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Taking Stock Of An Extended School Day Program In Rochester

Officials from the Rochester City School District and an organization which works on helping schools extend their instructional day say they are pleased with what they've seen in Rochester since a new program began a couple of years ago.

District Superintendent  Bolgen Vargas says the district has seen an improvement in test scores in four out of the five elementary schools where the program began.

“We saw some great results in the area of reading and language development, which is an area that the district is struggling with."

Jennifer Davis is president of the National Center for Time and Learning, which has been helping implement the program, and she visited School 23 in Rochester Monday to see what kind of progress is being made.

“Rochester is really one of the first in New York to really be very strategic about it and to really dig deep and focus hard, what it’s going to take to improve student achievement.”

Vargas says 10 schools in the district are using the extended day program now, and that will go up to 15 next year.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.