NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

Statistical Analysis Report February 1997

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic

Subjects in Elementary Schools:

Comparisons Across Community,

School, Teacher, and Student

Characteristics

Marianne Perie

American Institutes for Research 

David P. Baker

American Institutes for Research 

Catholic University of America

Sharon Bobbitt 

National Center for Education Statistics

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Educational Research and Improvement NCES 97-293
U.S. Department of Education

Richard W. Riley

Secretary

Office of Educational Research and Improvement

Marshall S. Smith

Acting Assistant Secretary

National Center for Education Statistics

Pascal D. Forgione, Jr.

Commissioner

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Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools iii

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Introduction ..................................................................1

Data .........................................................................5

Results .......................................................................7

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Appendix C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

List of Tables

Table 1—Mean number of hours spent per week on core curriculum, in school and on schoolrelated activities, by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and subject ..................8

Table 2—Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector, year, and subject ...............................................9

Table 3—Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector, year, and various community and school characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Table 4—Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector, year, and classroom and teacher characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Table 5—Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector, year, subject, and grade level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
iv Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

List of Appendix A Tables

Table A.1—Percentage distribution of school time spent per week on each of the core subjects,

by sector, year, and subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Table A.2—Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by year, sector, and type of private school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Table A.3—Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by public 1st–4th

grade teachers, by year and state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Table A.4—Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by

sector, year, and various community and school characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Table A.5—Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by

sector, year, and classroom and teacher characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Table A.6—Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by

sector, year, subject, and grade level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Table A.7—Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by

year, sector, and type of private school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Table A.8—Number of hours in a school week and number of hours spent per week on core

curriculum in public schools by 1st–4th grade teachers, by year and state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Table A.9—Rank order of states by average number of hours spent on core curriculum per

week by 1st–4 th grade teachers, length of school week in hours, percent of time on core

curriculum, and rank order of percent of time: 1993–94 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

List of Apendix B (Standard Error) Tables

Table 1a—Standard errors for table 1: Mean number of hours spent per week on core

curriculum, in school and on school-related activities, by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector,

year, and subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Table 2a—Standard errors for table 2: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Table 3a—Standard errors for table 3: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and various community and school

characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Table 4a—Standard errors for table 4: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and classroom and teacher

characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Table 5a—Standard errors for table 5: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, subject, and grade level . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools v

Table 6a—Standard errors for table A.1: Percentage distribution of school time spent per

week on each of the core subjects, by sector, year, and subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Table 7a—Standard errors for table A.2: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by year, sector, and type of private school . . . . . . . . . . 45

Table 8a—Standard errors for table A.3: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade public school teachers, by year and state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Table 9a—Standard errors for table A.4: Number of hours spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and various community and school

characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Table 10a—Standard errors for table A.5: Number of hours spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and classroom and teacher

characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Table 11a—Standard errors for table A.6: Number of hours spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, subject, and grade level . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Table 12a—Standard errors for table A.7: Number of hours spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and type of private school . . . . . . . . . . 50

Table 13a—Standard errors for table A.8: Number of hours in a school week and number

of hours spent per week on core curriculum in public schools, by 1st–4th grade teachers,

by year and state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

List of Figures

Figure 1—Percentage distribution of school time spent by 1st–4th grade teachers among

each of the core subjects, by sector and year .........................................9

Figure 2—Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector and subject: 1993–94 (graphed from results in table 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Figure 3—Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector and type of private school: 1993–94 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Figure 4—Mean percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by public

1st–4th grade teachers, by state: 1993–94 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
vi Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools vii

Acknowledgments

This report was produced under the direction of the Education Surveys Program of the Surveys

and Cooperative Systems Group of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Sharon Bobbitt was the Project Officer, and Daniel Kasprzyk was the Program Director. Mary

Rollefson also assisted in reviewing the publication and ensuring its completeness and

accuracy.

Thanks are due to a number of staff at the American Institutes for Research who helped with

this report. Melissa Panagides-Busch and Chuck Keil did a large portion of the programming,

which was much appreciated. Shannon Daugherty thoroughly edited this publication for

consistency and clarity and formatted it for appearance. Mei Han also edited the manuscript

and provided many helpful comments. Gabriele Phillips and Linda Tutuh helped create the

tables and verify the accuracy of the data. Finally, Don McLaughlin directed the overall

contract of which this report was one part and provided helpful insights and suggestions.

Thanks are also due to several members of NCES, particularly to Marilyn McMillen of the

Surveys and Cooperative Systems Group and Sue Ahmed of the Statistical Standards and

Services Division. Summer D. Whitener in the Surveys and Cooperative Systems Group also

deserves special recognition for her assistance in coordinating and organizing the release and

distribution of this report. Claire Geddes reviewed the publication and provided helpful

comments. Other reviewers included Alan Ginsburg of the Office of the Undersecretary and

Eileen Sclan of Long Island University.
viii Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools ix

Highlights

& Given the hetereogeneity of schools in the United States, remarkably few differences were

found in the percentage of school time first through fourth grade teachers devoted to the

core academic subjects among various community, school, teacher, and student

characteristics.

& Although the amount of time teachers spent in school with students each week increased

slightly between 1987–88 and 1993–94, the largest increase in time was found in the

amount of time teachers spent on out-of-classroom activities, such as coaching, tutoring,

grading, preparing lesson plans, meeting with parents, and attending staff meetings. In

1987–88, teachers spent, on average, about 1 hour and 45 minutes per day on these

activities; by 1993–94, this time had increased to 2 hours and 18 minutes per day.

& Public school teachers of grades 1–4 spent approximately 68 percent of their school time,

or almost 22 hours per week, on core curriculum; private school elementary teachers spent

about 58 percent of school time, or almost 19 hours per week, on core academic subjects.

About half of this time was spent on English/reading/language arts in both sectors.

& Teachers in public schools spent a larger percentage of school time teaching the core

subjects to students in grades 1–4 than did teachers in private schools. This finding held

true even across the various private school affiliations.

& Although new standards of excellence were implemented in the late 1980s and early

1990s, the percentage of school time spent on core curriculum in grades 1–4 remained

relatively unchanged from 1987–88 to 1993–94.

& Teachers in most states spent about the same percentage of school time on core

curriculum. In 1993–94, only Delaware and the District of Columbia differed from the

national average. However, the average school week in Delaware and the District of

Columbia is slightly longer than the national average, and when the raw number of hours

spent on core curriculum were examined, neither Delaware nor the District of Columbia

differed from the nation as a whole.
x Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 1

Introduction

The proportion of time that elementary school teachers use to teach the core academic

subjects—English/reading/language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science—is an

important aspect of instruction. These subjects are at the heart of the school curriculum, and

the proportion of time spent during the school day teaching them to young students reflects

the emphasis schools place on academic topics. Recent concerns about the quality of

American schools have brought national attention to how teachers spend the time they have

in an average school day. Many have suspected that the addition of a variety of activities at

school has changed teachers’ roles, and, as a result, time spent on basic core academic subjects

may have dropped. Moreover, as a result of the concern that secondary school curricula “have

been homogenized, diluted, and diffused to the point that they no longer have a central

purpose,” an image has emerged that the best schools in the nation are the ones that spend the

most time teaching the basics (National Commission on Excellence in Education 1983, p. 18).

If teachers could spend more time teaching these core subjects, many believe the country’s

education system could provide students with a better opportunity to learn the skills necessary

to compete in the international business market.

The publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983 with its recommendation for more emphasis on

the four core subjects—English/reading/language arts, mathematics, social studies, and

science—focused national attention on strengthening the core academic curriculum of schools

(National Commission on Excellence in Education 1983). As a result, organizations such as

the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the National Academy of

Sciences (NAS), to name a few, developed national standards for their subject areas and are

working to have these standards implemented as a part of every school’s curriculum.

Correspondingly, many current policy changes aim to increase school time spent on the four

core academic subjects, some of which adjust the structure of the curriculum. For example,

many high schools that before had either no graduation requirements or had more liberal

policies now have adopted a more intensive core curriculum of 4 years of English; 3 years each

of mathematics, social studies, and science; 2 years of a foreign language; and 1/2 year of

computer science (Education Commission of the States 1993). Although some of the overall

curriculum requirements have focused primarily on the secondary level, various councils and

centers have created standards for elementary schooling as well. The organizations developing

the individual course standards have divided students into three groups: Kindergarten through

4th grade, 5th through 8th grade, and 9th through 12th grade. This division, along with the

standards themselves, corresponds to one of the National Education Goals established by

President Bush and the nation’s Governors during a 1989 summit meeting, which calls for

American students to “leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated competency in

challenging subject matter, including English, mathematics, science, history, and geography”

(National Education Goals Panel 1995).

Several studies have shown that instruction in the core curriculum at the earliest level is

important, as exposure to subjects at the elementary level is related to the courses students take
Introduction

2 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

at the secondary level. The more content they are taught early on, the more they learn and the

better they perform on later achievement tests (Medrich and Griffith 1992). In general, these

goals espouse this philosophy and emphasize early exposure to each of the core subjects,

engaging the students’ imagination and capturing their interest, thus promoting continued

study in these subjects.

Spending a large proportion of school time teaching core curriculum may be important not

only in terms of school quality, but also in terms of teacher satisfaction. The research on

teacher satisfaction indicates that the proportion of time spent on instruction is important to

teachers. For example, an NCES report on the condition of teaching found that, on average,

teachers are required to spend approximately 35 hours a week performing their regular duties at

school (Choy et al. 1993). In addition, they may spend extra time coaching, supervising

extracurricular activities, tutoring, grading papers, or writing lesson plans, raising the average

total hours in a work week to 46. Teachers who feel that they spend more time with

bureaucratic duties, disciplinary actions, and other nonteaching assignments tend to be less

satisfied with their jobs than those who feel they spend more time in actual instruction and

interaction with students (Choy et al. 1993). Moreover, job dissatisfaction can lead to a

higher turnover rate in the teacher workforce, which in turn might have implications for

teaching effectiveness and student outcomes (Bobbitt et al. 1994).

This report addresses these issues by comparing the amount of time spent teaching the four

basic subjects to the amount of time students spend in elementary school each week. It

compares various school and student variables such as control of school, urbanicity, school size,

percentage of students who are minority, and percentage of students eligible for free or

reduced-price lunches, as well as certain classroom and teacher variables. Data related to

school time are available from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), conducted by the

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). By comparing data from school years

1987–88 to 1990–91 to 1993–94, this report discerns whether changes have occurred in the

proportion of school time spent teaching the core curriculum over this time period.

Teacher time spent on core academic subjects might vary among teachers and schools for

several reasons. For example, the percentage of school time spent on instruction might vary by

the resources available to an institution, by the experience levels of the teachers, or by student

characteristics. If a school serves a largely poor or non-English-speaking population, for

example, it may spend additional time on students’ special needs and may also have fewer

resources to devote to learning; thus, such a school may spend a smaller percentage of time on

the core academic curriculum. Another reason for the variation in teaching time concerns the

highly localized control over schooling in the United States as compared to other countries

(Stevenson and Baker 1989). With different communities controlling various factors of the

schools across the country, one might not expect to see much consistency between schools.

These differences would, however, appear in comparisons across various communities.

Offsetting this variation is the fact that schedules could be so tightly packed with enrichment

courses (e.g., music, art, and physical education) and additional activities (e.g., homeroom,

lunch, and recess) that there is very little room for variation regardless of the circumstances or

policies. In addition to the possible variation in school time by certain community, school,

and student characteristics, variation over time may also be expected. For example, because of

the current education reform climate, teachers might have spent more time on core curriculum

during the 1993–94 school year than during the 1987–88 school year.
Introduction

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 3

This report describes the number of hours and the percentage of school time spent on core

academic subjects during the elementary school week around the country. It addresses three

central issues about using class time to teach core academic subjects. The first issue is the

actual number of hours and the percentage of school time the nation’s elementary school

teachers spend on instruction in the core subject areas of English/reading/language arts,

mathematics, social studies, and science. The second issue involves an analysis of how this

time varies by characteristics of the local community, school, teacher, classroom, and students.

