How do we improve schools?

Certainly there are thousands of opinions, but one I hear all the time is to extend the school year - more time = more learning.  This article also points out that a shorter summer is a way to minimize summer loss...an issue that affects our lower quartile students far more than others.  Check this out... http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_17218423?source=email&nclick_check=1