The Ford Foundation has pledged $50 million over the next three years to work with the National Center on Time & Learning and a coalition of supporters to promote expanded learning time efforts nationwide.
The coalition, with 100 supporters who include Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children’s Zone, Eli Broad of the Broad Foundation, and John Deasy, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, will push schools to lengthen the school day and year, using the extra time to help close the achievement gap and meet student and staff needs.
The NCLT hopes to double the number of students in schools with expanded calendars within the next two years. The Boston-based organization currently estimates there are 1,000 schools nationally, serving 460,000 students, that have implemented expanded learning time in their schools.
