PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – School superintendents and other educators are calling a study that linked the length of the school day with student performance flawed.

The Education Partnership, a business-based education policy group, conducted the study after Education Commissioner Peter McWalters proposed extending the school day to 7.5 hours. The plan sparked outcry from educators who argued it was the wrong approach to boosting achievement.

By looking at the length of the teacher’s day plus the length of the school year, the Partnership found that teachers in six districts – Chariho, East Providence, Johnston, Newport, North Providence and Portsmouth – work the equivalent of at least two weeks less than their Barrington counterparts, which the report set as the gold standard.

Of the six districts, only high school and middle school students in Portsmouth are considered high performing by the state Department of Education.

Providence, with the largest student population of any Rhode Island district, was also included in the survey. According to the Partnership, its teachers are in school 1.4 weeks less than Barrington’s.

Data on the length of the school day and the school year was drawn from the state Department of Education. Common planning time, professional training and student advisories were included.

Tim Duffy, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, questioned the findings.

The report, Duffy told The Providence Journal, doesn’t explain why Portsmouth, with one of the shortest “teacher years,” has some of the strongest student performance in the state.

He said the survey didn’t consider other important factors that directly affect student performance: poverty, single-parent families and the educational attainment of parents.

Also, Duffy said, “the whole thing is flawed because it doesn’t reflect the amount of time spent on instruction …. The fact that students in some schools may be warehoused for 6.5 hours doesn’t reflect the quality of instruction.”

Critics also wondered why these six districts were singled out when they have so little in common.

Barrington and Portsmouth are white, affluent, educated communities. Johnston and North Providence are urban ring communities with mostly working-class families. Providence is unlike any other district because of its size, poverty and the huge number of immigrants entering the school system.

Barrington was chosen as the benchmark for the study because it is one of three districts with high-performing high schools. It also has one of the longest school years – 187 days -and one of the longer school days – 6 hours and 45 minutes.

Portsmouth Superintendent Timothy Ryan called the study misguided, because it fails to include all of the extra time – from the after-school coaching to the Saturday academies – the teachers spend helping students.

“There is no question that some districts have school days built around adults’ needs,” he said. “That’s wrong. But to say that an additional 15 minutes is going to change the outcome without looking at the quality of that time is also mistaken.”

AP-ES-04-10-04 1053EDT