Instructional Time
Instructional Time
We are going through an interesting winter with occasional severe weather. Due to these weather conditions we have lost two school days and we had to start late three times so far. These cancellations and changes of schedules bring the question of whether or not we have to make up the time that is lost. That is why I wanted to touch on the instructional time calculation in order to provide a rule of thumb on this issue.
Chapter 11, Section 11.2 School day, defines instruction time for pupils as time in the school day devoted to instruction and instructional activities provided as an integral part of the school program.
All public schools are to be open each school year for at least one hundred eighty (180) days of instruction for pupils. The number of instructional hours in a school is 900 for full-time kindergarten and elementary, and 990 for secondary. All public schools must meet both hour and day requirement although charter schools are provided an option to choose to meet either of the two.
The following activities are counted towards instructional time:
1. Opening exercises, including circle time in kindergarten, homeroom periods, supervised study halls; 2. Assemblies, clubs, student councils, and similar activities conducted during school hours; 3. School, group or class educational trips; 4. Civil defense, fire and other similar drills; 5. Kindergarten orientation activities, snack-time and play-time if they are an integral part of the kindergarten curriculum as long as they take place under the direction of a certified teacher and are used for students learning experiences. (Note: "Recess" time conducted with the same parameters as primary grade recess is not counted as instructional time); 6.Early dismissal and delayed opening due to inclement weather.
The following activities cannot be counted towards instructional time:
1. Lunch period; 2. Recess and time for passing from class to class; 3. Early dismissal or delayed opening for reasons other than inclement weather; 4. Teacher meetings dealing with routine matters, such as record keeping responsibilities, and other similar activities; 5. Transportation of pupils; for example, time spent transporting students to an area vocational-technical school; 6. Celebrating, picnicking, hunting, fishing, or harvesting crops; 7. Any activity for which admission is charged to students or parents, and 8. Viewing or reviewing material that has as its purpose the marketing of commercial products.
Based on these, we calculate 377 minutes of instructional time in our regular day for middle school. For elementary school we have 330 minutes per day of instructional time. We have 173 school days in 2017-18 school year which equals to 1087 hours in total for middle school and 951.5 hours for elementary. We need 990 hours for middle school at the minimum. Therefore, we have 97 extra hours for middle school. Minimum we need to have for elementary is 900 hours so we have 51.5 extra hours extra for elementary.
If we miss more than 51.5 hours of instructional time during this school year then we have to make up. As of Thursday, February 15, 2018 we had 2 snow days, (a loss of 12.6 hours). Note that early dismissals and late starts due to inclement weather are not counted as loss of instructional time.
We are going through an interesting winter with occasional severe weather. Due to these weather conditions we have lost two school days and we had to start late three times so far. These cancellations and changes of schedules bring the question of whether or not we have to make up the time that is lost. That is why I wanted to touch on the instructional time calculation in order to provide a rule of thumb on this issue.
Chapter 11, Section 11.2 School day, defines instruction time for pupils as time in the school day devoted to instruction and instructional activities provided as an integral part of the school program.
All public schools are to be open each school year for at least one hundred eighty (180) days of instruction for pupils. The number of instructional hours in a school is 900 for full-time kindergarten and elementary, and 990 for secondary. All public schools must meet both hour and day requirement although charter schools are provided an option to choose to meet either of the two.
The following activities are counted towards instructional time:
1. Opening exercises, including circle time in kindergarten, homeroom periods, supervised study halls; 2. Assemblies, clubs, student councils, and similar activities conducted during school hours; 3. School, group or class educational trips; 4. Civil defense, fire and other similar drills; 5. Kindergarten orientation activities, snack-time and play-time if they are an integral part of the kindergarten curriculum as long as they take place under the direction of a certified teacher and are used for students learning experiences. (Note: "Recess" time conducted with the same parameters as primary grade recess is not counted as instructional time); 6.Early dismissal and delayed opening due to inclement weather.
The following activities cannot be counted towards instructional time:
1. Lunch period; 2. Recess and time for passing from class to class; 3. Early dismissal or delayed opening for reasons other than inclement weather; 4. Teacher meetings dealing with routine matters, such as record keeping responsibilities, and other similar activities; 5. Transportation of pupils; for example, time spent transporting students to an area vocational-technical school; 6. Celebrating, picnicking, hunting, fishing, or harvesting crops; 7. Any activity for which admission is charged to students or parents, and 8. Viewing or reviewing material that has as its purpose the marketing of commercial products.
Based on these, we calculate 377 minutes of instructional time in our regular day for middle school. For elementary school we have 330 minutes per day of instructional time. We have 173 school days in 2017-18 school year which equals to 1087 hours in total for middle school and 951.5 hours for elementary. We need 990 hours for middle school at the minimum. Therefore, we have 97 extra hours for middle school. Minimum we need to have for elementary is 900 hours so we have 51.5 extra hours extra for elementary.
If we miss more than 51.5 hours of instructional time during this school year then we have to make up. As of Thursday, February 15, 2018 we had 2 snow days, (a loss of 12.6 hours). Note that early dismissals and late starts due to inclement weather are not counted as loss of instructional time.