WEBVTT

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[Music] Welcome to the overview

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on Increasing Time on Task.

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I'm Don Davis,

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the Principal of Waterford High School

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in Waterford, California.

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We had outside observers visit our

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classrooms and conduct a survey

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of our instructional practices.

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And they determined

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that our teachers enjoy teaching;

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they cared about students;

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there was good affect in the classroom,

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and that the rapport was strong.

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But what they also determined was

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that our time on task was not being

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optimized, with 65 percent actually time

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on task-- or 65 percent

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of the time something educational was

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occurring, and the other 35 percent

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of the time nothing educational

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was occurring.

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So, we began to address time

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on task immediately

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and said this is something

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within the teachers' control.

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Teachers can control the minutes

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and how they are used.

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So we had a discussion of things

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that could improve time on task.

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Attempting to go from bell to bell

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with teaching and student production

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and student engagement.

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So that was the first strategy.

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Try to go bell to bell.

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Video tapes would be approved and

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that they would be interactive

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with the students.

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That transition times would be narrowed

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and that students would be held

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accountable for the lesson,

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the objectives, and for questions.

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We attempted to monitor this.

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So the vice principal and I would go

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into classrooms and if 80 percent

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of the students or more were engaged

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with that lesson, then we would mark

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that as a time on task.

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But if you have students

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that aren't engaged,

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that's an off-task minute.

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And transitions,

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we would look to see how many minutes

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were just being wasted,

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then we would report back

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to the teachers via email

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"Did we do better?"

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and have those conversations.

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To optimize your minutes,

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or your time for instruction or time

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on task, there are things you can

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do operationally.

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You move your announcements

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to one time during the day,

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you stop interruptions in the classrooms,

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and you say "we don't interrupt

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for things that we might need

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at the office,"

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and we commit to the teachers

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that we won't interrupt instruction.

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The other things

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that we do is we have an alternating

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block schedule, which decreases the number

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of transitions that students have

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to complete in a day.

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Instead of going to six classes

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in a day they only go

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to three classes in a day.

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We also implemented a homeroom period

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or what we call our "O" period

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of 30 minutes a day

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where we have grade-level instructional time.

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And this is one reason we believe

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that our CAHSEE,

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or our California High School Exit Exam,

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pass rate has risen to the highest

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in our county--

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because we prep students on the front end

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for that exam during this homeroom time,

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and students are held accountable

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in that those grades are forwarded

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to their math and language

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arts teachers.

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So you can even package your educational

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programs...once you lose a minute...

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so we place a premium on time and try

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to use it wisely.

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Our educational program is also designed

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to maximize time

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in that we put our interventions inside

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the school day.

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After-school interventions help

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and we provide those for students.

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But it's when you place it inside the

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school day, and you require the students

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to have the intervention in algebra

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or in language arts,

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then you have the students there,

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and you are going to maximize that time

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with them and prep them

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for the standards that they're learning,

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review the standards,

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and remediate those deficiencies.

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So, you see it in the master schedule.

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You see it in the bell schedule,

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but you mainly see it in the delivery

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of instruction,

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that when the students come into class,

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we're about the business

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of school today, and we're going

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to have an objective,

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a purpose for our lesson,

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or students producing in class

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and no more minutes just wasted

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for non-productive use.

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[Music] To learn more about time

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on task, please see the additional

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materials on the Doing What

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Works website.