Waivers and Expanded Learning

How might efforts to expand learning time be affected by the president’s announcement that the federal Department of Education will let states seek relief from provisions of NCLB?

The provision that will most likely have an impact is one that would give states flexibility to use federal 21st Century Community Learning Center (21CCLC) funds to expand the school day. However there is no guidance on how exactly these funds can be used to expand learning. If they are used to add a few more minutes of more-of-the-same to the school day, that would be an unfortunate deployment of the only federal funding stream dedicated specifically to before- and after-school or summer learning opportunities.

We believe the most cost-effective, sustainable and productive way to expand the learning day is for schools to partner with community organizations to offer significantly more time for learning, an approach that multiplies the talent and resources of both teams by uniting them in meeting shared goals for students. That’s what ExpandED Schools do. While giving states more flexibility to deploy 21CCLC funds, the federal government should require community partners to be a part of any strategy. Local decision-makers should have the authority to choose whether to apply the funds to expanded learning days, after-school or summer programs.