Longer school days are about to start in Seattle

A new school year starts next Wednesday for Seattle Public Schools, and our kids will spend 20 minutes longer in class each day than they have the past few years.

The district says the change will give teachers more time for collaboration and students more time to be schooled.

Superintendent Larry Nyland said that a portion of the additional teacher planning time will be specifically earmarked for discussing strategies to close the opportunity gap. He wrote in an email that:

"Internally our schools that do their best at closing gaps have:

1.      A focus on the standards.

2.      Progress data showing strengths and needs of students.

3.      Teacher teams that meet and plan together how best to close gaps.

External research by John Hattie says these steps are one of the strongest ways to support student learning.  The early release times will give teachers more time to plan and work together."

The district had been using a three-tier bell schedule, with the third tier starting after 9:30 a.m. and ending after 3:40. The new schedule allows the district to cut that third tier, which proved to be a hardship for many families, and has all schools starting by 9 a.m.

Nyland confirmed that "the different start times were examined for equity. That is partly why we had 85% of our schools in tier 1 or tier 2" to begin with, he said.

Another wrinkle of the new schedule is that students are released 75 minutes early every Wednesday, which accounts for the bulk of the added teacher prep time.

Other than that, most elementary and K-8 schools aren't affected by the new bell schedule by more than a few minutes on either end.

Here is a breakdown of start and end times under the new schedule for schools in southeast Seattle, courtesy of the Southeast Seattle Education Coalition: