A Comprehensive and Longitudinal Study of Teacher Time and Testing

• In Event: 63.057 - When the Pressure Is On: Effects of Accountability on Instruction

Abstract

State policy-makers requested a study that examined teachers’ workdays. A mixed design was used to measure eight activities of 693 randomly sampled public school teachers across the state of Washington for an entire academic calendar. All teachers completed an on-line activity diary; 40 of those teachers recorded “real-time” daily activities on a Microsoft Surface tablet; and 36 of those teachers participated in recorded and coded interviews. The results indicated teachers spent 73% of their time on instruction; of which 17.8% of that time was used for state assessment preparation. On average, teachers reported working 2.4 hours more than the 6.5-hour instructional day, and reported that their roles were moving away from teaching as the primary focus of their work.

Authors

• James DePaepe, Central Washington University

• Daniel Matthews, Central Washington University

• Kirk Mathias, Central Washington University

• Neal Howard, Central Washington University

• Sigrid Davison, Central Washington University

• Elizabeth Lee, University of Portland