Reallocation of Instructional Time
School leaders and teachers will creatively allocate instructional time to meet the needs of effective student learning.
Most recent school reform initiatives have focused on student learning results and has reminded us that students learn in many different ways. Despite differences in learning styles, current school calendars and daily schedules capture students in a rigid “lock-step” time sequence that is welded to an industrial model of organization design and rooted in an agrarian calendar. The utilization of time in schools does not readily accommodate the uniqueness of individual learners. In fact, most student frustration is based on the fact that individuals are not treated as individuals. The “one size fits all” allocation of instructional time has only accommodated the mythical student identified as the average student.
When schools are involved in a Journey to Excellence teachers and administrators must not only develop various teaching strategies to accommodate differences in student learning, but they must review how the allocate time between and among all learning activities. School is a complex organization with educational objectives in both a formal curriculum and an informal curriculum. Reorganizing school schedules and teacher’s allocation of instructional time to achieve these objectives must be carefully considered. To achieve excellence Adventist educators need to design creative new ways to allocate instructional time to meet the individual needs of all students all the time.