...Every student at Elmhurst, in the Oakland Unified school district, attends the expanded learning program, making it part of their normal school day. Classes begin at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m., at least two hours after most other Oakland students are done for the day.
...Part of the school’s uniqueness is the way it blends the regular school day and the after-school program.
Rodzhaney Sledge, dressed in the light-blue school uniform, is new to the school as a 6th grader, but she already understands how the after-school part of the program supports her academic work. For example, she took a class called Tools for Peace, where she learned to meditate. Meditation, she says, has helped calm her so she can focus on academics. She also appreciates the help with her homework she receives for at least an hour each day.
…[Principal Kilian] Betlach and community partners – primarily Citizen Schools, a national nonprofit that focuses on providing quality expanded learning programs for middle school students in low-income communities – have cobbled together federal, state, local and private funding to support the unique program. The school was one of five featured in a national report by the National Center on Time & Learning about financing exceptional expanded learning programs.
http://edsource.org/today/2014/oakland-middle-schools-9-hour-school-day-is-model-program/57269
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