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
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/33542 |
| Date | 30 March 1999 |
| Creators | Olsen, Kris J. |
| Contributors | McEwan, Barbara |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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