How much time do US. students spend in school?
In 1983, when A Nation at Risk was published, the national average length of the U.S. school day was 6.5 hours and the school year averaged 180 days (1,170 hours per year). A Nation at Risk recommended (among other things) increasing the amount of time students spend in school to address shortcomings in student performance and academic preparation. According to a survey by the Council of Chief State School Officers, more than a quarter century after A Nation At Risk, the amount of time students spend in school remains relatively unchanged.
How does the amount of time U.S. students spend in school compare to other nations?
Exact comparisons are difficult to come by. According to a recent OECD report, "OECD countries show an average annual amount of total compulsory instruction time in classroom settings of 770 hours for 7-to-8-year-olds, 810 hours for 9-to-11-year-olds and 896 hours for 12-to-14-year-olds. The average annual number of compulsory instruction hours is 910 for the typical programme in which most 15-year-olds are enrolled." Data for students in the USA is missing from this report.
Does more time in school matter?
Several scholars have argued that simply extending school time in and of itself will not produce the desired results. Larry Cuban, a Stanford University professor of education, has argued for example that what matters most is not the quantity but the quality of time students and teachers spend together in the classroom (2008).
In our 2000 meta-analysis of the impact of school, teacher, and student-level variables on achievement, McREL concluded that student achievement can be strongly affected if schools optimize their use of instructional time.
In 1998 WestEd researchers Aronson et al. examined the research on time and learning and arrived at three conclusions:
There is little or no relationship between student achievement and the total number of days or hours students are required to attend school.
There is some relationship between achievement and engaged time, that subset of instructional time when students are participating in learning activities.
The strongest relationship exists between academic learning time and achievement.
However, in recent years some notable extended time initiatives have produced gains in test scores, graduation rates, and college attendance, including the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), which increases the amount of time students spend in school by nearly 60%, and Massachusetts 2020. Conversely, a $100 million effort in Miami to extend school days by one hour and add 10 days to the calendar produced no significant benefits.
In its Expanded Learning Time Toolkit, the National Center for Time and Learning asserts that adding more time to the school calendar can be effective, but only when it accompanies a larger effort to rethink the process of schooling:
"Successful implementation of expanded learning initiatives occur in tandem with other reform strategies and practices that take place through the redesign process. Without conjoining expanded learning time with the redesign principle, more time risks being 'more of the same' and a promising school improvement strategy becomes a band-aid… Lengthening the school day, school week and/or school year for any significant amount of time requires leaders to rethink school reform in a way that is not incremental."
How might additional time help to improve teaching and learning? The National Center for Time and Learning cites five potential benefits to extending school time, including:
Making it possible for students to spend more time on task
Allowing teachers to delve into subject matter in more depth
Encouraging more student engagement through project-based learning and elective courses
Building in time for more teacher-student interaction
Creating time for teacher planning and professional development
Others, including Elena Silva of Education Sector, an education think tank, have noted that the addition of high-quality teaching time is of particular benefit to certain groups of students, such as low-income students and others who have little opportunity for learning outside of school.
What arguments are made against increasing the amount of time students spend in school?
In 2008, the Center for American Progress published Taking Stock of the Fiscal Costs of Expanded Learning Time, addressing the increased costs associated with extending the school day and/or the school year. These costs were found to be primarily associated with the ways in which teachers, specialists, paraprofessionals, and other staff are deployed to support the longer school day and, if relevant, how compensation changes as a result. This report concluded in part that, "Since expanding learning time makes little sense without purposeful use of this time and effective instruction, schools and districts will need to design powerful curriculum and to ensure teacher understanding and skill with this time."
Silva (2007) identifies other hidden costs—namely to parents, employers, and a wide range of industries that are dependent on the traditional school day and year.
Grassroots "save summer" organizations in a number of states actively work to preserve traditional school calendars in order to maintain family summer vacation time.
References
Aronson, J. , Zimmerman, J., & Carlos, L. (1998, April). Improving student achievement by extending school: Is it just a matter of time? San Francisco, CA: WestEd.
Council of Chief State School Officers. (2006). Key state education policies on PK-12 education: 2006. Results of a 50-state survey. Washington, DC: Author.
Cuban, L. (2008, December). The Perennial reform: Fixing school time. Phi Delta Kappan, 90(4), 240–250.
Marzano, R. J. (2000). A new era of school reform: Going where the research takes us. Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.
National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A Nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
National Education Commission on Time and Learning. (1994, September). Prisoners of time. Washington, DC: Author.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2009). Education at a glance 2008: OECD Indicators. Paris, France: Author.