Finally, trends over time are examined to see how the amount and percentage of time spent on

the four core subjects has changed from 1987–88 to 1993–94.
4 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
 Although fifth grade is often considered to be an elementary grade, the data show that students at this 1

grade level were likely to be taught by multiple teachers and not to be in self-contained classrooms.

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 5

Data

This report analyzes the NCES Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), a large and

comprehensive dataset on elementary and secondary schools in both the public and private

sectors in the United States. SASS has collected data over three different school years:

1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94. With each iteration, it has surveyed elementary school

teachers about the time they devote to teaching core academic subjects.

SASS uses a complex and random sample of schools stratified by state, sector, and school level

that provides representative estimates of (1) the nation and each affiliation for private schools

and (2) the nation and each state for public schools. SASS includes separate questionnaires

for private and public schools, school districts (public only), school administrators, and

teachers. About four teachers were sampled from each school, although this number varied

depending on the school size and sector (public or private).

This report focuses on first through fourth (1–4) grade elementary school teachers because

they are most likely to teach multiple subject areas to one intact class of students. In addition, 1

the analysis was restricted to full-time, self-contained regular classroom teachers (i.e., those

who taught multiple subjects to the same class of students all or most of the day). Focusing on

classes taught by only one teacher allows us to determine how teachers divide up their teaching

time and thus to determine the relative importance elementary school teachers place on the

core academic subjects. By doing this, the analysis omits (1) grade 1–4 teachers who team

teach or (2) classrooms where a different teacher teaches each of the various subjects.
Data

 Teachers who reported that they spent 0 hours on core curriculum were found primarily to be teachers 2

who were working with learning disabled or emotionally disturbed students and thus were dropped from

the sample for this study. In addition, teachers who reported teaching core curriculum for more than 40

hours a week were also dropped, as the school week generally ranged from 30 and 36 hours a week. 

Some latitude was granted since teachers who, for example, required students to write history reports

could count that time as being spent on both history and English; however, since very few teachers

reported spending more than 40 hours a week teaching and because no school week lasted longer than

40 hours, 40 hours was chosen as the cut-off point. Both of these restrictions together resulted in less

than 3 percent of the sampled teachers being excluded.

6 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Teachers were asked to report the number of hours spent teaching each of the four core

curriculum subjects in their most recent full week of teaching. Teachers were instructed to

round their estimates to the nearest whole hour. A small number of teachers were removed

from the sample because the number of hours reported for teaching core curriculum was either

0 or was disproportionately high.2

The calculations of the percentage of school time spent on core curriculum were done as

follows. First, the number of hours spent teaching each of the four core academic subjects per

week was summed to calculate the total number of hours spent teaching all four core academic

subjects per week. Second, the length of the school day was used to determine how many

hours per week could be spent teaching the core curriculum. Third, the proportion of this

school time spent teaching the core academic curriculum was calculated as a percentage of the

school week and was compared across community, school, teacher, classroom, and student

characteristics. In other words, this report examines the amount of school time spent per week

on the core academic subjects as a percentage of the time available to teach these subjects. In

addition to calculating the percentage of school time spent on core curriculum, all analyses in

this report have been conducted in terms of raw number of hours spent on core academic

subjects. Discrepancies between the two types of calculations are noted in the text. In

addition, the number of hours a teacher spent outside of the normal school day (i.e., outside of

the classroom) doing school-related activities each week were calculated.

Because estimates presented in this report are based on samples, they are subject to sampling

errors. Standard errors, indicating the accuracy of the estimates, were calculated with

appropriate adjustments made for the complex sample design and multiple comparisons. These

standard errors are included in appendix B. All comparisons discussed in the report are tested

for statistical significance at the =.05 level.
 Teachers reported the amount of time they spent on core subjects in hours per week. In some cases, 3

this has been transformed into hours per day by dividing by 5 or into minutes per week by converting

hours to minutes. These numbers will not be precise since they reflect any rounding teachers may have

done in responding to the question.

 Note that the differences in the increasing length of the school day between public and private schools 4

is within sampling variation and is not statistically significant.

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 7

Results

Because the amount of time spent on core curriculum depends on the total amount of time

spent in school, the first part of this section examines the number of hours in a school week.

This brief description of the length of the school week and changes in its length and structure

over the past 6 years gives a context for interpreting the percentage of school time spent on

English/reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. From there, the

section focuses on the percentage of school time spent on core curriculum and the variation

over time and across different student, classroom, school, and community characteristics.

What is the length of the school week in elementary schools, and has it changed over time?

In 1993–94, teachers in grades 1–4 spent an average of about 32 hours with students in school

per week (table 1), which corresponds to 6 hours and 24 minutes per day (assuming students

are in school for 5 days of equal length each week). Although this time increased 3

incrementally from 1987–88 to 1990–91 to 1993–94, the average overall increase over the

6 years was calculated to be approximately 25 minutes a week for public schools and

50 minutes a week for private schools.4

Teachers, however, spent an additional 9 to 12 hours per week on out-of-classroom activities

in addition to their regular classroom time with students (table 1). These activities are outside

the normal realm of classroom instruction, and include tasks such as mentoring, coaching,

tutoring, meeting with parents, preparing lesson plans, and grading homework. The time spent

on out-of-classroom activities increased substantially over the 6-year period in both public and

private schools, increasing from about 9 hours per week (1.8 hours a day) in 1987–88 to

approximately 10 hours per week (2 hours a day) in 1990–91 to at least 11.6 hours per week

(almost 2.5 hours a day) in 1993–94. Thus, a typical work week for teachers increased from

about 40 hours a week in 1987–88 to about 44 hours in 1993–94, although most of this

increase was due to time spent outside of the classroom.
Results

8 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table 1— Mean number of hours spent per week on core curriculum, in school and on

school-related activities, by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and subject

Public Private

Subject 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

English/Reading/Language arts 11.2 11.0 10.8 9.7 9.2 9.4

Arithmetic/Mathematics 4.8 4.8 5.2 4.5 4.5 4.6

Social studies/History 2.7 2.4 2.9 2.4 2.5 2.6

Science 2.5 2.2 2.8 2.2 2.2 2.3

All core curriculum 21.1 20.4 21.7 18.8 18.3 18.9

Hours spent in school 31.7 32.0 32.1 32.1 32.6 32.9

Hours spent on activities

 outside of the normal school day* 8.8 10.0 11.6 9.1 10.3 11.7

*Includes student-related activities such as coaching, field trips, or tutoring, and other school-related

activities such as preparation, grading papers, parent conferences, and staff meetings.

NOTE: Individual subjects are averaged separately from all core curriculum.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.

How much school time do elementary teachers spend teaching core curriculum, and has it changed

over time?

As noted above, the amount of school time that teachers spend teaching the core academic

subjects can be calculated two different ways: (1) as the percentage of school time (i.e., the

time available in the school week in which to teach core subjects) that teachers devote to the

core academic subjects, and (2) as the raw number of hours that teachers spend on core

curriculum. This report primarily examines the percentage of school time spent on core

curriculum. The data for raw hours per week spent on core curriculum can be found in tables

A.4–A.8 in appendix A. Any discrepancies between the two types of analyses are noted in the

text.

The 1993–94 SASS data show that public school teachers of grades 1–4 spent, on average,

about 22 hours per week, or just over 4 hours per day, on core academic curriculum; private

school teachers spent almost 19 hours per week, or just under 4 hours per day, on all core

subjects (table 1). In other words, teachers spent about two-thirds of their time in the

classroom on the core academic subjects (table 2). Of the time spent on core curriculum,

public school teachers devoted almost 50 percent (2 hours per day) to English/reading/

language arts, 24 percent (1 hour per day) to mathematics, and about 13 percent (35 minutes

per day) each to social studies and science. Although the proportions of time spent on core

curriculum were similar in private schools, the average time spent was slightly lower: 1 hour

and 52 minutes a day in English/reading/language arts, 55 minutes in mathematics, 31 minutes

in social studies, and 28 minutes in science (figure 1).
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Public

1987-

88

Private

1987-

88

Public

1990-

91

Private

1990-

91

Public

1993-

94

Private

1993-

94

English/Reading/Language Arts Arithmetic/Mathematics Social Studies/History Science

Results

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 9

Figure 1— Percentage distribution of school time spent by 1st–4th grade teachers among each

of the core subjects, by sector and year

Table 2— Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector, year, and subject

Public Private

Subject 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

English/Reading/Language arts 35.6 34.9 33.9 30.7 28.9 29.0

Arithmetic/Mathematics 15.3 15.0 16.2 14.3 13.8 14.2

Social studies/History 8.5 7.6 9.3 7.5 7.7 7.9

Science 7.8 7.0 8.8 6.9 6.6 7.1

All core curriculum 67.3 64.5 68.2 59.3 56.9 58.2

NOTE: Individual subjects are averaged separately from all core curriculum.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.

NOTE: For numbers accompanying figure 1, see table A.1 in appendix A.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Results

10 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Although the absolute numbers of hours spent on core curriculum were lower in private

schools, proportionally, all schools distributed their teaching time the same way across the four

subjects for all three years (figure 1). Overall, about twice as much time was spent on

English/reading/language arts as on arithmetic and mathematics, and almost twice as much

time was spent on arithmetic and mathematics as on social studies/history or science. And,

once again, the percentage distribution of time spent on each of the four core subjects varied

little over the period or between the public and private sectors. It is important to note that the

slight increase from 1987–88 to 1993–94 in the total time spent on core curriculum in public

schools does not reflect a substantial change in school time.

Another way to examine this issue is to take into consideration the effect of schools having

different school-week lengths. Even when the length of the school week is taken into

consideration, however, the trends in the percentage of time spent on core curriculum remain

the same (table 2). In other words, there was virtually no change in the proportion of

classroom time spent teaching core curriculum from 1987–88 to 1990–91 to 1993–94.

English/reading/language arts was the subject that public and private school teachers spent

proportionally the most time teaching. In addition, public school teachers spent

proportionally more time on core curriculum than did private school teachers.

Does the percentage of school time spent teaching core curriculum vary across different types of

communities, schools, teachers, students, and classrooms?

In general, the answer is remarkably little. For example, there were only minute differences in

the percentage of time spent on core curriculum in different geographic regions and in

different types of communities (table 3). For example, in 1994, public schools in the

Northeast spent a greater percentage of time on core curriculum than public schools in the

Midwest. Furthermore, when the raw number of hours per week spent on core curriculum are

analyzed, the 1993–94 data show that public school teachers in the South spent about 1 hour

per week more than teachers in the West (table A.4, appendix A). There were no real changes

over time. A school’s environment and characteristics of its students, such as size of school,

minority enrollment, percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches, and

percentage of students who are limited English proficient (LEP), had no relation to the

percentage of school time spent on core curriculum. Public elementary school teachers taught

core subjects around 68 percent of their total classroom time—private elementary school

teachers, about 58 percent of classroom time—regardless of the school’s community, size, and

type of students enrolled (table 3). This consistency is notable across unstandardized, locally

controlled schools operating in the United States.

