And your plans are?
Professors study best use of common teacher planning time A well-planned school day makes for a more productive school day, right? It makes sense, and most schools do give teachers some time to plan their day, week or month. But why are some teachers more prepared to handle each school day than others, and how can planning time be used most effectively to better instruction? Two NKU professors in the College of Education and Human Services are examining top schools in the northern Kentucky region, working to find some answers by studying the use of common planning time by teachers. Dr. Shawn Faulkner and Dr. Chris Cook, both professors of middle grades education, have taken up Kentucky’s cause in an ongoing state-by-state review of planning times in middle-level schools.
The professors, who often collaborate on projects, decided to tackle their first research project together as a way to better understand the region’s teaching professionals. Both came to NKU in 2004 from other parts of the country. 10
“We were new to the area.We needed to get a sense of what was going on in the middle schools that we were going to be working with.That started the initial survey,” Faulkner said. They’re conducting their current work on the use of common planning time by teachers as part of the National Middle Grades Research Program. The research program is sponsored by Middle Level Education Research, an American Educational Research Association special interest group that seeks to “improve, promote and disseminate educational research reflecting early adolescence and middle-level education.” Each researcher that participates in the National Middle Grades Research Program receives training and instruction from Middle Level Education Research group at conferences throughout the year. Researchers from eight states are participating so far, with the goal that the research will eventually be conducted in all 50 states. In the first phase, they examined common teacher planning time at two northern Kentucky schools designated “Kentucky Schools to Watch.” Student outcomes at these schools were compared with some Kentucky middle schools that did not have the “Schools to Watch” designation. “These are schools that have been identified as being on a trajectory to excellence.They’re doing these excellent things in terms of the academics, developmental responsiveness