This Special Report is a summary of the author's original paper, "It's About Time: Extending Learning to Narrow the Achievement Gap." The family income of students is a consistent predictor of academic achievement across the United States, where an achievement gap between the most and least affluent students has long persisted and shows no sign of narrowing. The current body of research is insufficient to draw conclusions about whether extending learning time is effective in closing the academic achievement gap between lower-income and more affluent students. Studies, however, do find that strategies ranging from extended school years to summer learning opportunities show promise as a means for improving the academic achievement of the lower-income students exposed to them. Although program design varies widely between and within the types of extended learning programs, recent research identifies several characteristics of those that have been shown to be effective. This report discusses these characteristics, the effectiveness of the programs, student implications, how allocated time relates to academic improvement, and other issues related to extended learning programs. [This report was featured as the Special Report in the March 2013 issue of the Office of Child Development's newsletter "Developments."]