Time Takes Off

Last night a group of presidential candidates were finally asked a question about learning time in a nationally televised debate!

Here is how MSNBC's Brian Williams posed the question:

This is about something called Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. It's called TIMSS. A number of overseas nations took part in it. It found that overseas students spend an average of 193 days annually in school. The deficit compared to the U.S., where it's 180 days -- over 12 years, that adds up to one-year gap between education in the U.S. and overseas. Do you believe we in this country need to extend the school day and/or extend the school year? And will you commit to it?

That question will look familiar to readers of this blog, and it's true that MSNBC relied on some ED in ‘08 materials for background. But concern about whether we are providing our students enough time for learning has been mounting all year. I think this issue is really beginning to take off.


Last month a group of prominent education advocates launched a National Center on Time & Learning to help national and local leaders provide all students with more time for academics and enrichment. (Be sure to check out the website- there are some great resources on it.) And last week Paul Reville published a great commentary in Education Week about the need for more time - "Stop the Narrowing of the Curriculum by ‘Right-Sizing' School Time."


And while I was delighted that candidates were asked the time question in last night's debate, I was disappointed in two respects. First, ironically, since this was the "lightening round," candidates didn't have a lot of time to answer the question. In fact, one candidate was repeatedly cut off. It's been great to see questions about education being asked in recent debates, but educational issues like this deserve to be addressed at greater length and candidates deserve to be heard.


On the other hand, some candidates chose not to directly answer the question and talked instead about other education issues. That is not exactly surprising, but I would have liked to see the moderators push candidates to give straight answers to this question - just like they did on some other issues.


The bottom line - education is beginning to play a greater role in the national conversation and in the election, but now we need your help to raise it to the next level. An education question or questions was asked in 6 out of the last 7 Democratic debates and 2 out of the last 3 Republican debates. We want to continue this momentum. Click here to see how you can get involved and help ED in ‘08 continue to demand strong presidential leadership on education.