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Loving a longer school day

The Denver Post reports on Wheat Ridge elementary school, one of four schools in Colorado experimenting with a longer day this year as part of the TIME Collaborative—an initiative of the National Center on Time & Learning and the Ford Foundation that is challenging schools in five states to expand student learning hours in sustainable ways. Principal Sandy Craig said the goal is to maximize every minute Pennington students spend in school. "We want to level the playing field for our kids," she said. "There's more than just an achievement gap for our kids. There's also an opportunity gap."

Published in The Denver Post | August 29, 2013

Wheat Ridge Elementary launches longer school day

By Emilie Rusch


The dismissal bell rang, marking the end of another school day at Pennington Elementary.

It was 4:20 p.m., 8 1/2 hours after the morning bell rang at 7:50 a.m.

Ten-year-old Issac Maldonado said it felt more like two hours to him.

The day before, he learned how to kick a soccer ball during his last class.

Today, he and his classmates built a tower out of marshmallows and toothpicks, the tallest one winning a prize.

"It goes by quick, because it's so fun," Maldonado said. "It doesn't feel long at all."

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The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than 80 years it has worked with courageous people on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.