Actual Learning Time

Have you ever thought about how much time children actually spend in class with a teacher over the course of a year? Based on the fairly typical bell schedule of my local middle school where children attend 180 days per year, I made a few calculations. Please be patient if numbers don’t excite you.

Regular days (138 per year)

-Total time spent at school = 6 hours 25 minutes

-Time spent traveling between classes = 25 minutes

-Time spent at lunch = 45 minutes

-Actual daily time spent in classes = 5 hours 15 minutes

-Actual annual time spent in regular day classes = 724 hours 30 minutes

Short days (42 per year)

-Total time spent at school = 4 hours 15 minutes

-Time spent traveling between classes = 25 minutes

-Time spent at lunch = 40 minutes

-Actual daily time spent in classes = 3 hours 30 minutes

-Actual annual time spent in minimum day classes = 147 hours

Other factors

-The amount of time that a child is awake everyday (~9 hours of sleep) = 15 hours

-Total number of hours that a child is awake for the year = 5475 hours

Summary

-The total number of waking hours that a child is not in classes = 4603 hours 30 minutes. Therefore, they spend more than 84% of their time in other places than classes.

-The total number of hours that a child spends in classes during an entire year = 871 hours 30 minutes. Even if their attendance is perfect, students spend less than 16% of their waking time in classes!

Of course, it is even less time because deductions must be made for student tardiness and absences, getting the class settled down, and dealing with disruptive students. Also, don’t forget that the teachers are spreading their attention among 25-35 students!

Now that every poorly performing student in California is expected to score at Proficient and Advanced, much too much is being asked of teachers alone. The outrageous demands being placed on teachers are absurd, especially when so many of their students have not had their "educational pumps" primed at home.

After explaining these numbers to parents, here is some simple advice them to let them know why:

-Attending school is so important (every single day).

-Being on time is so important (those lost minutes add up quickly).

-Cooperating with the teachers is so important (they have a great deal to accomplish, in so little time).

-Doing homework is so important (those lessons extend the classroom time).

-Enrolling in tutoring, or after school classes, is so important (it’s more learning time).

-Focusing your energy on your child’s schoolwork is the most important gift that you can give them.