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Hello, summertime! No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' - wait, actually, yes, there may very well be more of each of those. Sorry, kids. A vacation-crushing theory on how to improve student performance is gaining traction: more time in class. Longer days, longer year. Goodbye, summer...
Duncan, as the nation's educator in chief, has repeatedly plugged a longer school day and year. He views today's standard six-hour, 180-day calendar as way too old school, a holdover from not only 19th century agrarian society but also mid-20th century Donna Reed-style parenting. "Our children are no longer working in the fields," Duncan says. "And Mom isn't waiting at home at 2:30 with a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. That just doesn't happen in many American families anymore." (Read an interview with Duncan...
Critics of extended school time point to the fact that it's expensive to keep schools open longer. In Massachusetts, for instance, ELT schools receive an additional $1,300 per student, on top of the basic state allotment. And, some ask, if a school is low-performing, if the teachers or curriculums or parental involvement isn't up to snuff, how much good will more class time really do? "You can't just extend time in these schools by 30%," says Elena Silva, an analyst with Education Sector, an independent think tank. "That in and of itself is not going...
...Sarras, 49, a Christian Palestinian farmer, vehemently disputes the claim that Arabs arrived only in the 1970s. He displays a long row of grapevines with thick trunks, and papers from the Ottoman era that he says prove his family has farmed the land for 150 years. He can no longer sell much of his produce because the Israeli government requires him to label it PRODUCT OF ISRAEL and the Palestinian Authority forbids that. But he can't afford to leave the fields fallow - and open to Israeli confiscation. Three Sarras brothers and a cousin tend the fields under the constant...
...election. Booker's victory looks like a foregone conclusion. "For the first time in my life, Newark is looked at more positively because of its mayor," says Steve Adubato Sr., a longtime local power broker, and former Booker foe, who runs a nonprofit in the city. "Newark is no longer a big joke." (Read "No Charisma? Don't Worry, You Can Still Be a Leader...