Teachers in the U.S. spend far more time engaged in active instruction than their peers in other parts of the world. Yet some of teachers’ most important responsibilities–such as planning and collaborating with peers–require non-instructional time.
Fortunately, there are several promising models schools have used for creative scheduling to provide teachers with the time they need to improve teaching and learning. The Center for American Progress has compiled five of these innovative school schedules in a new report by Meg Benner and Lisette Partelow, titled Reimagining the School Day: Innovative Schedules for Teaching and Learning. While each example schedule varies, there are similarities in how school leaders and teachers at each school reimagined the use of time.
The innovative schedules featured in Reimagining the School Day all include:
— Additional time for planning and collaboration
— Flexible instructional blocks to differentiate content to student need
— Opportunities for small group instruction or student-directed learning
To access the report, see
https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2017/02/22121614/022217_InnovativeSchool-brief.pdf
