Quantity Matters: Annual Instructional Time in an Urban School System

Abstract

This article shares a series of instructional time analyses to illustrate how school management, social and cultural welfare programs, high-stakes testing, system policies, and a flawed notion of organizational efficiency combine to cripple enormous blocks of annual instructional time in a large urban district. Data analyzed were classroom observation records, field notes, teacher interviews, school calendars, and system documents. School trends that fragment and erode instructional time and reformers’ reluctance to rethink instructional time are discussed. In closing, administrators are urged to view the allocation and management of time as one of their most important and powerful functions, and actions to recover instructional time for teachers and students are outlined.