Extended School Hours: Does More Time Equal Better Education?

By Ivonne Canellada

Last week, I received an invitation from Stand For Children, an organization dedicated to empowering parents and community members to enhance education in public schools. They organized a conference call with Jean Paul Brizard, CEO of Chicago Public Schools, and Monica Lee, Coordinator for the Longer School Day Initiative under the Chicago Office of Education. The discussion centered on new school schedules set to begin in the upcoming academic year. Mr. Brizard appeared approachable and genuinely committed to improving public education in Chicago. The atmosphere felt somewhat tense, and I was nervous since my only connection to public education is my eleven-year-old niece who attends a public school. Despite her efforts to study hard, she continues struggling with mathematics. When she arrives home from school, she eats, spends four hours on homework, bathes, and goes to sleep.

Her school doesn't offer recess, and students only have science and math classes twice weekly. She receives physical education but lacks access to the Healthy Schools program, which provides more nutritious meals. She has art class but no music instruction. The reason for extensive homework is that teachers can't complete full lessons during the short school day. According to my niece, she'll be attending school from 8:00 AM to 3:15 PM starting with the 2023 school year. My sister fully supports this change because she prefers my niece spending time in school rather than on the streets. She believes a longer day will benefit her daughter's education. Under the new system, schools will increase time by thirty percent—7.5 hours instead of the existing 5.15 hours.

Schools will be responsible for determining not only their schedules but also organizing budgets and designating classes, which would include more time dedicated to science and mathematics, physical education or nutrition programs, recess, art, and music. The plan aims for children to have more study hours so they don't need to take as much homework home and can learn more effectively at school. The initiative also recognizes that recess helps children socialize, play, and return to class with renewed energy. Due to budget cuts, art and music classes have been eliminated, and although I previously didn't believe in the importance of arts education, I now understand its crucial role in student achievement—it's absolutely necessary. After-school programs will be reduced in duration, and students needing help will receive tutoring apart from normal program activities.

One might think this is standard in public schools, but that's not the reality. Most public schools don't have recess time, many have lost their art and music classes, and science instruction is limited to 45 minutes rotated throughout the five school days. Something that immediately caught my attention was that all the parents calling in were from middle-to-upper-class city neighborhoods like Uptown, Andersonville, and Lincoln Park. All these parents stated their schools were performing above average and therefore disagreed with the new school schedule.

However, only one person spoke about the South Side, and it was obvious that the African-American and Hispanic populations from the South and West sides were once again being excluded from the conversation. While parents from affluent neighborhoods complain that their children won't be able to attend ballet and tennis classes, parents from Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods prefer their children stay in schools as long as possible because this way they feel their children are off the streets and away from the dangers of gangs, drugs, and school dropout.

While schools in the northern part of the city average ninety percent in reading and math proficiency, schools in the south have the lowest scores and the highest dropout rates, to the point where many high school students have reading and math skills at a fourth-grade elementary level. Parents from communities of color are being ignored by education policies, and their schools are being closed due to lack of educational progress. We shouldn't ignore the power of parents in our neighborhoods—remembering the hunger strike by mothers in Little Village that resulted in Little Village Lawndale High School, or the occupation of La Casita at Whittier Elementary School to prevent its demolition. These actions show that Hispanic parents care deeply about their children's education.

All the parents I spoke with afterward told me they weren't aware of the meetings and that if these were held in Spanish, they would attend because they're also confused about how the new schedule system works and want to get involved in the discussions. I saw the same situation at a public meeting to establish how arts funding would be distributed in Chicago—we were only four people in a room of nearly a hundred, and we were the only Hispanics and African Americans at the meeting. Once again, the disparity between northern city neighborhoods with middle-to-upper-class populations where free art programs abound and the South and Southwest neighborhoods where adequate art and recreation programs for children don't exist became clear.

The reason this happens is that parents in minority and poor neighborhoods don't have the necessary tools to inform and educate themselves. Many of them didn't finish school, many more don't speak English, and there's the cultural tradition from our countries where we entrust everything to teachers. The socioeconomic situation where many are single parents trying to survive doesn't give them time to inform themselves and stay aware of what's happening in their schools and with their children. It's important that parents inform themselves through educational meetings at the school level and in their language so they can access information about how new schedules will improve or affect their children, how they can get involved in their education so others don't come and make decisions for them, and stay aware of how the new schedules will be better for their children.