NEW YORK, 10 May 2012 – Over 100 education and civic leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds today launched a national coalition to encourage an educational shift that could change the way American children learn. The mission of the coalition is simple: to inspire and motivate communities across the country to add more learning time to a redesigned school day and year, enabling children everywhere – especially in disadvantaged schools – to get the education they need to succeed.

Expanded learning time is an approach that is taking hold in low-income communities in many cities nationwide— including in Chicago, Boston, Charlotte, Houston, Denver, New York City, and Newark. These efforts have inspired a diverse group of more than 100 nationally-known educators, policy experts, and public officials to form the Time to Succeed Coalition. They have each made a pledge to champion a new calendar in American education, one no longer based on a 19th century farm and factory society. They are leading a drive to turn successful ad hoc efforts into a nationally transformative movement.

There are approximately 1,000 schools serving 460,000 students that have expanded learning time, adding hours to the day or days to the school year while also redesigning how they deliver instruction. The Coalition’s aim is to catalyze the movement to double the number of students in schools with expanded schedules over the next two years.

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