One might assume that even though basic characteristics of schools are not associated with the

percentage of time spent teaching the core academic subjects, perhaps specific characteristics

of classrooms and teachers are related. But not so. Similar to school and community

characteristics, classroom characteristics and teacher experience were generally not associated

with the percentage of time devoted to core curriculum (table 4). Where statistically

significant differences exist, most are substantively trivial. One example of a difference occurs

with teaching experience; in 1993–94, public school teachers who had 3 or fewer years of

teaching experience spent a smaller percentage of time on the core curriculum than those who

had 10 or more years of teaching experience, corresponding to approximately 12–15 minutes

per day less.
Results

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 11

Table 3— Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector, year, and various community and school characteristics

Community and Public Private

School Characteristics 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Total 67.3 64.5 68.2 59.3 56.9 58.2

Geographic region

 Northeast 67.3 65.3 71.4 59.1 57.0 59.7

 Midwest 68.3 65.2 66.7 60.6 56.6 58.1

 South 66.7 63.1 67.2 58.7 58.7 56.4

 West 67.1 65.2 68.5 57.9 54.1 59.3

Community type

 Central city 69.1 63.9 68.8 58.6 55.2 57.5

 Urban fringe 67.2 66.3 68.9 59.3 57.7 58.5

 Small town/Rural 66.1 63.6 67.0 60.7 58.6 59.2

Size of school

 Less than 150 66.2 61.1 66.5 59.5 56.0 57.8

 150–499 66.6 64.9 67.3 59.3 57.3 58.8

 500–749 67.8 64.5 69.0 60.4 60.4 55.6

 750 or more 69.5 64.0 68.6 55.2 53.3 57.7

Minority enrollment

 Less than 20 percent 66.9 64.3 67.8 59.5 57.4 57.8

 20 percent or more 67.9 64.8 69.4 58.7 56.1 58.8

Percent of students receiving

 free or reduced-price lunch

 5 percent or less 67.7 65.4 70.4 58.9 — 58.5

 6–19 percent 67.4 64.1 68.0 62.2 — 56.4

 20 percent or more 67.2 64.4 67.9 56.4 — 57.6

Percent of students who are

 limited English proficient (LEP)

 Less than 5 percent — — 67.9 — — 58.3

 5 to 40 percent — — 69.2 — — 57.5

 More than 40 percent — — 69.3 — — †

(†) Too few cases to analyze.

— Data were not available from the survey for that particular year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Results

12 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Two particular areas do show some interesting differences: class size and grade level. In

1993–94, a greater percentage of school time was spent on core curriculum in public school

classes with 19 or more students than in those with 10 or fewer students (table 4)—a difference

that amounts to about 2.8 hours a week, or just over 30 minutes a day. However, classes with

fewer than 10 students could be geared toward students with special needs, such as students

with limited English proficiency; in this case, it would not be surprising to find that classes of

this size spend a smaller percentage of time on core curriculum than a more standard-sized

classroom.

Table 4— Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector, year, and classroom and teacher characteristics

Classroom and Public Private

Teacher Characteristics 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Total 67.3 64.5 68.2 59.3 56.9 58.2

Class size

 1–10 61.5 59.3 60.3 58.9 54.3 56.2

 11–18 67.5 63.8 67.9 58.4 57.5 57.6

 19–27 67.4 65.0 68.3 59.9 57.2 57.8

 28 or more 67.9 65.4 70.3 60.3 56.4 60.8

Grade level of class

 1st grade 69.0 66.8 71.4 58.9 59.0 57.0

 2nd grade 67.3 66.0 68.0 59.8 59.2 57.4

 3rd grade 68.4 63.9 67.6 59.8 58.7 58.3

 4th grade 65.1 62.7 67.6 60.3 55.2 59.9

 Combination classes* 66.3 63.6 66.0 58.4 54.6 57.9

Percent of students in classroom

 who are limited English proficient

 5 percent or less — — 67.9 — — 58.3

 6–19 percent — — 69.2 — — 57.5

 20 percent or more — — 69.3 — — †

Years of teaching experience

 3 years or less 67.2 63.1 65.5 57.1 50.4 56.0

 4–9 years 66.0 63.7 67.9 59.9 58.2 58.0

 10–19 years 67.3 64.1 69.0 60.0 57.3 58.5

 20 years or more 68.4 66.0 68.4 59.3 61.0 60.1

* Combination classes are those with more than one grade level in a classroom.

† Too few cases to analyze.

— Data were not available from the survey for that particular year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Results

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 13

Does the percentage of school time spent teaching core curriculum vary across grade levels?

Teachers of grades 1–4 were similar in the percentage of school time they spent teaching the

core academic subjects; however, as students progressed from first through fourth grades, a

decreasing percentage of time was spent on English/reading/language arts, while an increasing

percentage of time was spent on social studies and science (table 5). In 1993–94, for example,

the percentage of time spent on English/reading/language arts in public schools was about

38 percent in first grade, compared to 30 percent in fourth grade; in private schools, the

respective percentages were 33 percent and 26 percent. However, when examined in terms of

raw number of hours spent on core curriculum, no significant differences were found in the

amount of time spent on English/reading/language arts across the grade levels in private

schools (table A.6, appendix A).

Table 5— Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector, year, subject, and grade level

Subject and Public Private

Grade Level 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

All core curriculum

 1st grade 69.0 66.8 71.4 58.9 59.0 57.0

 2nd grade 67.3 66.0 68.0 59.8 59.2 57.4

 3rd grade 68.4 63.9 67.6 59.8 58.7 58.3

 4th grade 65.1 62.7 66.0 60.3 55.2 59.9

English/Reading/Language arts

 1st grade 39.7 37.4 38.2 33.8 34.2 32.7

 2nd grade 37.7 35.8 35.6 33.6 31.7 30.3

 3rd grade 35.8 32.3 33.4 31.4 29.9 29.6

 4th grade 29.9 28.3 30.0 26.2 22.6 25.7

Arithmetic/Mathematics

 1st grade 14.9 14.7 16.2 14.0 13.6 13.8

 2nd grade 14.9 14.6 16.1 14.3 13.9 14.0

 3rd grade 15.6 15.3 16.1 14.0 13.8 14.1

 4th grade 15.4 15.5 16.2 14.1 14.2 14.1

Social studies/History

 1st grade 7.4 7.6 8.6 5.8 6.4 5.5

 2nd grade 7.6 8.1 8.3 6.4 7.0 6.9

 3rd grade 8.8 8.3 9.1 7.3 8.0 8.1

 4th grade 10.6 10.1 11.3 10.6 10.5 10.3

Science

 1st grade 7.0 7.1 8.5 5.3 4.8 5.0

 2nd grade 7.2 7.5 8.1 5.6 6.7 6.3

 3rd grade 8.3 8.0 9.0 7.1 7.0 7.0

 4th grade 9.1 8.7 10.1 9.3 7.9 9.8

NOTE: Individual subjects are averaged separately from all core curriculum.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Results

 Analysis of raw hours spent on social studies shows no difference between third and fourth grade. 5

 Analysis of raw hours spent on science shows no difference between third and fourth grade. 6

 Private schools can be broken down into nine categories using the typology developed by McMillen 7

and Benson (1991), which consists of three types of Catholic schools (parochial, diocesan, and private

order), three other religious-oriented schools (conservative Christian, nationally affiliated, and

unaffiliated), and three nonsectarian schools (regular, special emphasis, and special education). For the

purpose of this analysis, private order Catholic schools were omitted since they are predominately at the

secondary level and there were too few cases at the elementary level to analyze.

14 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

In 1993–94, teachers spent similar percentages of time teaching mathematics across all four

grade levels—about 16 percent of classroom time in public schools and about 14 percent in

private schools (table 5). In both public and private schools, fourth grade teachers spent a

slightly larger percentage of time on social studies than did teachers of first through third

grades. Fourth grade teachers also spent slightly more time on science than first through third 5

grade teachers in both public and private schools.6

Do public and private schools differ in the percentage of school time spent teaching core curriculum?

One school characteristic is associated with differences in the percentage of school time spent

on core subjects: school sector. In 1993–94, public school teachers spent a larger percentage of

time teaching core academic curriculum than did private school teachers—68.2 percent versus

58.2 percent, respectively (figure 2). Furthermore, there were some differences within private

school types (figure 3). Comparing the three main categories of private schools—Catholic, 7

other religious, and nonsectarian—with other types of private schools shows that Catholic

schools spent a greater percentage of time teaching core curriculum than did other religious

schools in 1993–94. In addition, no significant differences were found between nonsectarian

private schools and either of the two types of religious private schools. Furthermore, there

were no differences between the subgroups within each of the three main types of private

schools. In other words, whereas both types of Catholic schools differed from all three types of

other religious schools in 1993–94, diocesan and parochial schools did not differ from each

other; similarly, conservative Christian, affiliated, and unaffiliated schools did not differ from

each other.

The difference between the percentage of school time devoted to core curriculum in Catholic

and other religious private schools was rather large. In 1993–94, teachers in Catholic schools

spent about 61 percent of their school time on the core subjects, while teachers in other

religious schools spent about 55 percent of school time on core curriculum (figure 3).

However, in terms of raw number of hours, teachers in Catholic schools spent only 1.3 hours

per week more than teachers in other religious schools—a difference that is not statistically

significant (table A.7, appendix A). Although the data in table A.2 of appendix A show some

apparent fluctuations among the years, there were no significant changes in the percentage of

time spent on core curriculum across private schools from 1987–88 through 1993–94; thus,

only the most recent data (1993–94) are shown in figure 3.
All core curriculum Science

0

20

40

60

80

100

Public Private

English/Reading/

Language arts

Arithmetic/

Mathematics

Social studies/

History

Subject

Results

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 15

Figure 2— Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector and subject: 1993–94 (graphed from results in table 2)

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.

Even though SASS data cannot address why private school teachers spend a smaller

percentage of time on core subjects than public school teachers, several explanations may

account for these differences. First, public schools are usually more highly regulated in terms of

what must be taught in any given school year, while private schools often have more flexibility

in designing their academic programs. Second, Catholic and other religious-oriented schools

spend a portion of each school day teaching religion, leaving less time to teach the traditional

core academic subjects. Although this explanation does not apply to nonsectarian schools, it

may explain the differences between the religious schools and public schools. Finally, private

schools may provide more time than public schools for enrichment activities, such as art or

music. Specifically, nonsectarian special emphasis schools may stress one or more of the arts,

and special education schools may spend additional time addressing students’ specific needs.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Public

Total Catholic

 Catholic—Diocesan

 Catholic—Parochial

 Nonsectarian— Regular

Total nonsectarian

 Other religious—Unaffiliated

Total private

 Nonsectarian— Special

education

 Nonsectarian— Special

emphasis

Total other religious

 Conservative Christian

 Other religious—Affiliated

Type of school

Percent of school time

Results

16 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Figure 3— Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade

teachers, by sector and type of private school: 1993–94*

* Catholic private order schools were omitted from this analysis since they are predominately at the

secondary level and there were too few cases to analyze.

NOTE: For numbers accompanying figure 3 as well as data for earlier years, see table A.2 in appendix A.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Results

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 17

Does the percentage of school time spent teaching core curriculum vary among the states?

Public schools spent, on average, between 60 and 72 percent of school time on core curriculum

in 1993–94 (figure 4). This proportion translates into a range of 19.8 to 24.9 hours per week

(table A.8, appendix A). Even though curricular policy is the domain of state and local

education agencies, there were fewer differences across the states than might be expected. The

average percentage of time spent on core academic subjects in the majority of the states was

close to the national average (68 percent) (see table A.3 in appendix A for the percentages for

all states). Public schools in the District of Columbia and Delaware spent a smaller percentage

of the school week on core subjects (60 percent) than did the nation as a whole.

Another way to examine this issue is to look at the numerator and denominator of this

percentage separately—that is, the total number of hours spent on core curriculum each week

and the total number of hours in the school week, both of which vary by state and can differ

from the percentage ranking. Table A.8 in appendix A shows the rank ordering of states on

hours spent on core subjects, along with each state’s average school-week length. This table

shows that the average school week in Delaware and the District of Columbia is slightly longer

than the national average. Furthermore, when hours spent on core curriculum are examined,

neither Delaware nor the District of Columbia differ from the nation as a whole. Only

Mississippi stands out as the state that differed from the national average; teachers in this state

reported spending more time (25 hours) on core curriculum than the national average

(22 hours).

