Opportunity to Learn and Student Time on Task

The First Generation: In the effective school, teachers allocate a significant amount of classroom time to instruction in the essential skills. For a high percentage of this time students are engaged in whole class or large group, teacher-directed, planned learning activities.

The Second Generation: In the second generation, time will continue to be a difficult problem for the teacher. In all likelihood, the problems that arise from too much to teach and not enough time to teach it will intensify. In the past, when the teachers were oriented toward “covering curricular content” and more content was added, they knew their response should be to “speed-up.” Now teachers are being asked to stress the mission that assures that the students master the content that is covered. How are they to respond?

In the next generation, teachers will have to understand the concepts of “teaching and learning” and “less is more.” In the “covering the content” system teachers were evaluated on their performance. The focus of “covering the content” system was teaching. In the new standards based system teachers are and will be evaluated on how their students perform. The focus of the standards system is student learning.

As a result, teachers will have to become more skilled at selecting student centered learning activities, prioritizing content, and integrating the curriculum. They will have to be able to ask the questions, “What are the most effective student learning strategies?” - “What goes and what stays?” - “How can I integrate curriculum content to make best use of my limited time?”

Source: One Voice - Broward Effective Schools