How special education teachers spend their time is largely unknown. Yet conceptually, “time” is one of the most tangible and salient variables of the effective instruction literature, Carroll's model of school learning and many economic models of performance measures. This currently unknown use of teacher time has clear and important implications for special education research and practice that include teacher quality, the professional roles of educator's, accountability and student achievement. 36 special education teachers representing 4 variations of instructional arrangements recorded 2200 hours of data in the spring of 2006. Special educators reported their time use via a web-based monitoring system while continuous and interval direct observation data were simultaneously collected. Data provide a snapshot view of teacher time use and reflect the percentages of a school day spent in academic instruction, non-academic instruction, instructional support, consultation/collaboration, assessment, planning/preparation, discipline, supervision, paperwork, and other responsibilities throughout the year.
Blanton, L.P., Sindelar, P.T., & Correa, V.I. ( 2006). Models and measures of beginning teacher quality. Journal of Special Education, 40, 115-127.
2.
Brophy, J.E., & Evertson, C.M. (1976). Learning from teaching: A developmental perspective. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
3.
Brownell, M.T., Ross, D.D., Colon, E.P., & McCallum, C.L. (2005). Critical features of special education teacher preparation: A comparison with general teacher education . Journal of Special Education, 38(4), 242-252.
4.
Carroll, J.B. ( 1989). The Carroll model: A 25-year retrospective and prospective view. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 26-31.
5.
Conderman, G., & Katsiyannis, A. (2002). Instructional issues and practices in secondary special education. Remedial and Special Education, 23, 169-179.
6.
Cooley, W.W., & Mao, B.J. ( 1981). The sample of classroom time observed. Journal of Classroom Interaction, 17(1), 31-36.
7.
Dillman, D.A. ( 2000). Mail and Internet surveys: The tailored design method (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley.
8.
Edds, D.B. ( 2002). Technology for special educators: How the web and some wooden blocks are changing the life of a boy (Technology planning & management) . School Planning & Management, 41(6), 76-78.
9.
Fisher, C.W., & Berliner, D.C. (1985). Perspectives on instructional time. New York: Longman.
Olson, J., & Matuskey, P.V. (1982). Causes of burnout in SLD teachers elementary secondary education. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 15, 97-99.
21.
Roelofs, E. ( 1995, April). Class heterogeneity and adaptive teaching in Dutch secondary education. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.
22.
Roelofs, E., & Veenman, S. ( 2000). Classroom heterogeneity and the use of instructional time in Dutch secondary schools. Journal of Classroom Interaction , 35(2), 15-24.
23.
Sanford, J., & Evertson, C.M. (1982). Time use activities in junior high classes. Austin: University of Texas, Research and Development Center for Teacher Education.
24.
Sargent, L. ( 1981). Resource teacher time utilization: An observational study . Exceptional Children, 47(6), 420-425.
25.
Stallings, J. ( 1980). Allocated academic learning time revisited, or beyond time on task. Educational Researcher, 9(11), 11-16.
26.
Stallings, J., Almy, M., Resnick, L.B., & Leinhardt, G. ( 1975). Implementation and child effects of teaching practices in follow through classrooms. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 40(7-8), 1-133.
27.
U.S. Department of Education. (2004). NCLB: Stronger accountability: Testing: Frequently asked questions. Retrieved November 6, 2005, from http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/ayp/testingfaq.html
28.
U.S. Department of Education. (2005). IDEA reauthorized statue: Alignment with the No Child Left Behind Act. Retrieved November 6, 2005, from http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/tbnclb-align.doc
29.
Vannest, K.J., Adiguzel, T., & Hagan-Burke, S. (2005). Teacher Time Use (TTU): A Web based system for measuring and changing teacher time use (Beta version) [Web-based application]. Retrieved April 14, 2008, from http://ttu.tamu.edu/
Walberg, H.J. ( 1988). Synthesis of research on time and learning. Educational Leadership, 45(6), 76-85.
32.
Wallace, T., Anderson, A.R., Bartholomay, T., & Hupp, S. ( 2002). An ecobehavioral examination of high school classrooms that include students with disabilities. Exceptional Children , 68(3), 345-359.
