More time in school will be well-used

Today, our students at Kiley Middle School will start receiving 45 additional minutes of instruction every day. This time will be used in a strategic, targeted way to help improve student achievement and represents a major change in how we invest in education for our students’ future. I would like to thank the parents, students, staff and faculty at Kiley Middle School for your courage, flexibility and commitment to changing your school for the better. It has taken an enormous amount of planning, preparation and resources to make this occur and I am confident that it will help us achieve our goal.

Kiley has been a trailblazer in leading our efforts to turn our Level 4 schools around and though the school sets out on its own today as the only school in the district to increase the length of the school day, other Level 4 schools will follow suit next year (Brightwood, Brookings, Homer Street, Gerena, White Street, Zanetti, Chestnut, Kennedy and Commerce). Though details of an extended school day has yet to be worked out at those schools, tremendous work is already underway to help students there in ways that are innovative and far-reaching.

The work of all of Level 4 schools is extremely important as we will use lessons learned there to help shape our entire education system. I must remind you, however, that change does not occur overnight. As a district, we did not arrive at our current status quickly, but rather over a course of time. It will also take time for us to re-build our district into a culture of educational excellence – today we have taken a large step forward toward that goal.