Lots of news in New Jersey about our Governor’s plan to increase both the length of the school day and the school year for the purpose of making our students more competitive internationally. Some states are moving forward with this idea by moving more toward a British model of rotating sessions throughout the year, with breaks in between moving away from our current schedule based on the needs of our agricultural past. New Jersey’s Gov has given no specifics about his plan (many believe that even putting it out there was just a distraction from his current political difficulties.) There are no details for New Jersey yet, and they don’t seem to be immediately forthcoming. Mandatory full-day kindergarten was killed by the last legislature, so early literacy as per the Core Standards has lost a bit of support.

Here’s what the Star-Ledger editors (late supporters of Christie in the last election) have to say:

http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf/2014/01/editorial_gov_christies_longer.html

Let’s get some scholarship on the subject before we all rush to judgment about breaking the scheduling paradigm.