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Uses of Time in the Classroom
United States schools are typically in operation 180 days per year, but teachers
are usually expected to work a few days before and a few days after the official
school year. All but one of the schools visited—a year-round school—were open
from September until sometime in June, a schedule that originated when the
United States was predominantly rural and most families lived on farms. The
school year is usually divided into two ‘‘semesters’’ (September to mid-late January
and late January to June). Virtually all schools we visited operated during the day-
light hours, beginning sometime between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m. and ending between
2:00 and 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon. Typically, differences in start and end times
depend upon bus schedules, i.e., on whether elementary, middle, or secondary
students are picked up first or last. Nearly two-thirds of the Case Study teachers
reported spending between 7.5 and 9 hours each day at school. A smaller percent-
age (18 percent) said they spent 6 to 7 hours in the building, while an equal per-
centage reported being there between 10 and 11.5 hours each day.
Middle and secondary school teachers worked with different groups of students
over the course of the day and specialized in particular subjects. Despite their dif-
ferences, i.e., one ‘‘middle’’ school was located in a K–8 school and another was
a ‘‘year-round’’ school, all had shifted from the old ‘‘junior high’’ concept to a
‘‘middle school’’ format in which teachers work in teams. The secondary schools,
by contrast, were far more individualized. Teachers belonged to ‘‘departments,’’
but their schedules were not coordinated with those of other teachers. Nonethe-
less, the schedule in secondary schools, orchestrated as it is by bells, which signal
the beginning and end of each period, is largely beyond the control of individual
teachers. These periods are sometimes referred to as ‘‘hours’’ (e.g., first hour, sec-
ond hour), although, in the schools visited, a period (except for ‘‘double peri-
ods’’) was always less than an actual hour. Typically, students have 4 to 5 minutes
to get from one class to another ‘‘on time.’’
Elementary schools.
Because elementary school teachers are assigned to one
group of students, teachers’ schedules among schools and even within schools
were found to be highly variable, except for the regulating functions of recess,
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gym, and lunch. Not only did schools start and end at different times, but teachers
also taught subjects at different times of the day and for different lengths of time.
In addition, schedules could change from day to day or from one time period to
another. Teachers in high-income elementary schools, in comparison to teachers
in middle- and low-income elementary schools tended to have the most flexible
schedules or the greatest amount of planning/free time, or both.
In every elementary school but one, teachers taught the same group of children
most of the day, and they taught all of the principal subjects: language arts, math,
science, and social studies. Across elementary schools, math and reading were
often—but not always—taught in the morning and science and social studies in
the afternoon. In every case, science was scheduled during the last or the second-
to-last period of the day. The daily schedule for a fourth-grade class at East Ele-
mentary School illustrates a typical schedule at this level of schooling. There were
5 periods in the day ranging from 30 to 80 minutes in length. In addition, there
was a lunch break, and the teacher had one planning period a day during which
students attended activities outside the classroom, such as physical education,
music, art, or library. Math and language arts were taught every morning for 1
hour each. The subjects of science and social studies, however, were taught only
2 days a week each for an extended period of 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Teachers in Rockefeller Elementary School largely ignored state guidelines regard-
ing how time was to be used during the school day. In the classroom of one
fourth-grade teacher, I noticed that the schedule on the board was not the sched-
ule she followed. Later, during our interview, I asked her about this, and she
laughed, ‘‘I see my curriculum as a balanced diet. They won’t have everything
every day, but, over time, the children get everything they need.’’ This teacher
had ‘‘planning’’ time when the students in her class went to other teachers for
physical education (three times a week), art and music (twice a week), computer
(not every week), library (not every week), and lunch. A math resource teacher
also came to work with the class three times a week (for one-half hour each
time). The teacher went outside with the children during recess, a time she de-
scribed as being enjoyable, because it provided an opportunity to speak with
other teachers.
In this school, teachers virtually ignored dictates from the state not only regarding
the use of time but also regarding testing practices. One teacher commented: ‘‘If
you are interested in test score results, we are not the best school to look at, be-
cause we don’t care about that.’’ In another conversation, a teacher bristled: ‘‘The
stupidest thing they ever did was to concoct state-mandated tests. Don’t they real-
ize that kids aren’t all the same?’’
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At Midtown Elementary, time use was dictated both by the state and by the dis-
trict school board. A fourth-grade teacher graphically described the effect of this
regulation:
Teacher: You know the district is saying you need to have this, then you need
to have so many hours, you need to have . . . . you know. And I guess the
hours are state-mandated and, you know, this needs to be done by this date
and then . . . .
Interviewer: When you say hours what do you mean?
Teacher: For fourth-grade level you need to have
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