These findings highlight the need to incorporate the hours in a school week into any

discussion of a state difference in time spent on core curriculum, since the length of the school

week is often mandated by the state. In 1993–94, the number of hours in a school week varied

from just under 30 hours in New Jersey to over 35 hours in Texas. In some states, this extra

time is used to spend more time on core curriculum; in others, it is used to spend more time on

other academic subjects or on enrichment activities.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Delaware

District of Columbia

Iowa

Minnesota

South Carolina

Oklahoma

Hawaii

Arkansas

Missouri

Nebraska

Washington

Oregon

Georgia

South Dakota

Alabama

North Carolina

Ohio

Texas

Wisconsin

Arizona

Vermont

Illinois

Alaska

New Hampshire

Kansas

North Dakota

Tennessee

Virginia

Utah

U.S. National Average

Maine

California

Florida

Indiana

Kentucky

New Mexico

Michigan

Maryland

Louisiana

Wyoming

Colorado

West Virginia

Montana

Connecticut

Nevada

New Jersey

Pennsylvania

Mississippi

Idaho

Rhode Island

State

Mean percentage

Results

18 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Figure 4— Mean percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by public 1st4th grade teachers, by state: 1993–94

NOTE: For numbers accompanying figure 4 as well as data for earlier years, see table A.3 in appendix A.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 19

Conclusion

In the current education reform climate, teachers might be expected to report spending more

time on core curriculum during the 1993–94 school year than during the 1987–88 school year.

On the other hand, because of the concern that teachers are being required to spend more and

more time on duties that are unrelated to instruction in the four core academic subjects,

teachers might be expected to spend less time on core curriculum during the 1993–94 school

year than during the 1987–88 school year. The SASS data for these years do not support

either expectation. In 1993–94, approximately two-thirds of school time was spent on core

curriculum in the nation’s elementary schools—a finding that did not change from the

previous 6 years.

Some have speculated that the percentage of school time spent on instruction might differ by

various community, school, classroom, and student characteristics. One example, noted in the

introduction to this report, concerned the possibility that a school serving a largely poor or

non-English-speaking population may spend additional time on students’ special needs and

may have fewer resources to devote to learning, thus spending a smaller proportion of time on

the core academic curriculum. However, SASS data show that the percentage of time spent

on core curriculum generally does not vary as a result of student, classroom, teacher, school, or

community characteristics. Teachers who work with predominately poor or non-Englishspeaking populations spend the same amount of time teaching the core academic subjects as do

teachers who work with more advantaged students. Further, the percentage of school time

spent on core academic subjects does not vary between most states.

In 1993–94, teachers in public schools across the country spent an average of 68 percent of

school time, or almost 22 hours per week, teaching the core academic curriculum, while

teachers in private schools spent an average of 58 percent of school time, or almost 19 hours

per week, on core curriculum. This is the most notable difference found across all school,

community, and classroom characteristics analyzed in this report. In addition, except for a few

isolated cases, very few changes in the percentage of school time spent on core curriculum were

found between 1987–88 and 1993–94.

These findings may not be expected; however, there may be little room for variation in a finite

period of time during which core curriculum must be taught; enrichment activities, such as art

and music, must be offered; lunch must be served; recess is usually provided; and administrative

activities, such as roll call and announcements, must be made. For example, if a typical day at

a public school lasts 6 hours, and 1 hour is spent on lunch and recess, 45 minutes are spent on

an enrichment class or physical education, and 15 minutes are spent on administrative duties,

only 4 hours are left to teach core academic curriculum. Four hours a day result in 20 hours per

week, almost 2 hours less than the average public school reports spending on core curriculum.

Community, school, and classroom characteristics can have little effect on a tightly regulated

environment. And although reform movements may call for an increased amount of time to

be spent on the core academic subjects, few changes can be implemented if an increased
Conclusion

20 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

amount of time is not provided, either by lengthening the amount of time spent in school or by

eliminating other requirements.

The finding that teachers spent more time on out-of-classroom activities during the 1993–94

school year than during the 1987–88 and 1990–91 school years may also explain how teachers

are balancing the pressures of being asked to take on additional responsibilities and participate

in more activities with the pressures of maintaining the goal of focusing the students’ learning

time on the four core academic subjects. Classroom time remained unchanged, but teachers

worked longer days in order to meet expanding school activities in 1993–94 than they did in

1987–88 and 1990–91.

This report found very few differences in the percentage of time spent on the core academic

subjects. Two are notable. First, even when private schools were examined by affiliation, it

was found that public schools spent approximately 2–4 hours more on the core subjects per

week than did any of the private school types. Although it might be argued that private

schools teach a larger variety of subjects, they do not spend as much time on the basic subjects

as the public schools. This does not necessarily mean that students in private schools learn less

material than students in public schools, however. Teachers in private schools could be using

their time more effectively, or students in private schools may be better prepared in the basic

skills at an early age. Whatever the reason, the difference is notable. Second, among the 50

states and the District of Columbia, the average percentage of school time spent on core

curriculum in Delaware and the District of Columbia was smaller than the national average in

1993–94. However, when the raw number of hours spent on core curriculum were examined,

Delaware and the District of Columbia were not significantly different from the national

average. In this case, only Mississippi stood out as spending a greater number of hours than the

national average. The differences between both the public and private sectors and among the

states may be explained by different curricula that have a variety of subjects competing for

time allocation; however, there is no obvious explanation for these findings based on the

analyses done in this report.

Future research should further understanding of how the time that is not spent on core

curriculum is allocated. Are students participating in other enrichment activities such as

music and art, or are teachers being burdened by too many bureaucratic duties and thus cannot

devote more time to the academic curriculum? Also, are teachers integrating the subjects in

their classrooms, adopting an interdisciplinary approach to teaching? This teaching method

would make it difficult to measure the exact amount of time teachers are spending on each of

the four core subjects. In addition to understanding how much time is spent on the core

curriculum, it is also important to determine the quality of the time. What teaching methods

are teachers employing to teach each of the four academic subjects? Even though the time

spent on the core subjects has remained unchanged over time, teachers may have changed the

presentation of the curriculum. Moreover, if the length of the school day or school year was

increased, how would the extra time be spent? Finally, why are teachers spending more time

on school activities outside of the classroom? Are they receiving expanded opportunities for

professional growth, or are the number of burdensome bureaucratic tasks increasing?
Conclusion

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 21

Understanding time and other restrictions placed on schools helps to provide an explanation

of why few changes in the amount of time spent teaching any one subject may occur in

schools, regardless of policy changes. A broader understanding of what changes must

accompany policy reforms requiring additional time to be spent on core curriculum is necessary

if the goal of increasing the amount of time spent on English, mathematics, social studies, and

science is to be accomplished.
22 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 23

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Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES 93–025).

Education Commission of the States. 1993. “Minimum High School Graduation

Requirements: Standard Diplomas.” Clearinghouse Notes. Washington, DC

McMillen, M.M. 1992. Diversity of Private Schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of

Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES 92–082).

Medrich, E.A and Griffith, J. E. 1992. International Mathematics and Science Assessments:

What Have We Learned? Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National

Center for Education Statistics (NCES 92–011).

National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council. 1994. National Science Education

Standards. Washington, DC

National Center for History in the Schools. 1994. National Standards for History for Grades

K–4: Expanding Children’s World in Time and Space. Los Angeles, CA.

National Commission on Excellence in Education. 1983. A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for

Educational Reform. Washington. DC
References

24 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

National Council for Geographic Education. 1994. Geography for Life: National Geography

Standards 1994. Washington, DC

National Council for Social Studies. 1994. Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards

for Social Studies. Washington, DC

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 1989. Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for

School Mathematics. Reston, VA.

National Goals Panel. 1995. The National Education Goals Report. Washington, DC

Stevenson, D.L. and Baker, D.P. 1991. “State Control of the Curriculum and Classroom

Instruction.” Sociology of Education 64: 1–10.
Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 25

Appendix A
26 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
Appendix A

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 27

Table A.1— Percentage distribution of school time spent per week on each of the core subjects, by

sector, year, and subject

Public Private

Subject 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

English/Reading/Language arts 52.9 53.9 49.7 51.6 50.3 49.7

Arithmatic/Mathematics 22.8 23.3 23.8 24.1 24.3 24.5

Social Studies/History 12.6 11.9 13.5 12.7 13.5 13.6

Science 11.7 10.9 13.0 11.6 11.8 12.3

All core curriculum 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

NOTE: Columns may not sum to 100.0 due to effects of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix A

28 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table A.2— Percentage of time spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by

year, sector, and type of private school

Sector and Type 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Public 67.3 64.5 68.2

Total private 59.3 56.9 58.2

 Catholic 61.4 58.1 61.1

 Catholic—Parochial 60.5 57.3 61.1

 Catholic—Diocesan 65.4 60.5 61.1

 Catholic—Private order † † †

 Other religious 57.6 53.8 54.7

 Conservative Christian 57.6 57.0 53.6

 Affiliated 56.1 50.8 52.7

 Unaffiliated 60.9 54.7 58.7

 Nonsectarian 57.5 62.6 59.3

 Regular 57.3 65.6 60.3

 Special emphasis 61.0 60.4 56.9

 Special education 53.3 53.1 57.7

† Too few cases to analyze.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix A

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 29

Table A.3— Percentage of school time spent per week on core curriculum by public 1st–4th grade

teachers, by year and state

State 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Total 67.3 64.5 68.2

Alabama 68.2 64.7 66.3

Alaska 67.7 64.7 67.2

Arizona 70.5 60.4 66.9

Arkansas 72.5 61.8 64.7

California 67.8 66.7 69.1

Colorado 71.0 62.2 71.5

Connecticut 69.7 67.5 72.0

Delaware 65.5 56.6 60.1

District of Columbia 75.5 63.6 60.1

Florida 66.8 65.8 69.1

Georgia 69.2 59.9 66.0

Hawaii 66.4 60.6 64.5

Idaho 69.6 70.5 73.4

Illinois 70.1 65.9 67.1

Indiana 70.9 64.9 69.1

Iowa 64.0 57.8 61.6

Kansas 63.6 60.4 67.6

Kentucky 70.4 70.1 69.4

Louisiana 72.0 61.2 70.0

Maine 70.4 59.1 68.8

Maryland 63.2 64.7 69.6

Massachusetts 67.8 65.4 69.6

Michigan 71.4 71.0 69.5

Minnesota 60.5 60.3 61.8

Mississippi 70.9 61.6 72.7

Missouri 63.1 62.5 65.3

Montana 63.9 67.8 71.6

Nebraska 69.6 61.0 65.3

Nevada 65.6 67.8 72.2

New Hampshire 68.9 68.1 67.3

New Jersey 68.6 66.4 72.2

New Mexico 71.1 67.7 69.4

New York 66.3 66.1 71.5

North Carolina 66.7 64.5 66.3

North Dakota 65.9 68.1 67.6

Ohio 70.0 69.3 66.3

Oklahoma 63.5 62.7 64.3

Oregon 62.4 62.7 65.4

Pennsylvania 66.0 63.4 72.3

Rhode Island 73.1 66.3 76.1

South Carolina 65.2 62.9 63.9

South Dakota 68.6 66.0 66.1

Tennessee 62.8 64.2 67.6

Texas 63.5 60.8 66.3

Utah 64.8 63.2 67.7

Vermont 67.3 63.3 66.9

Virginia 69.1 64.7 67.6

Washington 61.8 63.8 65.3

West Virginia 66.2 66.6 71.5

Wisconsin 70.1 64.0 66.4

Wyoming 63.0 69.4 70.4

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix A

30 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table A.4— Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by

sector, year, and various community and school characteristics

Community and Public Private

School Characteristics 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Total 21.1 20.4 21.7 18.8 18.3 18.9

Geographic region

 Northeast 20.8 20.3 22.0 18.1 17.6 18.6

 Midwest 21.3 20.4 21.2 19.0 18.2 18.9

 South 21.7 20.8 22.2 19.5 19.4 18.9

 West 20.1 19.7 21.3 18.4 17.5 19.4

Community type

 Central city 21.3 20.0 21.9 18.6 17.9 18.8

 Urban fringe 20.9 20.6 21.6 18.7 18.4 19.0

 Small town/Rural 21.1 20.5 21.8 19.4 18.9 19.1

Size of school

 Less than 150 21.0 20.1 21.4 19.1 18.0 18.6

 150–499 20.9 20.5 21.6 18.6 18.4 19.1

 500–749 21.2 20.4 22.0 19.1 19.6 19.0

 750 or more 21.6 20.4 21.8 18.4 18.1 19.9

Minority enrollment

 Less than 20 percent 21.0 20.4 21.5 18.9 18.6 18.6

 20 percent or more 21.2 20.4 21.8 18.5 17.9 19.1

Percent of students receiving

 free or reduced-price lunch

 5 percent or less 21.0 20.3 21.8 18.8 — 19.0

 6–19 percent 21.1 20.3 21.6 19.3 — 18.3

 20 percent or more 21.1 20.5 21.7 18.8 — 18.7

Percent of students who are

 limited English proficient (LEP)

 Less than 5 percent — — 21.7 — — 19.0

 5 to 40 percent — — 22.1 — — 18.9

 More than 40 percent — — 21.7 — — †

† Too few cases to analyze.

