Mass. Schools Experiment With Extra Time

Ten public schools in Massachusetts will test whether more learning time can boost academic performance and close the achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers.

On the first day of school this fall, the schools in five cities launched a new schedule that extends the school day by as much as three hours. Chosen as part of a $6.5 million statewide demonstration called the Expanded Learning Time Initiative, the schools are getting an additional $1,300 per student to pay for the extra time spent on core academic subjects and to bring back or maintain enrichment programs such as music, art, and physical education.

Roughly 4,700 students—about 75 percent of them low-income—who are enrolled in prekindergarten through 8th grade are part of the extended-day project in schools in Boston, Cambridge, Malden, Fall River, and Worcester. The Massachusetts Department of Education chose the schools after they submitted plans for how the longer day would raise student achievement, and add time for both enrichment programs for students and...