the extra time for “enrichment” activities in the arts and athletics, professional development for teachers and increased time in core academic subjects like math and reading — especially for students at risk to struggle on standardized tests.

The survey was conducted by Massachusetts 2020, an educational nonprofit organization which has advocated for longer school days since 2004.

The group, which is chaired by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Gabrieli, argues that the six-hour-per-day, 180-day-per-year school schedule is the vestige of an antiquated agrarian economy. The nonprofit contracted JEF Associates, a polling company, to conduct the survey.

The survey reached approximately 250 parents of children at three ELT schools: Jacob Hiatt Magnet School in Worcester, which teaches students in kindergarten through sixth grade; the Matthew J. Kuss Middle School in Fall River and the Mario Umana/Joseph H. Barnes Middle School in East Boston.

Three-quarters of parents surveyed believed that the expanded schedule is “much or somewhat better for their child,” according to Massachuetts 2020.

Seventy-seven percent of parents surveyed said that their child is performing better in school as a result of the expanded schedule, and 72 percent believe that the quality of their child’s education has improved.

Seventy-nine percent of parents surveyed agreed with the statement that “the state should continue to expand the ELT program,” with 48 percent strongly agreeing.

In addition to the three schools surveyed by Massachusetts 2020, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School in Cambridge conducted its own survey, in which parents demonstrated similarly positive feelings about the new survey.

Corbett Coutts, an administrator at Umana/Barnes, said that the school “hasn’t had any complaints” from parents in an earlier interview.

Coutts also said that parents of Umana/Barnes students, 61 percent of whom are Hispanic, might have an extra motivation to embrace longer school days.

“On the most basic level, it’s free childcare. On a more sophisticated level, I think a lot of the newly immigrated families feel that the teachers and adults can better support their children in terms of academics than they can at home,” Coutts said. “The things we’re offering … are making their children better students, more well rounded and better prepared to be successful.”

Valeria Lowe-Barehmi, principal of James P. Timilty Middle School in Roxbury, which received an ELT grant, said that she wants parents to appreciate and understand the longer day’s educational benefits.

“It’s not a childcare service — I want them to send their child here for the best education a child can get,” she said.

Gov. Deval Patrick doubled funding for ELT in his proposed 2008 budget to $13 million, and more than 80 Massachusetts schools in 29 districts have been awarded state grants to implement an expanded schedule by that year.

School administrators, parents and state education officials now await the results of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), the state’s standardized tests which determine a student’s educational track and a school’s placement in the national categories established by the No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law in 2002.

The tests are taking place now, and Massachusetts Department of Education officials will be looking to see if test scores are up in the 10 ELT schools.