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DOE: 40 NYC Schools To Join Middle School Quality Initiative Program

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Starting in the fall, 40 middle schools in New York City will be added to the Middle School Quality Initiative program, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced Monday.

Of those, 20 will include a pilot program to extend the school day and offer intense literacy training for high needs students. Extended learning will be in six middle schools in the Bronx and Brooklyn, five in Queens and three in Manhattan.

"Beginning next September, all sixth graders in each of these 20 middle schools, for a total of 2,000 students, will experience 2.5 more hours of learning time per day as part of our new pilot program," said Quinn in a statement.  "This pilot is a part of the Council and DOE's Middle School Quality Initiative, which has already shown promising results with both low and high performing kids, and we are confident that a daily dose of extra tutoring for students struggling with English Language Arts will significantly increase students' ability to comprehend at grade-level across all subjects."

The Middle School Quality Initiative program was launched in 2011 with 18 schools and currently works with 49 schools across the city.

Schools participating in the program receive funding for literacy-focused training and instructional materials, according to the Department of Education.

"We are committed to ensuring that all students are prepared for college and 21st century careers and the Middle School Quality Initiative has been central to this mission," Walcott said in a statement.

For more information and full list of participating schools, click here.

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