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Essential Practice #3

Maximizing Academic Learning Time

What students learn is in direct proportion to time allocated, so the first element of maximizing Academic Learning Time (ALT) is adjustment of schedules to reflect priorities (see Essential Practice #1) and minimize extraneous activities and interruptions. JBHM specialists have vast experience in getting the most out of the school day. With individualized goal-setting, too, comes identification of students who require still more time for interventions, which is scheduled either at particular points during the school day or in after-school or summer programs – or perhaps all three, depending on need.

But simply allocating time is not enough. What goes on during that time is at least equally important. Specialists work side-by-side with teachers to improve lesson planning and classroom management, eliminating wasted time. Also, the 35Z90, Z4, and NEO improvement plans emphasize an element of ALT usually underemphasized in most curricula: time for practice of acquired skills.

Research on ALT clearly indicates that practice time is just as important as time for explicit instruction, and recent brain research has reinforced this point by discovering that neural pathways broaden and become more efficient with repeated practice of skills and processes.

• In reading, the initial tasks to practice are those that develop the skills required for independent reading. After that, the key task is reading books at appropriate levels and with good comprehension (90% or more), monitored by regular quizzing.
• In math, the initial priority is practicing math facts (+, -, x, ÷) to the point of automaticity, then practicing problem-solving skills linked to standards.
• In writing, the initial priority is practice in keyboarding, followed by practice using various strategies that have been proven by research to build effective written communications.

In all these cases, practice needs to be frequent (shorter daily sessions are generally better than lengthy infrequent ones), at appropriate levels of challenge, and monitored.

The Renaissance Learning technology employed in the three key areas manages the practice process and collects data that permit direct measurement of practice time – so that this important aspect of ALT will never be underemphasized again.