— Data were not available from the survey for that particular year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix A

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 31

Table A.5— Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by

sector, year, and classroom and teacher characteristics

Classroom and Public Private

Teacher Characteristics 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Total 21.1 20.4 21.7 18.8 18.3 18.9

Class size

 1–10 19.3 18.7 19.3 19.2 17.4 18.0

 11–18 21.4 20.6 22.0 18.9 18.7 18.8

 19–27 21.2 20.6 21.7 19.0 18.4 18.8

 28 or more 20.8 20.2 21.9 18.3 17.8 19.7

Grade level of class

 1st grade 21.6 21.1 22.6 18.7 18.6 18.8

 2nd grade 21.3 21.1 21.8 18.8 19.0 18.4

 3rd grade 21.4 20.3 21.7 18.8 18.8 19.4

 4th grade 20.5 19.8 21.5 19.2 18.3 19.6

 Combination classes* 20.6 20.0 21.0 18.8 17.6 18.7

Percent of students in classroom

 who are limited English proficient

 5 percent or less — — 21.7 — — 19.0

 6–19 percent — — 22.1 — — 18.9

 20 percent or more — — 21.7 — — †

Years of teaching experience

 3 years or less 21.1 20.1 20.9 18.1 16.5 18.2

 4–9 years 20.8 20.2 21.7 18.9 18.5 18.7

 10–19 years 21.1 20.4 22.0 19.1 18.4 19.2

 20 years or more 21.3 20.7 21.7 19.0 19.7 19.5

*Combination classes are those with more than one grade level in a classroom.

† Too few cases to analyze.

— Data were not available from the survey for that particular year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix A

32 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table A.6— Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by

sector, year, subject, and grade level

Public Private

Subjects and Grade Levels 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

All core curriculum

 1st grade 21.6 21.1 22.6 18.7 18.6 18.8

 2nd grade 21.3 21.1 21.8 18.8 19.0 18.4

 3rd grade 21.4 20.3 21.7 18.8 18.8 19.4

 4th grade 20.5 19.8 21.5 19.2 18.3 19.6

English/Reading/Language arts

 1st grade 12.4 11.8 12.1 10.7 10.6 10.8

 2nd grade 11.9 11.4 11.4 10.5 10.1 9.7

 3rd grade 11.2 10.3 10.8 9.9 9.5 9.6

 4th grade 9.4 9.0 9.6 8.3 7.6 8.4

Arithmetic/Mathematics

 1st grade 4.7 4.6 5.2 4.5 4.3 4.6

 2nd grade 4.7 4.7 5.1 4.5 4.5 4.5

 3rd grade 4.9 4.8 5.2 4.4 4.5 4.7

 4th grade 4.9 4.9 5.1 4.5 4.7 4.6

Social studies/History

 1st grade 2.3 2.4 2.7 1.9 2.0 1.8

 2nd grade 2.4 2.6 2.7 2.0 2.3 2.2

 3rd grade 2.7 2.6 2.9 2.3 2.5 2.8

 4th grade 3.6 3.2 3.6 3.4 3.6 3.4

Science

 1st grade 2.2 2.3 2.7 1.7 1.6 1.7

 2nd grade 2.3 2.4 2.6 1.8 2.1 2.0

 3rd grade 2.6 2.6 2.9 2.2 2.3 2.3

 4th grade 2.9 2.8 3.2 3.0 2.6 3.2

NOTE: Individual subjects may not sum to total due to the effects of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix A

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 33

Table A.7— Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by

year, sector, and type of private school

Sector and Type 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Public 21.1 20.4 21.7

Total private 18.8 18.3 18.9

 Catholic 18.6 18.2 19.6

 Catholic—Parochial 18.3 18.0 19.5

 Catholic—Diocesan 20.0 18.6 19.8

 Catholic—Private order † † †

 Other religious 19.0 17.8 18.3

 Conservative Christian 18.8 18.8 18.0

 Affiliated 18.7 16.9 17.9

 Unaffiliated 19.7 17.8 19.2

 Nonsectarian 19.0 20.3 19.0

 Regular 19.1 21.5 19.4

 Special emphasis 20.0 19.7 18.2

 Special education 16.3 15.5 18.1

†Too few cases to analyze.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix A

34 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table A.8— Number of hours in a school week and number of hours spent per week on core

curriculum in public schools by 1st–4th grade teachers, by year and state

Hours spent on core

curriculum per week Hours in school week

State 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

United States average 21.1 20.4 21.7 31.7 32.0 32.1

Alabama 22.6 22.1 22.5 33.3 34.3 34.0

Alaska 21.8 20.4 21.3 32.4 31.8 32.2

Arizona 20.7 19.3 21.6 30.6 31.6 32.4

Arkansas 23.4 20.5 22.0 32.5 33.6 34.1

California 19.7 19.4 21.0 29.4 29.7 30.5

Colorado 22.7 19.8 23.1 32.0 32.1 33.1

Connecticut 21.7 21.1 22.2 31.1 30.9 30.9

Delaware 21.2 18.6 19.8 32.6 32.8 33.3

District of Columbia 22.9 19.3 19.8 30.4 30.1 32.4

Florida 20.8 20.9 21.4 31.4 31.7 31.1

Georgia 21.7 19.7 21.6 32.0 32.8 33.1

Hawaii 19.5 18.6 19.9 29.9 30.8 31.0

Idaho 20.2 21.2 21.9 29.6 30.2 30.4

Illinois 21.2 19.9 20.6 30.8 30.6 30.8

Indiana 23.0 21.0 22.6 32.5 32.4 32.7

Iowa 20.7 19.6 20.6 32.6 34.3 33.6

Kansas 20.1 19.8 21.9 31.9 32.8 33.0

Kentucky 22.8 22.9 22.8 32.5 32.8 33.2

Louisiana 22.5 19.4 23.1 31.4 32.1 33.1

Maine 21.8 18.6 21.1 31.3 31.5 30.8

Maryland 20.0 20.6 22.1 31.7 31.6 31.5

Massachusetts 20.8 19.9 21.1 30.7 30.3 30.5

Michigan 21.6 21.2 21.3 30.7 30.0 30.6

Minnesota 19.4 19.1 19.8 32.2 31.7 32.2

Mississippi* 22.9 21.0 24.9 33.1 34.2 34.7

Missouri 20.5 20.4 21.2 32.5 32.7 32.5

Montana 20.1 21.3 23.2 31.6 31.7 32.1

Nebraska 22.1 19.5 21.8 32.1 32.6 33.2

Nevada 19.3 20.5 22.5 29.6 30.1 31.1

New Hampshire 20.9 21.1 20.9 30.5 31.0 31.3

New Jersey 20.0 19.6 21.7 29.3 30.0 29.9

New Mexico 22.4 21.4 22.0 31.6 31.6 32.0

New York 20.5 21.0 22.2 31.2 31.6 31.3

North Carolina 21.7 20.5 21.5 32.7 32.1 32.1

North Dakota 21.1 21.4 21.2 32.3 31.9 31.5

Ohio 21.3 20.7 20.8 30.7 30.8 31.3

Oklahoma 20.4 20.1 20.8 32.2 32.2 32.5

Oregon 19.9 19.3 20.7 32.0 31.1 31.7

Pennsylvania 21.1 20.0 22.7 32.1 32.0 31.5

Rhode Island 22.3 20.4 22.5 31.1 30.7 30.0

South Carolina 21.3 20.7 21.2 33.0 33.1 33.2

South Dakota 21.7 21.1 21.9 31.6 32.4 33.3

Tennessee 21.2 21.6 22.8 33.7 33.7 33.9

Texas 22.4 21.3 23.2 35.3 35.2 35.3

Utah 19.9 19.7 21.7 30.8 31.2 31.9

Vermont 21.3 20.5 20.7 31.8 32.1 31.9

Virginia 21.7 20.4 21.5 31.5 31.6 31.9

Washington 19.0 19.9 20.6 31.1 31.2 31.6

West Virginia 20.0 21.8 23.8 31.1 33.1 33.3

Wisconsin 21.9 21.4 21.9 31.5 33.3 33.5

Wyoming 19.9 21.2 22.3 31.7 31.0 31.8

*Significantly higher than the national average.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix A

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 35

Table A.9— Rank order of states by average number of hours spent on core curriculum per week

by 1st–4th grade teachers, length of school week in hours, percent of time on core

curriculum, and rank order of percent of time: 1993–94

Hours per week Length of Percent of Rank order of %

spent on core school week time spent on time spent on

State curriculum in hours core curriculum core curriculum

Mississippi* 24.9 34.7 72.7 3

West Virginia 23.8 33.3 71.5 9

Montana 23.2 32.1 71.6 8

Texas 23.2 35.3 66.3 35

Colorado 23.1 33.1 71.5 10

Louisiana 23.1 33.1 70.0 13

Kentucky 22.8 33.2 69.4 18

Tennessee 22.8 33.9 67.6 26

Pennsylvania 22.7 31.5 72.3 4

Indiana 22.6 32.7 69.1 19

Alabama 22.5 34.0 66.3 38

Nevada 22.5 31.1 72.2 6

Rhode Island 22.5 30.0 76.1 1

Wyoming 22.3 31.8 70.4 12

Connecticut 22.2 30.9 72.0 7

New York 22.2 31.3 71.5 11

Maryland 22.1 31.5 69.6 14

Arkansas 22.0 34.1 64.7 45

New Mexico 22.0 32.0 69.4 17

Kansas 21.9 33.0 67.6 28

Wisconsin 21.9 33.5 66.4 34

Idaho 21.9 30.4 73.4 2

South Dakota 21.9 33.3 66.1 39

Nebraska 21.8 33.2 65.3 43

United States average 21.7 32.1 68.2 22

Utah 21.7 31.9 67.7 24

New Jersey 21.7 29.9 72.2 5

Georgia 21.6 33.1 66.0 40

Arizona 21.6 32.4 66.9 33

Virginia 21.5 31.9 67.6 25

North Carolina 21.5 32.1 66.3 37

Florida 21.4 31.1 69.1 20

Michigan 21.3 30.6 69.5 15

Alaska 21.3 32.2 67.2 30

North Dakota 21.2 31.5 67.6 27

South Carolina 21.2 33.2 63.9 48

Missouri 21.2 32.5 65.3 44

Maine 21.1 30.8 68.8 21

Massachusetts 21.1 30.5 69.6 23

California 21.0 30.5 69.1 16

New Hampshire 20.9 31.3 67.3 29

Ohio 20.8 31.3 66.3 36

Oklahoma 20.8 32.5 64.3 47

Vermont 20.7 31.9 66.9 32

Oregon 20.7 31.7 65.4 41

Washington 20.6 31.6 65.3 42

Illinois 20.6 30.8 67.1 31

Iowa 20.6 33.6 61.6 50

Hawaii 19.9 31.0 64.5 46

District of Columbia 19.8 32.4 60.1 51

Minnesota 19.8 32.2 61.8 49

Delaware 19.8 33.3 60.1 52

*Significantly higher than the national average.

