How Much Learning Time Do Students Loose During Their In-Person School Day?

This may help parents see virtual learning through a new lens

Introduction

So many parents and others have been increasingly anxious for their children and students to return to in-person learning at school. Some argue that returning students to their traditional school with safety measures in place still has the potential to put their health and the health of their family in jeopardy. Others with opposing arguments have become vocal about the belief that there is a low health risk for children and young people who return to their traditional school.

Here are additional prevalent viewpoints about this highly controversial topic.

1. It is detrimental to the social development of students not to attend in-person classes.
2. Virtual learning does not provide learners with a quality educational experience.
3. Students will fall behind if they participate in an on-line program.
4. There is not enough medical and scientific evidence to prove that students will not be adversely impacted by the corona virus if they are exposed to it at school.
5. Parents rely on school for basic childcare.
6. Students are cheated out of educational time because the time spent online is shorter than the traditional in-person school day.

In all honesty, I could write volumes about the pros and cons related to sending students back to their physical schools full-time to receive their education during this challenging time. (I have, in fact, written many stories about my opinion as it relates to schools reopening). However, that is not the purpose of this article.

I am addressing a topic that few people, if any, have considered as the topic of reopening school continues to be argued. In fact, in all of my reading, research, and following news reports in recent months, I do not recall that this information has been used to justify the reopening of in-person schools or for maintaining the status quo of an exclusive virtual focus.

The following information that I share is likely to help people readjust their thinking about traditional in-person school being the absolute best way for students to receive their education.

Student Engagement in Learning at School

I think that a lot people have lost sight of the real reason why school exists. This is especially true during our current health crisis. I will help people refocus on the reason why by simply stating that students attend school to learn. While the social experiences fine-tune the educational and developmental experience for students, academic growth is paramount.

There is a harsh reality associated with the amount of time students spend engaged with deep levels of learning. This article will expose and examine this reality.

Before delving into this topic, I firmly acknowledge that the learning climate in each classroom, school, and school district are different. That means that the capacity for students to learn in an uninterrupted and consistent manner varies from place to place because of several unique factors. Many of these include some of the following:

1. the classroom management styles utilized by teachers
2. the building wide management of students established and maintained by school leaders
3. student behavioral struggles
4. teacher preparation and teacher quality
5. positive behavioral support systems
6. student motivation
7. the amount and quality of parent and family engagement
8. onsite behavior and mental health students services and interventions
9. the varied student learning abilities within each classroom including students who have an Individualized Education Program

In many schools everywhere, many of these factors along with others impacts the actual amount of time that is devoted to student learning. This causes some students to actually spend less time devoted to learning. Additionally, some teachers spend less time devoted to instruction because of some of these factors.

However, there are also some routine activities that take place in all school day after day that also reduces the actual amount of learning and instructional time. This has traditionally been referred to as time on task. Student engagement in learning is really what this is all about.

While parents send their children to school for about seven hours each day on average, many students spend far less time actually being engaged in meaningful learning and being exposed to quality instruction. Here are some daily occurrences that take place in schools and classrooms that definitely reduce learning and instructional time.

1. Most schools begin the day with a homeroom segment to prepare student for the day as well as to review important announcements. This is typically 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Students transition from subject matter to subject matter and class to class. This includes things like putting supplies from one class away or cleaning up to prepare for the next class. This also includes the physical movement of students from one classroom to another one. Transitions usually takes approximately 5 minutes for each class. So, up to 35 to 40 minutes of the student’s day may be spent making shifts and changes in their day.
3. The federal government requires students to have 30 minutes to eat their lunch on a daily basis. Five additional minutes are generally given for students to travel from class to the cafeteria and the same amount of time is provided for them to travel from the cafeteria back to their classroom.
4. Elementary students are traditionally given a recess period at least once during the school day. This period of time is typically 15 to 20 minutes. (In fact, the United States Centers for Disease Control highly suggests that children should be provided with 20 minutes of recess each day.) Older students in some learning environments are given breaks so that they are able to purchase a quick snack or beverage or to just relax before returning to class. Such breaks are usually 15 to 20 minutes as well.
5. In poorly managed classrooms as well as those where disruptive student behaviors persist, the amount of lost class time each day is staggering. Unfortunately, it is impossible to quantify the amount of this lost time because it generally occurs in isolated environments within the school.
6. Periodic, monthly, or annual mandated occurrences like fire, safety, and severe weather drills may take up to 15 minutes to complete.
7. Late student arrivals and early dismissals may impact the amount of instructional time learners are exposed to because teachers tend to these individual students. They typically review what was missed when they arrive or the work that will be missed before they leave.
8. Despite the safety protocols that should exist in schools today, some buildings permit parents to freely visit classrooms to speak with teachers. This is especially true for parents who are actively involved at the school. For these parents, they usually have free and open access to do so. Such unfair disruptions reduce the amount of time students devote to learning.
9. In some schools, the final period of the school day is often shortened by approximately 5 minutes to enable students to have a head start to prepare to board their school buses and to be dismissed to go home in a timely manner.
10. Teachers who provide instruction to a new group of students each period typically take care of attendance and special announcements at the beginning of the class. This could easily take up to 5 minutes every class.

Conservatively speaking, about 110 minutes are used for reasons other than learning during the school day. Reflecting on the amount of instructional and learning time that is nonexistent for students each day will come as a huge surprise for many parents. So, when they send their child to school for 7 hours which is 420 minutes, approximately 5 hours and 16 minutes are actually devoted to the student time on task. (In my opinion, far less time is probably dedicated to the student engagement in learning each school day.)

A Thought About Cyber School

When a student attends a cyber school, he or she is required to engage in their school work either by participating in live lessons (synchronously) or by completing educational tasks independently (asynchronously). The requirement is only for students to be engaged in student learning and teacher instruction for 5 hours to 5.5 hours each day.

For parents and others who are highly critical of cyber and virtual programs because of this time requirement, it is important that they reflect on the actual amount of time devoted to the student learning and teacher instruction that actually takes in a traditional brick and mortar school.

Aside from in-person teacher to student and student to student social contact, the amount of time that students spend engaged in learning at a traditional school and at a cyber school is really the same.

The Conclusion

Whether the educational program that a parent selects provides in-person learning and instruction, virtual learning and instruction, or is even a hybrid approach (which this article did not address) that provides a combination of in-person learning and instruction at school and at home, the amount of student engagement in learning is what is important.

Here’s my golden ticket that helps me accomplish my mission.

Dr. Deborah M. Vereen is a retired Teacher and School Administrator. Her website is www.Drdeborahmvereen.com and her YouTube Channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS1DPhBeA29UlybU9jzDkdQ .