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Serving on a local school board can be very rewarding.  Members play a valuable role in the education system, making critical decisions that often impact hundreds – if not thousands – of students.  Despite its importance, however, the position remains a part-time job.  Therefore, it is imperative that board members focus on the issues of the most consequence.  Unfortunately, it is not unusual for school board members to get distracted by questions about matters that should be left to district and school administrators.

School board members hear everything from, “Why is Miss Smith still teaching when none of my kids like her?” to “My daughter really wants to be on the cheerleading team this year, can you talk to the sponsor?”  While these may be important to the person asking, they certainly are not appropriate for a school board member to address.

So, what are the important questions school boards should be answering? 

Research suggests that the most powerful factor in impacting student achievement is providing a coherent plan for teaching content (Guaranteeing an Essential Curriculum).  This, then, should dictate the first set of questions a school board should be able to answer.

• Do you have board policies that give direction to the district leadership for developing an essential curriculum?
• Have you approved the curriculum?
• Do you have a way of measuring how well the essential curriculum is being implemented?
• Do you have a plan for improving the implementation?

An essential curriculum is unattainable without the benefit of time. Again, the research is clear. The more time students spend actively engaged in learning the essential curriculum, the higher they achieve.  Assuming the board has allocated, through policy, a specific amount of time for instruction, we then ask the following:

• Do you know how much of that time is actually used for instruction?
• Do you have a way of measuring the extent to which the allocated time is actually utilized for learning?
• Are your schools Maximizing Academic Learning Time by limiting the interruptions to instruction?

With approval of a viable and essential curriculum and the allocation of sufficient time for instruction, the foundation is set for students to succeed.  The board’s responsibility must extend, though, to further analysis.  

• Do you know whether students are actually learning what is intended?
• Do you know the learning pace by grade, school, or content area?
• Do you know these learning rates at periodic times during the school year?
• How are schools, and thus the board, Monitoring Student Achievement?

Renowned education researcher Robert Marzano details the effects of teacher quality in his book, What Works in Schools.  Citing his own research and that of others, Marzano tells us that the quality of the teacher can overcome all other negative variables in increasing student achievement.  Other research acknowledges the important role leadership plays in having effective schools.  Like most professions, teaching and educational leadership require continuous growth.  We ask then,

• Do you have a plan to improve the professional practice of your staff?
• Is the plan based on identified needs?
• Is it working?
• Does the board support Promoting Professional Practice?

Finally, there is no greater responsibility of a school board than to ensure the physical and emotional security of students and staff.  Once again, research suggests a strong relationship between teachers’ and students’ feelings of safety and security at school and student achievement levels.  Boards must be able to answer:

• Do policies adequately address student discipline issues?
• Are students and staff held to high expectations for conduct?
• Have you allocated sufficient resources to support an effective school safety and security program?
• Are we Providing a Culture and Climate Conducive to Learning?

Many school boards and administrators would instinctively answer the questions posed here with a quick, “Yes.”

To that we respond, “How do you know?”  “What data have you gathered?”  An occasional walk through a school or asking the principal how things are going will not provide the objective data needed to drive board decisions and ensure deep implementation.  Every district, every school should utilize systematic processes and procedures to collect and analyze data on these essential questions.

JBHM Education Group has worked in hundreds of schools for more than ten years.  We consistently find that employing a system for gathering and monitoring data on these, and other, questions is critical to sustaining growth.  This has proven to be true regardless of a school’s label – academic watch, targeted improvement, successful, star, or something else.

Whether you serve on the school board, work in the district office, teach in a school, or parent a child, you must constantly ask, “How do we know?”  This is the question that allows us to make the right decisions about the education of our children.

Research is clear that more time on task benefits students.  That seems obvious – more instruction and more practice should produce higher achievement.  But protecting time is no small task.  Interruptions are inevitable.  Some, in fact, seem justified.  Even with the best intentions it is easy to lose valuable instructional time.  Administrators must, however, take control of the time they have available.

Either by state or district policy, schools are allocated a specific number of days in which to deliver instruction.  Similarly, the length of the school day and duration of class periods are mandated.  With that limited time teachers are expected to teach to standards that are rising every year.   It is clear, then, that time is a precious commodity in education and administrators must protect every minute.

At JBHM Education Group we call this Maximizing Academic Learning Time (MALT)*.  It’s so important that it is one of our Five Essential Practices.

So how does a school begin to manage this important task?  The process starts with an understanding of the time that is available and the litany of things that disturb instruction.  From pep rallies to senior class pictures and professional development to career day, the list of interruptions is long.  Once identified, though, one can control and organize those factors in order to increase the time students are actively engaged in learning.

Take a look at one example (click here) of the results of an exercise JBHM Education Group led for a partner school.  We helped the school list all of the items that reduced instructional time.  Individually, many of these items appeared insignificant, but their cumulative effect is stunning.

As demonstrated, routine events such as student activities, state testing, and club meetings all cut into allocated time.  Your school may not lose the amount of academic learning time to these distractions as the school in this case, but it’s probably more than you imagine.

At this point you may be thinking, “I’m sure we do a good job utilizing the time we have.”  Well, how do you know?  What data do you have to confirm your belief?  We asked those questions of the school in our example and the truthful answer was that they had never done an in-depth analysis of the use of time.  The reality was much different than their perception.

We encourage you to conduct a self-audit.  Our experience is that even the most seasoned administrators are surprised by what they see.

To get started, gather the school calendar, class schedule, sports schedules, listing of activities for clubs and organizations, and information on all other events during the school day.  The purpose of this step is to identify those things that reduce instructional time, not place blame or judge the value of an activity.

Using the form accompanying this story, enter the information and calculate your Available Learning Time and the % of Allocated Minutes Available for Instruction.  Some of our partner schools have seen enough at this point in the analysis to realize the impact on students.  However, we also recommend conducting multiple sweeps through multiple classrooms over several days and documenting the % of students actively engaged in learning.

Apply the % of engagement to the Available Learning Time, yielding the % of allocated time that is actually used for instruction – Academic Learning Time at My School.  Eye opening, isn’t it?  This exercise provides valuable insight into the factors that hinder learning in your building. 

The good news is that with this information, you can now begin the process of changing how you Maximize Academic Learning Time.  Through implementation of strategies such as an instructional focus calendar and other tools, you take back control of instruction.  We did just that with the school illustrated here…and student achievement increased beyond their expectations.

To find out more about how JBHM Education Group can assist your school, call 866-792-5879.