NOTE: States have been ordered by the number of hours spent on core curriculum in 1993–94.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
36 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 37

Appendix B
38 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
Appendix B

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 39

Table 1a— Standard errors for table 1: Mean number of hours spent per week on core curriculum,

in school and on school-related activities, by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year,

and subject

Public Private

Subject 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

English/Reading/Language arts 0.06 0.10 0.18 0.15 0.15 0.16

Arithmetic/Mathematics 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.06 0.08 0.20

Social studies/History 0.02 0.04 0.04 0.06 0.07 0.05

Science 0.03 0.03 0.04 0.06 0.06 0.06

All core curriculum 0.08 0.10 0.22 0.17 0.23 0.25

Hours spent in school 0.05 0.05 0.07 0.11 0.12 0.40

Hours spent on activities

 outside of the normal school day 0.09 0.11 0.24 0.23 0.18 0.37

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools

and Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

40 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table 2a— Standard errors for table 2: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and subject

Public Private

Subject 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

English/Reading/Language arts 0.20 0.34 0.66 0.52 0.54 0.45

Arithmetic/Mathematics 0.08 0.13 0.20 0.20 0.23 0.77

Social studies/History 0.08 0.12 0.12 0.18 0.20 0.21

Science 0.08 0.09 0.14 0.17 0.18 0.19

All core curriculum 0.28 0.35 0.80 0.57 0.71 1.02

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 41

Table 3a— Standard errors for table 3: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and various community and

school characteristics

Community and Public Private

School Characteristics 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Total 0.28 0.35 0.80 0.57 0.71 1.02

Geographic region

 Northeast 0.70 0.74 2.11 1.24 1.45 3.12

 Midwest 0.57 0.96 0.74 1.18 1.40 0.70

 South 0.46 0.45 0.57 1.48 1.21 1.81

 West 0.74 0.93 1.06 1.41 1.18 1.29

Community type]

 Central city 0.54 0.65 1.30 0.90 0.98 0.85

 Urban fringe 0.60 0.67 0.96 1.07 1.24 1.61

 Small town/Rural 0.50 0.56 0.59 1.21 1.77 1.77

Size of school

 Less than 150 1.26 1.58 1.15 1.26 1.34 1.63

 150–499 0.37 0.54 0.80 0.80 0.86 0.67

 500–749 0.59 0.56 0.98 2.01 4.18 2.86

 750 or more 0.92 0.89 1.07 2.33 2.78 1.57

Minority enrollment

 Less than 20 percent 0.38 0.48 0.61 0.63 0.84 1.63

 20 percent or more 0.42 0.79 1.90 1.35 1.15 1.42

Percent of students receiving

 free or reduced-price lunch

 5 percent or less 0.85 1.09 0.94 0.61 — 1.13

 6–19 percent 0.57 0.81 0.78 2.01 — 1.65

 20 percent or more 0.36 0.40 0.94 1.70 — 1.40

Percent of students who are

 limited English proficient (LEP)

 Less than 5 percent — — 0.58 — — 1.06

 5 to 40 percent — — 1.61 — — 2.70

 More than 40 percent — — 2.50 — — †

† Too few cases to analyze.

— Data were not available from the survey for that particular year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

42 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table 4a— Standard errors for table 4: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and classroom and teacher

characteristics

Classroom and Public Private

Teacher Characteristics 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Total 0.28 0.35 0.80 0.57 0.71 1.02

Class size

 1–10 1.28 1.64 1.70 2.63 2.24 3.16

 11–18 0.57 0.70 0.86 0.71 1.06 1.47

 19–27 0.41 0.51 0.88 1.23 1.36 0.88

 28 or more 0.75 0.95 1.45 1.55 1.59 2.58

Grade level of class

 1st grade 0.63 0.75 1.14 1.23 1.64 1.08

 2nd grade 0.62 0.76 0.86 1.59 1.80 1.66

 3rd grade 0.71 0.86 0.84 1.53 1.21 1.28

 4th grade 0.60 0.82 0.92 1.81 1.39 1.06

 Combination classes 0.80 0.64 1.06 2.04 1.32 2.17

Percent of students in classroom

 who are limited English proficient

 5 percent or less — — 0.58 — — 1.06

 6–19 percent — — 1.61 — — 2.70

 20 percent or more — — 2.50 — — †

Years of teaching experience

 3 years or less 1.09 0.94 1.13 1.13 1.58 2.56

 4–9 years 0.57 0.85 1.53 1.21 1.35 1.40

 10–19 years 0.42 0.47 0.92 1.19 1.17 1.09

 20 years or more 0.66 0.75 0.66 1.58 1.81 1.82

† Too few cases to analyze.

— Data were not available from the survey for that particular year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools

and Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 43

Table 5a— Standard errors for table 5: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by 1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, subject, and grade level

Subject and Public Private

Grade Level 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

All core curriculum

 1st grade 0.63 0.75 1.14 1.23 1.64 1.08

 2nd grade 0.62 0.76 0.86 1.59 1.80 1.66

 3rd grade 0.71 0.86 0.84 1.53 1.21 1.28

 4th grade 0.60 0.82 0.92 1.81 1.39 1.06

English/Reading/Language arts

 1st grade 0.51 0.60 0.86 1.01 1.12 0.74

 2nd grade 0.44 0.62 0.78 1.16 1.36 0.78

 3rd grade 0.42 0.56 0.69 1.46 0.85 0.79

 4th grade 0.38 0.54 0.62 0.98 0.77 0.49

Arithmetic/Mathematics

 1st grade 0.14 0.20 0.26 0.35 0.52 0.35

 2nd grade 0.21 0.21 0.27 0.66 0.48 0.39

 3rd grade 0.22 0.28 0.20 0.29 0.32 0.32

 4th grade 0.21 0.28 0.22 0.33 0.53 0.61

Social studies/History

 1st grade 0.14 0.17 0.20 0.31 0.43 0.27

 2nd grade 0.19 0.19 0.20 0.32 0.57 0.36

 3rd grade 0.18 0.18 0.17 0.39 0.52 0.41

 4th grade 0.19 0.28 0.21 0.48 0.51 0.22

Science

 1st grade 0.13 0.17 0.22 0.29 0.33 0.34

 2nd grade 0.22 0.16 0.28 0.24 0.58 0.42

 3rd grade 0.23 0.22 0.16 0.43 0.39 0.28

 4th grade 0.14 0.25 0.21 0.57 0.45 0.46

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

44 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table 6a— Standard errors for table A.1: Percentage distribution of school time spent per week

on each of the core subjects, by sector, year, and subject

Public Private

Subject 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

English/Reading/Language arts 0.75 1.00 0.82 0.88 0.65 0.64

Arithmatic/Matematics 0.25 0.40 0.27 0.35 0.35 0.80

Social studies/History 0.25 0.40 0.18 0.35 0.30 0.20

Science 0.38 0.30 0.18 0.35 0.26 0.24

All core curriculum 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 45

Table 7a— Standard errors for table A.2: Percentage of time spent per week on core curriculum

by 1st–4th grade teachers, by year, sector, and type of private school

Sector and Type 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Public 0.28 0.35 0.80

Total private 0.57 0.71 1.02

 Catholic 0.94 0.91 0.45

 Catholic—Parochial 0.93 1.23 0.61

 Catholic—Diocesan 2.41 2.55 1.00

 Catholic—Private order † † †

 Other religious 1.29 1.09 2.35

 Conservative Christian 2.08 2.01 1.27

 Affiliated 1.40 1.39 2.26

 Unaffiliated 2.36 3.52 4.07

 Nonsectarian 1.90 2.26 1.87

 Regular 2.38 3.58 2.93

 Special emphasis 3.00 2.94 3.10

 Special education 8.04 3.33 5.22

† Too few cases to analyze.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

46 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table 8a— Standard errors for table A.3: Percentage of school time spent per week on core

curriculum by public 1st—4th grade teachers, by year and state

State 1987–88 1990-91 1993-94

Total 0.28 0.35 0.80

Alabama 2.39 2.26 1.90

Alaska 1.90 1.42 1.25

Arizona 3.26 1.67 1.66

Arkansas 2.03 2.46 2.20

California 1.28 1.79 2.05

Colorado 2.00 2.27 1.84

Connecticut 2.27 1.47 1.54

Delaware 2.90 2.34 2.18

District of Columbia 3.15 3.37 1.76

Florida 1.73 1.58 2.65

Georgia 1.49 2.78 1.39

Hawaii 4.15 1.34 1.66

Idaho 2.03 1.75 1.65

Illinois 1.83 2.05 1.59

Indiana 1.53 1.53 2.16

Iowa 1.99 3.05 2.42

Kansas 1.72 1.34 2.02

Kentucky 1.44 2.56 3.19

Louisiana 2.96 2.31 2.19

Maine 2.68 1.93 1.75

Maryland 2.54 1.72 1.70

Massachusetts 1.63 1.73 1.49

Michigan 1.60 2.77 3.04

Minnesota 1.61 1.77 2.12

Mississippi 3.82 2.03 1.80

Missouri 1.44 2.07 2.03

Montana 1.95 1.97 2.21

Nebraska 2.46 2.05 2.30

Nevada 2.01 2.12 1.91

New Hampshire 1.48 2.01 1.84

New Jersey 2.20 1.99 2.54

New Mexico 1.89 2.32 1.93

New York 1.50 1.76 5.28

North Carolina 1.82 2.56 1.61

North Dakota 1.79 2.04 1.76

Ohio 1.61 3.15 2.19

Oklahoma 2.44 1.76 2.50

Oregon 1.84 1.75 2.07

Pennsylvania 1.28 1.48 2.52

Rhode Island 3.54 2.24 2.57

South Carolina 2.06 1.61 2.14

South Dakota 2.35 1.94 2.22

Tennessee 1.73 2.35 2.40

Texas 1.09 1.04 1.32

Utah 2.16 1.99 1.79

Vermont 1.82 1.52 1.55

Virginia 1.92 1.80 1.87

Washington 2.04 1.72 1.76

West Virginia 3.04 2.11 1.92

Wisconsin 2.56 2.06 2.36

Wyoming 2.80 2.27 1.50

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 47

Table 9a— Standard errors for table A.4: Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by

1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and various community and school

characteristics

Community and Public Private

School Characteristics 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990-91 1993-94

Total 0.08 0.10 0.22 0.21 0.23 0.25

Geographic region

 Northeast 0.21 0.22 0.67 0.41 0.44 0.96

 Midwest 0.19 0.26 0.20 0.31 0.42 0.22

 South 0.13 0.15 0.20 0.42 0.47 0.41

 West 0.18 0.18 0.33 0.44 0.39 0.49

Community type

 Central city 0.15 0.18 0.39 0.28 0.32 0.23

 Urban fringe 0.14 0.19 0.19 0.34 0.41 0.49

 Small town/Rural 0.13 0.17 0.23 0.42 0.56 0.60

Size of school

 Less than 150 0.27 0.40 0.39 0.37 0.11 0.55

 150–499 0.12 0.15 0.26 0.27 0.06 0.17

 500–749 0.16 0.15 0.27 0.93 0.28 0.64

 750 or more 0.24 0.27 0.33 1.54 0.19 0.61

Minority enrollment

 Less than 20 percent 0.1 0.04 0.16 0.24 0.26 0.22

 20 percent or more 0.13 0.04 0.14 0.46 0.39 0.45

Percent of students receiving

 free or reduced-price lunch

 5 percent or less 0.36 0.27 0.32 0.22 — 0.31

 6–19 percent 0.18 0.24 0.24 0.53 — 0.48

 20 percent or more 0.1 0.12 0.29 0.53 — 0.40

Percent of students who are

 limited English proficient (LEP)

 Less than 5 percent — — 0.15 — — 0.26

 5 to 40 percent — — 0.39 — — 0.65

 More than 40 percent — — 0.76 — — 1.77

— Data were not available from the survey for that particular year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

48 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table 10a— Standard errors for table A.5: Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by

1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, and classroom and teacher characteristics

Classroom and Public Private

Teacher Characteristics 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990-91 1993-94

Total 0.08 0.10 0.22 0.21 0.23 0.25

Class size

 1–10 0.41 0.51 0.54 0.59 0.72 1.11

 11–18 0.16 0.20 0.21 0.33 0.37 0.40

 19–27 0.13 0.15 0.23 0.37 0.39 0.25

 28 or more 0.18 0.25 0.56 0.46 0.48 0.70

Grade level of class

 1st grade 0.14 0.24 0.25 0.45 0.57 0.42

 2nd grade 0.23 0.24 0.32 0.50 0.51 0.69

 3rd grade 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.47 0.37 0.66

 4th grade 0.14 0.23 0.22 0.47 0.45 0.28

 Combination classes 0.20 0.18 0.34 0.40 0.41 0.73

Percent of students in classroom

 with limited English proficiency

 5 percent or less — — 0.15 — — 0.26

 6–19 percent — — 0.39 — — 0.65

 20 percent or more — — 0.76 — — †

Years of teaching experience

 3 years or less 0.25 0.27 0.37 0.47 0.49 0.82

 4–9 years 0.22 0.24 0.43 0.27 0.46 0.43

 10–19 years 0.13 0.15 0.24 0.36 0.34 0.29

 20 years or more 0.16 0.22 0.21 0.53 0.60 0.43

† Too few cases to analyze.

