May 5, 2009

New policy brief on teacher impressions of time and learning released with Massachusetts teachers unions on National Teacher Appreciation Day. Click here to read the full report.

Today, as the country celebrated National Teacher Day, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts and Massachusetts 2020 released a new policy brief on teacher impressions of time and learning.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts and Massachusetts 2020 released a new policy brief and hosted a panel discussion on Massachusetts teachers' impressions of the need for more learning time and the impact of the Expanded Learning Time Initiative.

Using newly available data, the report gives insight into what teachers think about the time they need to be successful. The brief uses data collected from Expanded Learning Time (ELT) schools and matched control schools as well as the MassTeLLS project, a collaboration among many education groups and the Commonwealth, that surveyed more than 40,000 teachers across Massachusetts about teaching and learning conditions.

The brief highlights one of the great dilemmas teachers face because of the constraints of the current school schedule. Teachers in the MassTeLLS study identify time as the single most important teaching condition for promoting learning. Yet fewer than 4 in 10 teachers across Massachusetts feel that they have enough time to meet the needs of all students or even just to complete the curriculum.

The data also shows how expanding time makes a difference for teachers and students. According to the surveys, there is nearly a 50% increase in the portion of teachers in ELT schools who feel time is now adequate to the curriculum and the needs of all students. Teachers at ELT schools also report that expanding learning time is improving opportunities for enrichment, raising academic achievement and improving student attitudes towards school work and students’ motivation, engagement and relationships.

Over the last few years, Massachusetts has been the national leader in the effort to rethink what school can be if teachers and students had more time. Now with interest growing in other states and at the federal level, this new report shows how favorably teachers view the Massachusetts ELT model and how this initiative should be used as an example for other policymakers, teachers unions, and legislators as they consider how to expand and redesign the school day and year.

For the full report, click here.