The idea that more time in school produces better results could get a small boost today with the release of international data from the Brookings Institution. The study finds adding 10 minutes of math instruction to an eighth-grader’s day translates into a jump in math skills.

The findings come as a handful of states and school districts experiment with packing more minutes into the school day and, in a few cases, more days into the year.

The study, which examined eighth-grade math scores in 20 countries, found that five of seven that added instructional minutes from 1995 to 2003 showed improved skills. Of the 13 countries that subtracted time, 10 got worse results. The three exceptions were Latvia, the Netherlands and the USA.

Most U.S. eighth-graders got 45 minutes of daily math instruction in 2003, down from 49 in 1995, but their scores on the Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey improved slightly. Researcher Tom Loveless says that is an anomaly, and more time in class could help boost scores. But even 450 more minutes of math, or two weeks’ worth, would shrink the gap between the USA and top-scorer Singapore by less than 5%, he says.

It’s smarter to make school days a few minutes longer than to extend the academic year as a few states have done, Loveless says. Ten more minutes of daily math instruction are associated with a 19-point gain (on an 800-point scale). Adding 40 days of 45-minute math classes yielded 8.5 more points.

“Small increases to the school day add up to a lot of time over an entire year,” he says. (…)

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-12-10-math-class-time_N.htm