Negative Impact of Community Stressors on Learning Time

Posted by Annenberg Institute for School Reform on February 16, 2015

Allocated time ≠ learning time

A new article in Voices in Urban Education by Nicole Mirra and John Rogers points out that allocated classroom time does not necessarily equal time for learning, and that a host of economic and social stressors undermine learning time in schools with low-income students. The number of days and minutes students spend in classrooms is similar across most California high schools, but the authors learned through a survey of 800 teachers that the experience of days and minutes differs drastically across communities. Teachers were asked how many students in typical classes were affected by economic and social challenges such as hunger or lack of medical or dental care. Across all ten listed stressors, teachers in high-poverty schools reported far more students impacted than in low-poverty and low-and-mixed-poverty schools, though typical class size did not differ. On any day, there’s a 39 percent chance that at least one stressor affects learning time in a high-poverty classroom, compared with a 13 percent chance in low-poverty classrooms. Over the school year, high-poverty schools experience more disruptions like teacher absence, emergency lockdowns, and preparation for standardized tests. They also face daily time-loss factors like incorporation of new students or calls from the main office. The time loss adds up to roughly two weeks’ learning time over the course of the year, and about 30 minutes per day.

http://vue.annenberginstitute.org/issues/40/negative-impact-community