There’s been a lot of talk lately about how longer school days could very well be the solution to an education system that’s been lagging over the years.

It seems that among legislators especially, the most popular fix to education is “more;” more exposure to math and science, more testing to monitor student achievement, and now more time to squeeze it all in.

This week, schools in five states said they will add 300 hours of classroom time in 2013 in hopes of improving student achievement in literacy, math and science. More school hours could mean longer days for students. Although the three-year pilot program will affect only 20,000 students across 40 school districts in five states, it has potential to create a beaten path that’s followed by school districts all over the country in the foreseeable future.

It bears the question: Is it too much?

Certainly I can see the benefits of lengthening the school day. Teachers are always saying they wish they had more time to teach material, and students usually agree. Longer school days would provide that additional time to work with students and get them up to par with academic expectations, particularly students in dominantly low-income communities like our own. Time could also be spent exposing kids to more arts, music, physical activities, social engagement; even nap time would help ... really the list of educational opportunities made available is endless.

There is, however, a general perception that a longer school day automatically leads to better test scores in the basics – math, science and English. At least that seems to be the popular belief. But longer days also brings a few other considerations to the table. First off, countless educational researchers have conducted studies to link classroom time to student achievement, and for the most part, results are inconclusive (arguably because the average attention span is between 10-20 minutes). There’s no tough evidence that suggests a longer school day leads to better test scores.

So if results of a longer day are mixed then arguably, more time in the classroom equates to more time for students to stare at the wall.