Responding to Your Questions: Student Edition

We love to hear from students around the country, and recently, we’ve been receiving a lot of questions about the length of the school day and school year from our young students.

President Obama and Secretary Duncan support a longer school day and school year to give children more time to learn and master their subjects so that they can be fully prepared to compete with students from other countries for jobs when they grow up.  In many other countries, students attend school year-round and have school days that are longer than those here in the U.S.

Many of our youngest readers may be happy to know that while the President and the Secretary can recommend that states extend the school year, they do not have the power to make the school year longer.  In the United States, the majority of decisions about education are made by State and local governments. So, if you have concerns about school day length, I encourage you to contact your State Department of Education. I’m sure they would love to hear from you!