ELT Initiative

One of the main reasons ELT schools add time to the school day is to boost student achievement in core academic subject areas. ELT seeks to improve students’ skills, knowledge and engagement in these subjects by allowing for more time on-task and greater opportunities for differentiated instruction, remediation, and hands-on learning—all proven tools for boosting student achievement. Many schools take advantage of the additional learning time to incorporate longer learning blocks in their schedules by, for example, increasing class time in a given academic subject from 50 minutes to 90 minutes. Some schools leverage the additional time to offer more opportunities for project-based learning and hands-on activities that reinforce student learning.

Massachusetts 2020 has found that the schools that are most successful in leveraging extra time to support student learning have identified a clear academic focus for their school based on careful analysis of student needs. These schools use this focus to determine how to add time to the school day and continuously monitor the impact of the additional time on student performance in the focus area. For more information on establishing a clear, school-wide academic focus and its role in determining how school’s use additional time for academics, consult the ELT Expectations and Indicators link.

For examples and case studies of how schools have utilized additional time in core subject areas, click on the following links:

Expanding Time in English Language Arts

Expanding Time in Mathematics

Expanding Time in Science