Education Week - February 4, 2015 - 7

DIGITAL DIRECTIONS > Tracking news and ideas in educational technology
www.digitaldirections.org
Schools Test Impact
Of Blended Learning,
Extended School Days
Combining the two practices seen as key
By Michelle R. Davis
Students at Grant Beacon Middle
School in Denver spend much of the
school day in a blended learning scenario,
using Chromebooks to access
digital curricula and working face to
face with their teachers. Students
also have a longer school day-an
extra hour that allows for more enrichment
and electives.
A new guide for educators says the
pairing of blended learning and an expanded
school day-much like what
is happening at Grant Beacon-hits
the educational sweet spot, providing
opportunities for better teacher collaboration,
personalization of education,
and student engagement.
The guide, "Supporting Student
Success Through Time and Technology"-released
last month by the National
Center on Time & Learning, a
research and advocacy organization
based in Boston-aims to give policymakers
ideas for how to combine
extra learning time and better use of
digital tools in smart, effective ways.
"We want schools to read this
and realize this is something that
is manageable, and to see how to
avoid some of the pitfalls," said Roy
Chan, the director of effective practices
for the center and the author of
the guide. "We also want schools to
see that to do this well, it's not about
how much technology you have or
how big your technology budget is."
It's not always politically or financially
easy, though, to extend school
days. And despite the growing popularity
of blended learning, studies
have not definitively concluded that
this method of combining online and
face-to-face learning has a significant
impact on student success.
Even so, Principal Alexander
Magaña said the combined strategies
of blended learning and extra time in
class have resulted in improved student
achievement at Grant Beacon.
"Everyone is always looking for the
silver bullet," he said. "This ended up
working for us."
Assessing Impact
The nctl report highlights six
schools-three charter schools and
three regular public schools-that
pair blended learning and extended
learning, which was defined as 300
extra hours a year of school time. The
case studies describe the technology
used in the schools, the instructional
models in place, and the software
that's been effective.
Mr. Chan acknowledged that adding
time to a school day-particularly
in a regular public school-can
be complicated "and a hard sell." A
report also released last month, by
the Washington-based Center on
Education Policy, found that despite
encouragement from the federal
government to extend learning time,
the policy was expensive, it caused
fatigue for some students, and it was
unclear whether the strategy had a
positive impact on student outcomes.
Mr. Magaña said his longer school
day came about as part of a pilot project
that the 87,400-student Denver
school district was trying out at a few
schools. Some districts, such as the
Boston and Chicago systems, have
also implemented longer school days.
But a review by The Boston Globe
earlier this year found that a pilot
"
We want schools . . .
to realize this is
something that is
manageable, and to
see how to avoid
some of the pitfalls."
ROY CHAN
National Center on Time & Learning
project to extend school hours in 38
of the Boston district's 128 schools
yielded mixed results. Still, the
57,000-student school system is moving
forward to increase the number
of schools extending learning time to
more than 50, at a cost of more than
$12 million over the next three years.
Discipline Referrals Down
Educators at the 610-student
Morton Middle School in Fall River,
Mass., are in their second year of an
initiative that combines extended
time and blended learning. The
school day is 90 minutes longer than
the traditional day, with students in
school from 7:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.,
and teachers are paid a stipend
for their extra time, said Elizabeth
Lewis, the instructional-technology
facilitator at the school.
The school uses a "station rotation"
model, in which students work
in small groups-with a teacher,
independently, and using technology-and
then rotate to the next
type of group. Morton has a moderate
amount of technology-eight
laptops per class, plus a school computer
lab, Ms. Lewis said.
Since the initiative was launched,
discipline referrals have gone down
and more students are meeting disn
Breaking news n
WHAT'S INSIDE:
Expert analysis n
n Job listings n
PAIRING MORE INSTRUCTIONAL TIME WITH BLENDED STUDY
✔ BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS
✔ BENEFITS FOR TEACHERS
Providing more opportunities for personalized
learning
Raising student engagement with high-quality core
academic classes and enrichment
Increasing preparation for college and careers
Improving the quality of instruction with more time
and tools to plan and deliver lessons
Expanding opportunities for differentiation
Boosting teacher efficacy and satisfaction
SOURCE: National Center on Time & Learning
trict benchmarks, Ms. Lewis said. She
said hard data, though, still do not
show the techniques are having a significant
impact on student learning.
Justin Reich, a fellow at Harvard
University's Berkman Center for
Internet and Society and the author
of the EdTech Researcher blog
on edweek.org, said he's glad to see
"pockets of people experimenting
with these ideas."
There's little evidence that either
strategy is effective, Mr. Reich said,
though there appears to be more indication
that extended learning time
may hold promise. Often, blended
learning and extended learning
time are implemented along with
other measures, and it's difficult to
tease out what may have had the
most impact, he said.
Julia F. Freeland, a research fellow
at the Clayton Christensen
Institute for Disruptive Innovation,
a San Mateo, Calif.-based think
tank that studies blended learning,
said the nctl report does a good job
highlighting schools that are actually
doing the work of combining blended
learning and extra time in school.
But she hopes the guide's emphasis
on extending instructional time for
all students doesn't get in the way
of personalized learning approaches.
She sees a future in which schools
will offer extended learning time to
all students as a choice rather than
a requirement, but only the ones who
need it the most will be likely to use it.
"We think schools are going to look
a lot more like learning centers," Ms.
Freeland said. "Some students won't
need as high-touch of an experience
as others, but the goal would be to
have that center or school staffed
for longer so students who need it
are provided with that access. I don't
want that potential vision to get lost."
Scan this tag with your
smartphone for a link to
"Supporting Student
Success Through Time and
Technology." www.edweek.org/links
Coverage of more and better learning time
is supported by a grant from the Ford
Foundation at www.fordfoundation.org.
Education Week retains sole editorial
control over the content of this coverage.
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Education Week - February 4, 2015

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