— Data were not available from the survey for that particular year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 49

Table 11a— Standard errors for table A.6: Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by

1st–4th grade teachers, by sector, year, subject, and grade level

Public Private

Subject and Grade Level 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990-91 1993-94

All core curriculum

 1st grade 0.14 0.24 0.25 0.45 0.57 0.42

 2nd grade 0.23 0.24 0.32 0.50 0.51 0.69

 3rd grade 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.47 0.37 0.66

 4th grade 0.14 0.23 0.22 0.47 0.45 0.28

English/Reading/Language arts

 1st grade 0.14 0.19 0.20 0.33 0.37 0.37

 2nd grade 0.13 0.19 0.24 0.34 0.37 0.30

 3rd grade 0.12 0.17 0.22 0.46 0.23 0.30

 4th grade 0.12 0.16 0.18 0.35 0.24 0.18

Arithmetic/Mathematics

 1st grade 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.11 0.18 0.12

 2nd grade 0.06 0.07 0.10 0.20 0.16 0.15

 3rd grade 0.06 0.09 0.06 0.09 0.10 0.17

 4th grade 0.07 0.08 0.07 0.10 0.17 0.12

Social studies/History

 1st grade 0.04 0.05 0.07 0.11 0.12 0.09

 2nd grade 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.10 0.17 0.14

 3rd grade 0.05 0.06 0.05 0.13 0.17 0.24

 4th grade 0.06 0.08 0.08 0.16 0.15 0.07

Science

 1st grade 0.04 0.05 0.07 0.10 0.11 0.09

 2nd grade 0.07 0.06 0.08 0.07 0.17 0.18

 3rd grade 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.40 0.12 0.07

 4th grade 0.05 0.07 0.06 0.19 0.13 0.17

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

50 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table 12a— Standard errors for table A.7: Number of hours spent per week on core curriculum by

1st–4th grade teachers, by year, sector, and type of private school

Sector and Type 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Public 0.08 0.10 0.22

Total private 0.21 0.23 0.25

 Catholic 0.27 0.26 0.16

 Catholic—Parochial 0.32 0.39 0.18

 Catholic—Diocesan 0.55 0.66 0.36

 Catholic—Private order † † †

 Other religious 0.28 0.37 0.56

 Conservative Christian 0.85 0.61 0.41

 Affiliated 0.47 0.43 0.51

 Unaffiliated 0.43 1.11 1.14

 Nonsectarian 0.66 0.77 0.62

 Regular 0.88 1.10 0.94

 Special emphasis 0.69 1.05 0.92

 Special education 0.91 1.00 1.77

† Catholic schools-private order were not included in this analysis because there were too few cases to

analyze.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
Appendix B

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 51

Table 13a— Standard errors for table A.8: Number of hours in a school week and number of

hours spent per week on core curriculum in public schools by 1st–4th grade teachers,

by year and state

Hours spent on core

curriculum per week Hours in school week

State 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94 1987–88 1990–91 1993–94

Total 0.08 0.10 0.22 0.05 0.05 0.07

Alabama 0.66 0.75 0.62 0.28 0.28 0.39

Alaska 0.99 0.42 0.47 0.34 0.25 0.16

Arizona 0.71 0.59 0.38 0.57 0.28 0.56

Arkansas 0.66 0.82 0.80 0.30 0.36 0.41

California 0.30 0.32 0.57 0.21 0.35 0.28

Colorado 0.52 0.60 0.90 0.26 0.42 0.26

Connecticut 0.55 0.45 0.46 0.31 0.19 0.18

Delaware 0.64 0.74 0.83 0.30 0.21 0.15

District of Columbia 0.82 0.89 0.68 0.47 0.08 0.05

Florida 0.51 0.48 0.80 0.33 0.17 0.15

Georgia 0.55 0.89 0.50 0.34 0.25 0.20

Hawaii 0.18 0.41 0.57 0.79 0.16 0.24

Idaho 0.58 0.45 0.32 0.49 0.23 0.39

Illinois 0.48 0.57 0.44 0.37 0.27 0.28

Indiana 0.38 0.48 0.65 0.28 0.32 0.38

Iowa 0.44 0.76 0.72 0.29 0.66 0.35

Kansas 0.59 0.41 0.91 0.32 0.21 0.23

Kentucky 0.47 0.83 0.96 0.22 0.28 0.27

Louisiana 0.50 0.61 0.67 0.40 0.41 0.32

Maine 0.64 0.57 0.58 0.40 0.35 0.42

Maryland 0.76 0.51 0.59 0.36 0.15 0.19

Massachusetts 0.48 0.53 0.44 0.23 0.25 0.13

Michigan 0.55 0.74 1.05 0.22 0.31 0.35

Minnesota 0.67 0.68 0.62 0.21 0.32 0.34

Mississippi 0.75 0.69 0.68 0.95 0.24 0.22

Missouri 0.59 0.62 0.63 0.23 0.29 0.25

Montana 0.61 0.52 0.89 0.26 0.32 0.30

Nebraska 0.72 0.63 0.83 0.39 0.33 0.35

Nevada 0.56 0.57 0.54 0.46 0.25 0.29

New Hampshire 0.47 0.60 0.70 0.26 0.23 0.25

New Jersey 0.53 0.53 0.70 0.31 0.34 0.44

New Mexico 0.90 0.64 0.53 0.44 0.28 0.36

New York 0.47 0.54 1.48 0.20 0.23 0.21

North Carolina 0.37 0.74 0.51 0.37 0.29 0.20

North Dakota 0.59 0.62 0.46 0.41 0.27 0.49

Ohio 0.44 0.63 0.71 0.32 0.35 0.39

Oklahoma 0.56 0.51 0.82 0.30 0.22 0.24

Oregon 0.61 0.41 0.71 0.29 0.34 0.24

Pennsylvania 0.44 0.39 0.80 0.22 0.28 0.53

Rhode Island 0.96 0.65 0.57 0.68 0.20 0.29

South Carolina 0.62 0.56 0.70 0.29 0.28 0.24

South Dakota 0.60 0.69 0.60 0.30 0.28 0.24

Tennessee 0.33 0.77 0.78 0.28 0.18 0.18

Texas 0.47 0.35 0.43 0.17 0.19 0.29

Utah 0.65 0.56 0.48 0.30 0.30 0.20

Vermont 0.62 0.55 0.75 0.30 0.26 0.16

Virginia 0.66 0.51 0.54 0.28 0.20 0.26

Washington 0.59 0.53 0.54 0.32 0.18 0.16

West Virginia 0.55 0.72 0.65 0.54 0.49 0.36

Wisconsin 0.58 0.64 0.80 0.40 0.30 0.30

Wyoming 0.77 0.53 0.44 0.30 0.36 0.24

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94.
52 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 53

Appendix C
54 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools
Appendix C

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 55

Technical Notes

I. Survey Content

The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) consists of four main component surveys

administered to districts, schools, principals, and teachers. These surveys are the Teacher

Demand and Shortage Survey, the School Principal Survey, the School Survey, and the

Teacher Survey.

 The Teacher Demand and Shortage questionnaire has two sections: (1) enrollment and

teaching positions and (2) district policies. The first section, on enrollment and

teaching positions, obtains information on the number of students, the number of

teachers and librarians, position vacancies, new hires, and certification status. The

second section, on district policies, obtains information on teacher salary schedules

and benefits, incentives, hiring and retirement policies, and high school graduation

requirements. Race-ethnicity data on the student population and the teacher work

force are also collected. The corresponding sections for private schools are

incorporated into the Private School questionnaire. The data derived from this survey

permit an assessment of teacher demand and shortage, the estimation of the number of

teachers who hold certification in their field of assignment, and the effect of various

policies on teacher supply and demand balances.

 The School Principal questionnaire obtains information about the age, sex, race-

/ethnicity, training, experience, salary, benefits, opinions, and attitudes of school

principals/headmasters. Questions required both objective responses (e.g., number of

years of teaching experience) and judgmental responses (e.g., ranking the seriousness

of school problems). The data derived from this survey provide insight into

qualifications of school principals, which school problems principals view as serious,

and how principals perceive their influence on school policies.

 School questionnaires were sent to public schools and private schools. The private

school version of the questionnaire included items for identifying the religious or

other affiliation of the school. This survey obtained information about schools such as

student characteristics, staffing patterns, student/teacher ratios, types of programs and

services offered, length of school day and school year, graduation and college

application rates, and teacher turnover rates. These data provide information about

the teaching experience of the staff, the sources of newly hired teachers, and the

destinations of teachers who left the school the previous year.

 Teacher questionnaires were sent to teachers in public and private schools. The two

versions of the questionnaire were virtually identical. The survey collected data from

teachers regarding their education and training, teaching assignment, teaching

experience, certification, teaching workload, perceptions and attitudes about teaching,

job mobility, and workplace conditions. This information permits analyses of how

these factors affect movement into and out of the teaching profession.
Appendix C

56 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

In addition to these four main components, the 1993–94 SASS featured: (1) similar principal,

school, and teacher components specific to federally funded Bureau of Indian Affairs or tribally

run Indian schools, (2) new components focusing on Library Media Specialists/Librarians and

Library/Media Centers, and (3) a new student records component. Future reports will feature

data from these new components.

Copies of the questionnaires used in the SASS can be obtained by writing to:

Schools and Staffing Survey Questionnaires

National Center for Education Statistics

555 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Rm. 422

Washington, DC 20208–5651

II. Target Population and Estimates for SASS

Target Populations. The target populations for 1993–94 SASS were:

 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) that employ elementary and/or secondary level

teachers (for example: public school districts, state agencies that operate schools for

special student populations, such as inmates of juvenile correctional facilities, and

cooperative agencies that provide special services to more than one school district).

 Public and private schools with students in any of grades 1–12.

 Principals of those schools.

 Teachers in public and private schools who teach students in grades K–12.

