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Ali is chief academic officer for KIPP Bay Area schools.

Twelve years ago, as a first-year language-arts teacher at a middle school in Houston, I had 50 minutes a day with each of my classes. That might sound like a decent amount of time, but after taking roll and checking homework, I was lucky to have even 40 minutes left to teach my students, the majority of whom were low income or just learning to speak English. I had to take a triage approach—one that’s familiar to most public-school teachers. I focused on the basics of reading and writing to prepare them for the state assessment test, and I was barely able to devote any time to analytical writing, listening comprehension, or persuasive speaking. It felt as if I was shortchanging the students, and my frustration was compounded by the fact that after summer vacation they forgot much of what they’d learned, coming back even less prepared than they were three months earlier.

Six years ago I founded KIPP Heartwood Academy, a public charter school in San Jose, part of a network of 99 KIPP schools nationwide. KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) students spend more than 50 percent more time learning, with a school day that typically goes from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., along with a mandatory three-week summer-school program. The added time is getting results. With a student population that’s more than 85 percent low income, Heartwood has ranked in the top 10 percent of all California public schools every year since its inception, and it was named a Blue Ribbon School this year by the U.S. Department of Education. Read more...