A Longer School Day at 20 NYC Middle Schools This Fall

A new program announced by the city on Monday will lengthen the school day school as late as 6:00 p.m. for thousands of middle school students this fall.

Twenty middle schools will add an extra 2.5 hours of daily instruction for 2,000 sixth-graders, one of many steps that have been taken by the city to improve academic performance for the students. 

“Often, students who lose their way start to fall off track in the middle grades,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who announced the pilot at the Urban Institute of Mathematics middle school in The Bronx. 

“Improving our city’s middle schools is vital to helping close the achievement gap and putting kids on a better track toward educational success.” 

The pilot program will entail longer school days for three years at schools, which have not yet been selected, where students struggle with reading. The teacher’s union has signed off on the program, which will be adapted to meet each school’s unique needs by utilizing a mix of outside tutors and volunteer classroom teachers. 

The program would continue for participating students as they move up to the seventh and eighth grades, and then eventually be integrated into the regular school day, said officials. 

The $6.2-million-a-year program will be funded with $3.5 million from the private Robin Hood Foundation. The City Council and Department of Education will pick up the remaining $1.55 million.