WH Academy Featured as High-Performing School

The is earning national recognition for its success in using expanded learning time to boost student achievement.

Woodland Hills Academy is one of 30 schools across the country featured in a new national report that examines effective practices for improving teaching and learning at expanded-time schools. The report is set to be released at an event with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in Washington, D.C. Sept. 30.

"To receive national recognition for innovations that are making a difference in student achievement is a momentous occasion for our district,” said Academy Principal Reginald Hickman in a news release. “Such recognition says that this model can serve as a blueprint for our district and others, for improving student performance by increasing student time on task."

The report, "Time Well Spent: Eight Powerful Practices of Successful, Expanded-Time Schools," from the National Center on Time & Learning, outlines how high-performing, expanded-time schools implement one or more of eight different practices to help improve student achievement, including allocating time towards focused goals, individualizing learning time and instruction based on student needs, and using time to assess student data in order to continuously strengthen instruction.

Superintendent Walter Calinger said the WH Academy model proves that more time on task produces better output from students.

“It just makes sense that more quality instructional time provided to students produces better measurable results as indicated by test scores and grades," he said in a news release.

The study includes a case study on the Woodland Hills Academy.

To read the full report, including the case study, click here.

Woodland Hills Academy is a kindergarten through eighth grade school that integrates technology and foreign language into the curriculum at all grade levels.