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Here’s a novel approach: Lengthening classes to maximize instruction time while shortening school days.

‘s teachers said they were only getting 35 to 40 minutes of teaching time per class period, so the private K-12 school in Manoa decided to cut out wasted time by lengthening its 45-minute periods to hour-long ones.

“There’s all this research showing students are already checked out in the last five minutes of class, and then it takes five minutes to start a new class, so we were losing between 13 and 15 minutes of instruction between every class and up to an an hour and three-quarters of instruction time per day,” Sister Joan of Arc Souza, head of the private Saint Francis School, told Civil Beat this week.

There are a number of ways to deliver the extended class period — some are summarized .

Saint Francis’ new schedule will reduce the amount of time spent between fewer classes and the school day will run from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. — a change welcomed by students who will finish 45 minutes earlier now. They were previously on a 7:55 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. schedule.

An added benefit to students finishing earlier is that it will help the school improve its athletic programs without cutting into the academic schedule, Souza said. This way, athletes will already be done with their classes by the time they are expected to be at practice or preparing for games.

Teachers will still be able to ask individual students to remain at school after 2:30, as long as they give 24-hour advance notice to the parents. And all teachers will hold “office hours,” remaining accessible to students one-on-one after school lets out. The entire arrangement is much like a college schedule, Souza explained.

“It’s a win-win situation all the way around,” she said. “The teachers are all very excited.”

How does your student’s school schedule work? What are the pros and cons to longer class periods? Talk about them in our ongoing education discussion. To read more education news throughout the day, follow me on Twitter: .