Survey Helps School Leaders to Align Use of School Time with Teaching and Learning Priorities

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Unlocking Time, an initiative of school scheduling software developer Abl, today announced the release of a free assessment designed to surface insights and foster dialogue about the alignment between a school's priorities and use of time.

"The assessment helped us to identify areas where high-quality adult learning and student learning intersect, where they may potentially be in conflict, and how time plays a role in that," says Principal Riley Johnson of New Technology High School, a public school in Napa Valley Unified School District with a wall-to-wall project-based learning model. "This is about grounding conversations about time and scheduling in evidence and examples, not just our opinions. We can see, for the first time, how well we're aligning our use of time with our values and priorities."

UnlockingTime.org, an initiative of scheduling solution-provider Abl funded with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is working in collaboration with schools and districts to create free, online tools and resources, including a visual encyclopedia of bell schedules, a growing collection of practical time strategies, and case studies from schools across the country.

"When I look at the proficiency rates on state tests, I know there is more schools can be doing with the time available to improve student outcomes," says Dr. Barbara Nemko, Napa County Superintendent of Schools, who recommends that all schools take advantage of the assessment. "This is a free tool that helps schools identify opportunities to recapture time that can be devoted to more meaningful professional development for educators, and more meaningful instruction for students."

"Unlocking Time has allowed us to tap the experiences of a growing community of practice to re-evaluate a system that has not been looked at in 100 years," according to Adam Fried, President of the Bergen County Association of School Administrators and Superintendent of Harrington Park School District in New Jersey, "It gives us critical data and ideas to make decisions that help support the growth of my staff and students."

The School Time Assessment is rooted in a stakeholder-driven approach that allows school leaders to capture the perspective of educators and staff about how time is currently organized, and to explore the implications of changes to the school calendar, bell schedule, academic programming, and allocations of staff time. After staff respond individually to the 10-minute survey, the results generate an "Insights Report" designed to facilitate a dialogue about the unique needs of their school community, and surface opportunities to better structure time to meet those needs.

"This tool will open dialogue in a way that is inclusive of the entire faculty, and help give voice to our educators as we consider new time strategies," according to Tim Wagner, Associate High School Principal for Program Planning & Innovation at Pennsylvania's Upper St. Clair High School.  "This will help with buy-in for any changes we ultimately make, because our staff can see that decisions were informed by their input and experience."

About Unlocking Time
Unlocking Time is an initiative of school scheduling software developer, Abl, that is building a community of practice to help K-12 schools learn from each other to adopt time strategies that fuel student-centered learning. Launched with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UnlockingTime.org will develop and share free online tools and resources related to time in schools, including the School Time Assessment which provides school teams with key insights on how time is organized at their schools and sparks a rich dialogue around the unique needs of their communities. For more information, visit UnlockingTime.org.

About Abl
Developed through a collaborative process with school leaders, Abl is on a mission to transform master scheduling into a smart, collaborative process that enables school leaders to quickly visualize tradeoffs and meet the needs of every student and teacher. Our dynamic school scheduling platform makes it easy to design and manage the daily life of a school through a simple, cloud-based system that eliminates the spreadsheets, magnet boards, and calendaring tools most schools use today. For more information, visit www.ablschools.com.

SOURCE Unlocking Time