The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL)  conducts research, helps guide public policy, and provides technical assistance for “national, state and local initiatives that add significantly more school time for academic and enrichment opportunities to help children meet the demands of the 21st century.” In May, 2014, they published a report called “Time for Teachers: Leveraging Time to Strengthen Instruction and Empower Teachers.” You can access the executive summary or the full report.

The study involved 17 high-performing and rapidly improving schools across the U.S. that are involved in a movement to expand learning time. “The expanded school days and/or years also increase learning opportunities for teachers, who have more time to collaborate with their peers, master new content, plan for and reflect on lessons, and hone instructional practices.”

Three themes emerged from their study of teacher development: professional culture matters; teachers are leaders; and the school is the locus of learning.  If the school climate promotes professional growth, if teachers are empowered to lead through peer mentoring, coaching, and sharing expertise, and professional learning is embedded in practice, instructional practices will improve. “A successful teaching force spends time not only teaching, but also collaborating, planning, leading, and learning.”

Yes! To teacher leadership and job-embedded professional development as best practices to improve student learning.

Side Note: If you are looking for more real-world evidence, check out the article “Lessons from a school that scrapped a longer student day and made time for teachers.”  After experimenting with a longer school day for students, the principal of a Brennan-Rogers School in New Haven, Connecticut, found that extending collaboration time for teachers was more effective.

Works Cited

National Center on Time and Learning. “Time for Teachers: Leveraging Time to Strengthen Instruction and Empower Teachers.” Web. 1 Aug. 2014. <http://www.timeandlearning.org/files/Time%20for%20Teachers%20%28FINAL%29.pdf>

Peralta, Paola. Social Media Marketing. Digital Image. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social_Media_Marketing.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Social_Media_Marketing.jpg>.

RoganJosh. Clocks_1490. Digital Image. Morguefile. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. <http://mrg.bz/Bnee4Q>.