Last Wednesday, January 9, Governor Cuomo announced in his State of the State address that Expanded Learning Time (ELT) will be a formal part of his education platform moving forward. Today, City Council Speaker, Christine Quinn released her proposal for improving education in New York City that includes a focus on ELT, as well. These strategies are an incredible victory for all of us at Citizen Schools. For several years, Citizen Schools has been providing engaging ELT programming for low income middle school students across the nation, and we are thrilled that this important issue is receiving due attention from our leaders in New York and the media.

The focus on ELT is one of eight components included in the preliminary Action Plan outlined by the New NY Education Reform Commission to the Governor. Read more about the initial Action Plan report, or read the Governor's State of the State address, here.

Speaker Christine Quinn’s announced today that she supports extending the school day for New York City’s most vulnerable students until 6pm. Nitzan Pelman, Executive Director of Citizen Schools New York, released the following statement in response:

“Speaker Quinn is right- extending the learning day will help level the playing field for the city’s low-income students.

In schools across the country, including in New York City, extended learning time is already making huge strides toward closing the achievement gap and giving children the education, and the future, they deserve. We look forward to seeing this exciting new initiative transform New York’s schools.”

We are also excited that Nitzan recently had the opportunity to publish two articles continuing the conversation about the impact of ELT:

"How to Lengthen the School Day Without Breaking the Bank,” New York Daily News, January 10, 2013
"On Longer School Day: 'Second Shift' Works Best," SchoolBook, January 14, 2013