A new survey tool is designed to give school leaders better insight into how their school’s use of time aligns with school-wide priorities. The School Time Assessment from UnlockingTime.org (an initiative of scheduling software developer Abl and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which launched this summer) has been piloted in a number of schools and districts, and is launching for free tomorrow to help schools better leverage their class schedules to support student outcomes.
Riley Johnson, Principal of New Technology High School (a public school in California with a wall-to-wall Project-Based Learning model), has piloted the tool with his entire staff--including teachers, office staff, and classified instructional staff. The insights generated by the survey have enabled him to identify areas in the schedule where teacher professional development and student learning may be in conflict, and to explore alternate scheduling approaches to resolve those conflicts.
