Time in School

Winter 2010

Research supports the benefits of more classroom time for low-income children, especially when the time is used wisely. But Chicago has one of the shortest school days and years in the country. Now, leaders are looking to Washington to help extend the school day.

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A matter of time John Myers In Chicago, where the school day is short, Marquette Elementary Principal Paul O’Toole did something unusual: He spent about $170,000 in grant money last year to extend the school day by one hour for middle-grade students, bringing their daily instructional time more in line with national norms. Marquette’s experiment was not an instant success. Teacher assignments had to be shuffled, in part because the school departmentalized at 7th and 8th grade, and teachers had to master new lessons. Despite the additional learning time, test scores were flat in 2009: Marquette’s 6th- through... > Read More
Not just an add-on Sarah Karp Sharquita Young puts her hands on her hip and talks fast as she recites a poem about freedom—being able to do what she wants and go where she wants. Sharquita is practicing her poem for an upcoming performance in a fundraiser for America SCORES, the group that organizes after-school programs at her school. Later, as she sits on a bench in her school’s cafeteria, Sharquita says she likes poetry, but her favorite part of after school is playing soccer. “When I go home, I go into the backyard and kick around the soccer ball,” says the slight girl. On many levels, Sharquita’s after-... > Read More
Making after school cool Rebecca Harris Crystal Lane, a 16-year-old sophomore at Gage Park High, failed a freshman math course. This fall, she joined a Caribbean dance class through After School Matters that helped her raise her grades by boosting her self-confidence, providing her with a place where she felt respected and giving her incentive to study harder. Now Crystal is proud to show off her midterm progress report: all A’s and B’s. The class, she says, “is teaching me what I can do to make myself happy and make my family proud.” After School Matters provides high school students with paid apprenticeships in... > Read More

A matter of time

John Myers

In Chicago, where the school day is short, Marquette Elementary Principal Paul O’Toole did something unusual: He spent about $170,000 in grant money last year to extend the school day by one hour for middle-grade students, bringing their daily instructional time more in line with national norms.

Marquette’s experiment was not an instant success. Teacher assignments had to be shuffled, in part because the school departmentalized at 7th and 8th grade, and teachers had to master new lessons. Despite the additional learning time, test scores were flat in 2009: Marquette’s 6th- through...

> Read More

Not just an add-on

Sarah Karp

Sharquita Young puts her hands on her hip and talks fast as she recites a poem about freedom—being able to do what she wants and go where she wants. Sharquita is practicing her poem for an upcoming performance in a fundraiser for America SCORES, the group that organizes after-school programs at her school. Later, as she sits on a bench in her school’s cafeteria, Sharquita says she likes poetry, but her favorite part of after school is playing soccer. “When I go home, I go into the backyard and kick around the soccer ball,” says the slight girl.

On many levels, Sharquita’s after-...

> Read More

Making after school cool

Rebecca Harris

Crystal Lane, a 16-year-old sophomore at Gage Park High, failed a freshman math course. This fall, she joined a Caribbean dance class through After School Matters that helped her raise her grades by boosting her self-confidence, providing her with a place where she felt respected and giving her incentive to study harder.

Now Crystal is proud to show off her midterm progress report: all A’s and B’s. The class, she says, “is teaching me what I can do to make myself happy and make my family proud.”

After School Matters provides high school students with paid apprenticeships in...

> Read More

Letter From the Editor

Students pressed for time to learn -- and so are teachers

By: Lorraine Forte

During the week in which we finished this issue of Catalyst In Depth, Mayor Richard M. Daley went on record promising more chapters in Renaissance 2010. Meanwhile, teachers, principals, parents and students awaited the announcement of this year’s list of schools slated for closure or turnaround.

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Forging relationships (WebExtra)

By: Rebecca Harris

After School Matters focuses on providing teens with paid work experience in various areas of career interest. But another of the city’s largest teen program has a vastly different philosophy: building relationships.

Teen REACH (Responsibility, Education, Achievement, Caring, and Hope) is offered at 107 locations in the Chicago metropolitan area and served nearly 26,000 youth statewide in the 2008-09 fiscal year.

After School Matters focuses on providing teens with paid work experience in various areas of career interest. But another of the city’s largest teen program has a vastly different philosophy:...

Sidebar

'I have somewhere to go' (WebExtra)

By: Rebecca Harris

Near one wall at Chicago Commons’ Paulo Freire Family Center hangs a quilt with pictures of a vision of peace – harmonious families, views of the Earth from space, and a cut-out heart comprised of half a Mexican flag, half an American one. Next to this a poster board with pictures of stenciled skulls, made to celebrate the Mexican holiday “Day of the Dead.”

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Time in School

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A matter of time

Not just an add-on

Making after school cool

Students pressed for time to learn -- and so are teachers

Forging relationships (WebExtra)

'I have somewhere to go' (WebExtra)

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