Academic Learning or High Success Time
In the research literature, the portion of engaged time that students are work- ing on relevant academic tasks and performing those tasks with a high rate of success is referred to as Academic Learning Time (ALT). We will simply call it “high success time doing important work.” This is the category of time found to have the most significant correlation with student achievement.
Similar to findings regarding student engaged time, the amount of high suc- cess time students experience across classrooms varies hugely. In basic skill- work, for example, it was found to be anywhere from 16 minutes per day in a group of low-average classes to 111 minutes per day in a group of high-average classes. High and low average does not refer to the ability level of the students; it refers to the teacher’s ability to get more academic learning time for students (Caldwell, Huitt, & Graeber, 1982).
Academic learning time says something about what kind of match exists be- tween the current state of the learner, the material to be learned, and the design of the learning experience itself (Anderson, 1983). High-average teachers pro- vide “more than twice as much academic learning time as in the average case and more than six times as much as in the low average case” (Caldwell, Huitt, & Graeber, 1982, p. 477). These startling figures prompt a careful look at how our students experience school time, since high success time correlates strongly with achievement.
In order to increase high success time, we need to use time efficiently and struc- ture learning experiences that enable students to be successful. Variance in high success time must be traced to the appropriateness of assignments, the diag-
T H E S K I L L F U L T E A C H E R 89
PART TWO | MANAGEMENT | TIME
nostic acumen of the teacher, and the adequacy of instruction and direction given before students are turned loose on individual tasks—in other words, our skill at clarity, structuring learning experiences, and matching objectives to individuals and groups. Many of the suggestions listed for engaged time can also serve as resources for attaining more ALT. Since scheduled time and al- located time set the upper limits for academic learning or high success time, it is worth considering things one can do in each of these categories to channel more available minutes toward this end.