State report: Longer school days doesn't equal better results

I meant to bring this up this last week when it first came out, but I got a little busy.

Anyhoo, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office of Research and Accountability released a new report that said longer school days don’t necessarily translate into results unless the school implemented a combined 300 hours throughout the year.

(That’s about a 46 day increase for a traditional school year.)

You can find the report right here, and our coverage of it right here. The Tennessean also covered it over here.

I mention it now because the school system and the county commission over the years have talked about extending the school year, including most recently in 2012 when the Board of Education approved a budget that would cost an additional $35 million to fund.

At the time, officials were prepared to spend as much as $7 million to extend the school year five to seven days.

The story, right here.

With a number of state mandates coming down the pipe and county/school officials putting together their upcoming budgets, I’ve heard some rumblings that it will be brought up again, at least for discussion.