Student Achievement Blog

Time and Learning

This blog was written by contributing writer Marva Hinton, who, as the mom of a toddler, knew learning can happen at any time and anywhere. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: learning time and instructional time.

Teaching Is Parental Involvement in Homework a Bad Thing?
New research suggests that parental help with homework may be doing more academic harm than good.
Samantha Stainburn, March 27, 2014
2 min read
School & District Management Is Learning a Second Language a Waste of Time?
The financial return on investment of learning a second language for English-speaking Americans appears to be surprisingly small, some economists say.
Samantha Stainburn, March 26, 2014
2 min read
Student Achievement D.C. Mayor Wants to Fund Longer School Day in Lowest-Performing Schools
Democratic Mayor Vincent Gray said he wants to allocate funds in the new budget plan to help the city's lowest-performing schools extend their school day.
Samantha Stainburn, March 24, 2014
2 min read
Student Well-Being & Movement Boys & Girls Clubs to Launch After-School Arts Initiative for Tweens
The Wallace Foundation is providing $5.35 million to develop and pilot after-school arts programs for urban, low-income tweens.
Samantha Stainburn, March 24, 2014
2 min read
School & District Management Oregon Cracks Down on Schools That Fail to Meet Instructional-Time Rules
Public high schools in Portland are revising their schedules after the Oregon education agency ruled they are failing to meet the state's requirement for at least 130 instructional hours per course.
Samantha Stainburn, March 19, 2014
2 min read
Teaching U.S. Students Are Not Overburdened by Homework, Study Says
There's little evidence to support parents' complaints that schools are dumping an unreasonable amount of homework on students, a new report from the Brookings Institution concludes.
Samantha Stainburn, March 18, 2014
2 min read
School & District Management Network Promotes 200-Day Academic Calendar in Public Schools
Generation Schools Network recently released a report showing how it adds a month to the public school year without increasing the work year for teachers.
Samantha Stainburn, March 17, 2014
3 min read
Student Achievement Wisconsin Senate OKs Bill Allowing Shorter School Year
The Wisconsin Senate has unanimously passed a bill that would eliminate the state requirement that school districts teach for 180 days. However, it retains a mandate on the number of hours for instruction per year.
Samantha Stainburn, March 12, 2014
2 min read
Student Achievement Gov. Christie Pitches $5 Million Fund to Pilot Longer School Day and Year
The Republican governor wants to create a competitive-grant competition for promising initiatives to extend the school day and year in New Jersey.
Samantha Stainburn, March 7, 2014
2 min read
Student Well-Being & Movement N.Y.C. Mayor Releases Details About His 'Game-Changer' After-School Plan
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to double the number of middle school students in after-school programs over the next year.
Samantha Stainburn, March 5, 2014
2 min read
School & District Management Finland's Latest Export: A Novel Approach to Recess
In Finland, a 1st grader spends 4.5 hours a day in school, 1.5 hours of which are devoted to "unstructured outdoor play."
Samantha Stainburn, March 4, 2014
2 min read
School & District Management High Schools Assign 3.5 Hours of Homework a Night, Survey Estimates
A University of Phoenix poll digs into how much homework teachers require and why they assign it.
Samantha Stainburn, February 27, 2014
2 min read
School & District Management Report Probes Early Experience in Tennessee With Extended Learning Time
The Tennessee Comptroller's office gives a peek into how the state's low-performing schools are implementing extended learning time.
Samantha Stainburn, February 25, 2014
3 min read
School & District Management Michigan Measure Seeks to Encourage Year-Round Schedule for Schools
A Michigan bill would encourage schools to move toward year-long schedules to reduce summer learning loss.
Alyssa Morones, February 19, 2014
1 min read