Instructional Time: A Matter of Efficiency
Instructional time—the percentage of allocated time a teacher is engaged with students delivering instruction and actively monitoring learning experi- ences—might be referred to as time on task for the teacher. Estimates of how much class time is devoted to instruction vary widely, from a low of 21% to a high of 69% (Conant, 1973; Marzano & Riley, 1984; Park, 1956; U.S. National Education Commission on Time and Learning, 1994). If we take the highest estimate of 69% as the upper boundary, we can conclude that of the 13,104 classroom hours theoretically available, only 9,042 hours are used for instruc-
T H E S K I L L F U L T E A C H E R 85
PART TWO | MANAGEMENT | TIME
Research generally supports the positive impact of increasing the amount of instructional time.
tion. This comes to about 695.5 hours per year or about 3.9 hours per day (Marzano, 2003).
The research generally supports the positive impact of increasing the amount of instructional time. Walberg (1997) found a positive relationship between increased instructional time and learning in 97% of 130 studies (Marzano, 2003). One major study of 87 secondary classrooms (Stallings, 1980) found the average engaged rate of teacher to students to be 73%. Some teachers used 40 minutes of a 45-minute period to develop concepts; others used only 20 to 25 minutes (Good & Brophy, 2000). Teachers who had lower rates of interaction with students had classes with significantly smaller achievement gains (or no gain at all), especially for low-performing students. This is true even if students were on task most of the time. As Stallings (1980) explains, “The students are on-task, but the teacher is not teaching. In those classrooms where no gain was being made, the students were doing written assignments 28 percent of the time and reading silently 22 percent of the time, and teachers were doing classroom management tasks more than 27 percent of the time” (p. 14).
Maximizing instructional time requires organizing instructional activities and expediting non-instructional ones (preparing materials, taking attendance, managing transitions, dealing with discipline, and so forth) so there is a mini- mum of downtime and unsupervised learning time. Hence, how much of the allocated time we preserve for instruction is directly tied to classroom organi- zation and management skills.
There is also a need to look at instructional time from a schoolwide perspec- tive. Marzano (2003) proposes that “schools should make every effort to con- vey the message that class time is sacred time and should be interrupted for important events only, a message that is commonly conveyed in other coun- tries” (p. 31). He cites Stigler and Hiebert (1999) who found that instructional interruptions (such as PA announcements) were far more typical in American classrooms than in Japan and suggests that we take measures to eliminate these by decreasing or eliminating announcements during instructional time. Post- ing “Do Not Interrupt” signs on our doors and referring to specific parts of class as academic learning time helps students understand the need to put forth greater effort to attend during those times.
Instructional time—the percentage of allocated time a teacher is engaged with students delivering instruction and actively monitoring learning experi- ences—might be referred to as time on task for the teacher. Estimates of how much class time is devoted to instruction vary widely, from a low of 21% to a high of 69% (Conant, 1973; Marzano & Riley, 1984; Park, 1956; U.S. National Education Commission on Time and Learning, 1994). If we take the highest estimate of 69% as the upper boundary, we can conclude that of the 13,104 classroom hours theoretically available, only 9,042 hours are used for instruc-
T H E S K I L L F U L T E A C H E R 85
PART TWO | MANAGEMENT | TIME
Research generally supports the positive impact of increasing the amount of instructional time.
tion. This comes to about 695.5 hours per year or about 3.9 hours per day (Marzano, 2003).
The research generally supports the positive impact of increasing the amount of instructional time. Walberg (1997) found a positive relationship between increased instructional time and learning in 97% of 130 studies (Marzano, 2003). One major study of 87 secondary classrooms (Stallings, 1980) found the average engaged rate of teacher to students to be 73%. Some teachers used 40 minutes of a 45-minute period to develop concepts; others used only 20 to 25 minutes (Good & Brophy, 2000). Teachers who had lower rates of interaction with students had classes with significantly smaller achievement gains (or no gain at all), especially for low-performing students. This is true even if students were on task most of the time. As Stallings (1980) explains, “The students are on-task, but the teacher is not teaching. In those classrooms where no gain was being made, the students were doing written assignments 28 percent of the time and reading silently 22 percent of the time, and teachers were doing classroom management tasks more than 27 percent of the time” (p. 14).
Maximizing instructional time requires organizing instructional activities and expediting non-instructional ones (preparing materials, taking attendance, managing transitions, dealing with discipline, and so forth) so there is a mini- mum of downtime and unsupervised learning time. Hence, how much of the allocated time we preserve for instruction is directly tied to classroom organi- zation and management skills.
There is also a need to look at instructional time from a schoolwide perspec- tive. Marzano (2003) proposes that “schools should make every effort to con- vey the message that class time is sacred time and should be interrupted for important events only, a message that is commonly conveyed in other coun- tries” (p. 31). He cites Stigler and Hiebert (1999) who found that instructional interruptions (such as PA announcements) were far more typical in American classrooms than in Japan and suggests that we take measures to eliminate these by decreasing or eliminating announcements during instructional time. Post- ing “Do Not Interrupt” signs on our doors and referring to specific parts of class as academic learning time helps students understand the need to put forth greater effort to attend during those times.