Traditional schools increasingly adopting longer school day, year
For the first time in the U.S., more district schools than charter schools are expanding the school day or year, according to a recent report. But the national trend does not appear to be catching on in California.
About 1,200 traditional schools compared with almost 800 charter schools offered either a longer school day or year in 2013-14, according to Learning Time in America: Trends to Reform the American School Calendar.
But in California, charter schools still far outnumber traditional schools in offering expanded days or year: 102 charter schools compared with 34 district schools, according to the report, which was released April 16 by the National Center on Time & Learning, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization based in Boston. Of the district schools, more than a third were in San Francisco Unified, according to the report’s database.
Many charter school organizations have traditionally required longer school days, which has been much less common with school districts.