Time: Today It Translates to Dollars

Abstract

In the 1976-77 school year, the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) planned and conducted a study of time use in the elementary classrooms participating in major compensatory education programs in our district. The primary question that we were addressing in this evaluation was whether or not compensatory programs actually resulted in a loss of instructional time due to student movement to and from special program activities. Current research on teaching suggests that the time variable, particularly that of time-on-task, is crucial in the learning process. Much concern over the possible loss of instructional time was expressed by school staff. Also, local evaluations suggested that efforts at individualization, team teaching, and supervision of aides or student teachers might be resulting in an increase in the amount of management and clerical duties required of classroom teachers in these special programs with a concurrent decrease in student-teacher contact. It also appeared that in many schools multiple programs or new programs not yet well established had the same result.