More Hours in Some Metro Schools as Part of Pilot Effort

Four schools in Metro will be lengthening their year by an extra 300 hours in the classroom. Tennessee is the lone southerner in a five-state pilot program trying to boost student results.

Chris Gabrieli, Chairman of the National Center on Time & Learning

It’s the equivalent of adding more than forty school days. It’s not yet clear which Metro schools will take part, or exactly how they’ll fit the extra hours into their calendars, which will grow by roughly 25 percent. A Metro official notes some enhanced-option and charter schools already have longer hours.

Chris Gabrieli of the National Center on Time & Learning says the group hopes to push a model that can be scaled broadly.

“We’re committing to sustainably and cost-effectively bringing high-quality expanded learning time to schools serving high-poverty students who need and deserve that time.”

A mix of federal and state dollars will help cover the costs, along with grants from the Ford Foundation. A state official says the funding will go to low-achieving schools getting School Improvement Grant money, which already requires more learning time.