Time is the educational resource educators most desire, but which is in shortest supply. Educators cannot add more days to the 12-month calendar year, or minutes to the day. Whatever control is to be had over the calendar and clock rests in the way time is managed by those in the position of decision-maker. This study examined the change in one middle school's schedule, from a traditional seven period to a four period extended block, as it related to teacher perceptions about time for staff development, instructional preparation, and staff collaboration. Additionally, the study examined teacher perceptions regarding student achievement, student contact overload, and school climate as a result of the change in the school schedule. Subjects for the study were drawn from practicing classroom teachers and other licensed personnel employed at the site school. Two research instruments, the School Schedule Questionnaire Survey and School Schedule Interview Survey, were used to gather data. The School Schedule Questionnaire Survey used a Likert Scale, which asked each subject to respond to a series of statements by indicating whether they strongly agreed, agreed, were undecided, disagreed, or strongly disagreed. This study concludes that teacher perceptions about time available for staff development, instructional preparation, and staff collaboration are greatly influenced by their perceptions about the degree to which they control that time, and can make decisions about its use. It also concludes that teacher perceptions about student achievement is difficult to assess without quantitative measures, and that although teachers felt the schedule had a positive impact on student achievement, most were concerned about the lack of objective measures when making such an assessment. And finally, it concluded that class size may not be the determining measure to assess teacher perceptions about student contact overload, that the total number of students a teacher comes into contact with each day has a greater impact on their perception in this area. / Graduation date: 1999