In an uncommon move, the new Twin Rivers Unified School District is adding 25 to 30 minutes of daily instruction time in all of its elementary schools.

In some schools, the closing bell will ring later. In others, recess and lunch will be shorter. In all, boys and girls in kindergarten through sixth grade will be spending more time every day with their teachers engaged in learning. Tallied up, the minutes represent the equivalent of 10 to 12 additional days of instruction in a year, depending on the school.

The change takes effect Wednesday when summer vacation ends for Twin Rivers families. It is aimed squarely at one goal: increasing student achievement.

"It's unusual, but we really wanted to do what was right for kids," said Richard McGuire, a sixth-grade teacher at Kohler Elementary in North Highlands and a member of Twin Rivers United Educators, which negotiated the agreement with the district.

In a state where a fiscal crisis is gripping many schools and labor negotiations can be difficult even in flush years, Twin Rivers' new agreement with its teachers stands as a notable and heartening development, according to state education leaders and experts.

"It is exciting to see a district be able to do this," said Holly Jacobson, assistant executive director of the California School Boards Association. "It has happened here and there, but it certainly isn't prevalent, especially in these budget-cutting days."

Twin Rivers was created July 1 when four districts in northern Sacramento County became one K-12 system. Some of the campuses in the new district of 26,000 students have strong achievement, while numerous other schools struggle with high dropout rates and low test scores.

The merger had the fortuitous effect of bringing in higher per-student dollars from the state and an extra infusion of cash. It enabled the district to put $3 million into equalizing and raising teacher salaries for the 2008-09 school year.

The change in instructional minutes comes as part of a new teachers contract that is being negotiated. Several issues still must be worked out, and the contract is not expected to be ratified until later this fall. But the district and teachers have an agreement on the increase in elementary instructional minutes, as well as salary raises, said Tom Janis, assistant superintendent for employee relations.

Salaries ranged widely among the four former districts. The merged district is blending salary schedules and "leveling up" employees' pay. Some highly paid teachers will not receive raises this year, although they will get built-in step increases, Associate Superintendent Rob Ball said. Others, such as those in the former Del Paso Heights district, will get raises as high as 30 percent.

"They were way underpaid," Ball said.

Variations also existed in the length and structure of the school day among the former districts. As a result, the added half-hour of instructional time will play out differently in different places.

At Babcock Elementary in North Sacramento, for example, school ran from 8:35 a.m. to 2:55 p.m. last year. Lunch was 40 minutes and two daily recesses ran 10 and 15 minutes.

When school resumes next week, the day will run 15 minutes longer, until 3:10, Babcock Principal Betty von Werlhof said. Lunch will be shortened by 10 minutes, and five minutes will be cut from the longer of the two recesses.

"Teachers are definitely giving a bit more," Werlhof said, adding that some are pleased while others are more wary. "Teacher contact time is so important to student achievement. Every minute counts."

At Regency Park Elementary in North Natomas, daily lunch and recess time totaled 75 minutes in the past, Principal Mike Reed said. Under the new system, the school day will run five minutes longer, with the remaining instructional minutes coming from lunch and recess.

Reed and others said the long, unstructured blocks of recess and lunch time often encouraged student behavior problems. More time on task with teachers, they said, will lift both learning and behavior.

"This is huge," Reed said, noting that in his 14 years as an educator in California and Washington, he has never seen the instructional day lengthened. "We have kids not learning at high enough levels, and part of that is that we need more time with them."

David N. Plank is executive director of Policy Analysis for Education, a research center based at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. He said that 30 minutes of added teaching time every day is substantial and could make a difference in achievement. But he cautioned that schools must use the time effectively. Running repetitive exercises, for example, would not likely translate into greater achievement, he said.

"Time is the scarcest resource in education," Plank said. "Using it well is the challenge all schools face."

Twin Rivers isn't stopping at the elementary level when it comes to stretching instructional time. Over the next year, the district also hopes to negotiate a seventh-period for middle and high schools, with individual teachers having the option of being paid to teach an extra hour a day, Janis said.

Call The Bee's Deb Kollars, (916) 321-1090.