The bell rings at 3:20 p.m. at Marie Murphy School in Wilmette,
sounding the end of a seven-hour and 20-minute day for middle-
schoolers, one of the longest in the state. Several miles south
in Chicago, public elementary school students get out after just
five hours and 30 minutes, the shortest day in Illinois. By the
end of a typical school year, that daily disparity would give
the Murphy students the equivalent of 48 more school days,
nearly 10 extra weeks. A Tribune analysis of nearly 900 school
districts in Illinois found dramatic differences in the length
of the school day, with disadvantaged students who need the most
academic help often getting the least time in school. The amount
of time a student spends in school has become a central part of
education reform efforts elsewhere in the nation. But in
Illinois, the striking variation from district to district has
gone mostly unnoticed by parents, politicians and even
administrators, and its effects on education have gone
unassessed. In the state's high sc