Estimates. The SASS was designed to support estimates at both the state and national levels

for the public sector, and at the national and association levels for the private sector. The

association groups for private schools were determined by the school’s association or affiliation

group listed on the 1991–92 Private Schools Survey (the frame) and updated with 1992–93

association lists. The association groups were determined in the following order:

1) Military - membership in the Association of American Military Colleges and

Schools;

2) Catholic - affiliation as Catholic or membership in the National Catholic

Education Association or the Jesuit Secondary Education Association;

3) Friends - affiliation as Friends or membership in the Friends Council on

Education;

4) Episcopal - affiliation as Episcopal or membership in the National Association of

Episcopal Schools;

5) Hebrew Day - membership in the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools;
Appendix C

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 57

6) Solomon Schechter - membership in the Solomon Schechter Day Schools;

7) Other Jewish - other Jewish affiliation;

8) Missouri Synod - membership in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod;

9) Wisconsin Synod - membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church - Wisconsin

Synod or affiliation as Evangelical Lutheran - Wisconsin Synod;

10) Evangelical Lutheran - membership in the Association of Evangelical Lutheran

Churches or affiliation as Evangelical Lutheran Church in America;

11) Other Lutheran - other Lutheran affiliation;

12) Seventh-Day Adventist - affiliation as Seventh-Day Adventist or membership in

the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists;

13) Christian Schools International - membership in Christian Schools International;

14) Association of Christian Schools International - membership in the Association of

Christian Schools International;

15) National Association of Private Schools for Exceptional Children - membership

in the National Association of Private Schools for Exceptional Children;

16) Montessori - membership in the American Montessori Society or other Montessori

associations;

17) National Association of Independent Schools - member of the National

Association of Independent Schools;

18) National Independent Private School Association - member of the National

Independent Private School Association;

19) All else - member of any other association specified in the PSS or affiliated with a

group not listed above or not a member of any association.

Comparisons between public and private schools are only possible at the national and regional

levels, because private schools are selected for sampling by association group and not by

geographic location, such as state.

The teacher survey was designed to support comparisons between new and experienced

teachers. Comparisons between bilingual and nonbilingual teachers are possible at the

national level.
Appendix C

 For a detailed description of the sample design, see Abramson et al. (1996). 8

58 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

III. Sample Design and Implementation8

A. Sampling Frames

1. Public Schools

The public school sampling frame was based on the 1991–92 school year CCD, which

is a file of information collected annually by NCES from all state education agencies

and which is believed to be the most complete public school listing available. The

frame includes regular public schools, Department of Defense operated military base

schools, and special purpose schools such as special education, vocational, and

alternative schools. After the deletion of duplicate schools, schools outside of the

United States, and schools that only teach prekindergarten, kindergarten, or

postsecondary students, there were a total of 82,746 schools on the public school

frame.

2. Private Schools

The sampling frame for private schools was the 1991–92 Private School Survey,

updated with 1992–93 association lists (Broughman et al. 1994). This data collection

uses two components to develop estimates of the number of private schools in the

United States. A list frame was the primary private school frame and an area frame

was used to identify schools not included on the list frame and thereby to compensate

for the undercoverage of the list frame.

B. Sample Selection Procedures

Schools are the primary sampling unit in SASS. Public schools were selected to be

representative at the national and state levels; private schools were selected to be

representative at the national and association levels. More detail is available in Abramson et

al. (1996).

Once schools were selected, LEAs associated with these schools were in sample as well. Hence,

the LEA sample consisted of the set of LEAs that were associated with the SASS public school

sample. This provided the linkage between the LEA and the school.

Each selected school was asked to provide a list of their teachers and selected characteristics.

Nine percent of the private schools and 4 percent of the public schools did not provide teacher

lists. A factor in the teacher weighting system was used to adjust for these nonparticipant

schools.

C. Sample Sizes

Tables III–1 and III–2 show the sample sizes and number of interview cases for each

questionnaire, by state and private school typology, respectively.
Appendix C

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 59

The number in sample is the number of in-scope, or eligible cases. This number excludes the

out-of-scope cases, which are drawn for the sample but are not eligible for interview. For

example, a school which has closed or a teacher who has left the country would be considered

out-of-scope.

The number of interviews is the number of in-scope (eligible) cases minus the noninterview

cases. The noninterview cases include refusals or sample questionnaires with too little valid

data to be considered complete interviews for the survey. The number of interviews is the

actual unweighted number of cases upon which estimates in this report are based. A

nonresponse adjustment is included in the weights to reduce the bias due to nonresponse.
Appendix C

60 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table III–1— Number of in-scope sample cases and number of interviews, public school districts,

principals, schools, and teachers: SASS 1993–94

District Public Principals Public School Public Teacher

# in sample # interviews # in sample # interviews # in sample # interviews # in sample # interviews

50 States and D.C. 5,378 5,008 9,415 9,098 9,532 8,767 53,008 47,109

Alabama 104 97 234 232 234 224 1,308 1,172

Alaska 46 44 196 188 197 170 1,022 864

Arizona 94 92 203 194 206 190 1,229 1,101

Arkansas 123 120 164 162 164 156 955 863

California 264 223 401 380 406 352 2,578 2,124

Colorado 74 64 173 158 176 164 977 868

Connecticut 99 90 160 152 161 148 832 726

Delaware 19 17 71 70 71 63 309 268

District of Columbia 1 1 64 54 65 55 278 197

Florida 56 55 238 236 243 228 1,291 1,161

Georgia 97 95 179 177 179 168 924 845

Hawaii 1 1 92 88 93 85 713 616

Idaho 79 75 167 165 169 158 969 900

Illinois 185 163 253 246 254 238 1,284 1,125

Indiana 133 120 176 172 178 166 1,028 936

Iowa 127 115 165 163 163 158 975 906

Kansas 110 104 162 150 162 149 1,026 933

Kentucky 104 103 158 149 161 149 803 721

Louisiana 65 57 223 219 224 207 1,079 969

Maine 103 98 153 144 156 145 897 811

Maryland 23 19 162 154 167 135 730 646

Massachusetts 155 151 222 217 222 208 1,508 1,325

Michigan 187 178 208 201 214 202 1,034 933

Minnesota 121 103 167 163 172 160 977 910

Mississippi 116 113 204 200 207 195 1,098 988

Missouri 126 122 176 173 177 168 990 896

Montana 154 145 176 169 190 178 1,354 1,249

Nebraska 112 106 146 142 163 139 830 770

Nevada 18 18 123 115 123 109 507 431

New Hampshire 76 72 120 120 121 117 582 521

New Jersey 151 113 191 185 192 167 1,012 858

New Mexico 60 59 171 164 173 160 863 771

New York 200 183 312 281 315 270 1,831 1,460

North Carolina 83 78 204 199 204 181 1,010 908

North Dakota 117 114 171 168 123 166 1,179 1,101

Ohio 155 155 188 182 189 176 999 895

Oklahoma 231 214 323 307 326 306 1,987 1,740

Oregon 107 103 173 170 173 159 1,016 909

Pennsylvania 157 142 182 175 189 169 939 830

Rhode Island 34 34 99 93 99 88 421 356

South Carolina 69 64 162 157 162 141 781 701

South Dakota 113 108 170 168 172 165 1,079 970

Tennessee 86 82 187 183 187 179 989 888

Texas 290 277 403 388 406 380 2,498 2,245

Utah 31 30 175 173 176 174 1,004 928

Vermont 89 88 103 97 105 97 489 423

Virginia 88 80 179 174 180 158 845 758

Washington 117 112 210 207 212 200 1,213 1,065

West Virginia 55 53 166 166 168 154 926 850

Wisconsin 126 114 174 173 176 164 1,014 930

Wyoming 48 44 136 134 136 131 826 748

NOTE: The number of in-scope cases in sample is the actual sample size achieved, less out-of-scope cases. Out-of-scope cases are

drawn for the sample but not eligible for interview. Districts may have merged, schools closed, or there may not have been a

permanent principal assigned at the time of interview, for example. There are still other reasons for a case to be considered

out-of-scope.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey, 1993–94

(Teacher Demand and Shortage Questionnaire, Principal Questionnaire, School Questionnaire, and Teacher Questionnaire).
Appendix C

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 61

Table III–2— Number of in-scope cases in sample and number of interviews, private schools, principals,

and teachers: SASS 1993–94

Private School Private Principal Private Teacher

Private school type # in sample # interviews # in sample # interviews # in sample # interviews

All private schools 3,074 2,585 3,143 2,722 10,386 8,372

Catholic 921 818 1,023 831 3,680 3,061

 Parochial 465 408 462 427 1,776 1,474

 Diocesan 290 263 290 244 1,192 988

 Private Order 166 147 271 160 712 599

Other Religious 1,419 1,151 1,394 1,236 4,404 3,483

 Conservative Christian 325 248 322 274 929 667

 Affiliated 708 574 702 631 2,239 1,790

 Unaffiliated 386 329 370 331 1,236 1,026

Nonsectarian 734 616 726 655 2,302 1,828

 Regular program 366 297 364 321 1,279 1,036

 Special emphasis 182 150 176 160 582 436

 Special education 186 169 186 174 441 356

NOTE: The number of in-scope cases in sample excludes out-of-scope, or ineligible, cases. Reasons for a school,

principal or teacher to be out-of-scope include school closure, principal or teacher leaving the school.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey,

1993–94 (School Questionnaire, Principal Questionnaire, and Teacher Questionnaire).
Appendix C

62 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

IV. Data Collection Procedures

Data collection operations for the 1993–94 SASS took place during the 1993–94 school year.

Table IV–1 depicts both the specific data collection activity and the time frame in which it

occurred.

Table IV–1. —Data collection time schedule

Activity Date of activity

Introductory letters mailed to school districts September 1993

Introductory letters and teacher listing sheets mailed October 1993

to schools

Census field representatives called school districts to October 1993

obtain the name of a contact person to whom the

Teacher Demand and Shortage questionnaire should

be addressed

Lists of teachers provided by schools October - December 1993

First mailing of questionnaires to school districts and December 1993

school principals

First mailing of questionnaires to schools and to January - February 1994

teachers

Second mailing of questionnaires to districts and January 1994

school principals

Second mailing of questionnaires to schools and February - March 1994

teachers

Telephone follow-up of mail March - June 1994

nonrespondents

V. Response Rates

A. Survey Response Rates

The weighted response rates for each component of SASS are detailed in tables V–1 and V–2.

Table V–1 provides public response rates by state for districts, schools, administrators, and

teachers. Table V–2 lists private response rates by private school typology for administrators,

schools, and teachers. The response rate tables are useful as an indication of possible

nonresponse bias.

The weighted response rates were derived by dividing the sum of the basic weights for the

interview cases by the sum of the basic weights for the eligible cases. The basic weight for each

sample case was assigned at the time of sampling and is the inverse of the probability of

selection.
Appendix C

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 63

Teacher response rates refer to the percentage of teachers responding in schools that provided

teacher lists for sampling. Nine percent of private schools and 4 percent of public schools did

not send in teacher lists. The effective response rate is calculated by multiplying together the

teacher list rate and the response rate:

Public teachers: .96 x .882 = .8467 x 100 = 84.7% effective response rate

Private teachers: .91 x .801 = .7289 x 100 = 72.9% effective response rate
Appendix C

64 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table V–1— Final weighted district, public school administrator, school, and teacher response

rates, by state: 1993–94

Districts Administrators Schools Teachers

Total 93.9% 96.6% 92.3% 88.2%

Alabama 93.4 99.6 95.0 89.6

Alaska 94.3 95.9 87.7 85.8

Arizona 98.7 95.2 91.9 89.9

Arkansas 97.5 98.4 94.2 91.1

California 90.7 94.2 88.2 81.9

Colorado 89.3 89.4 92.2 88.0

Connecticut 93.9 95.9 93.1 88.2

Delaware 89.5 98.5 88.2 85.9

District of Columbia 100.0 85.8 85.5 70.9

Florida 98.4 98.2 94.5 91.1

Georgia 97.8 99.5 93.9 91.7

Hawaii 100.0 95.7 92.1 85.7

Idaho 94.0 99.2 91.7 92.7

Illinois 92.5 97.8 94.3 86.5

Indiana 91.0 97.9 93.7 91.3

Iowa 92.1 99.1 96.1 92.0

Kansas 93.5 93.5 92.8 90.7

Kentucky 99.4 94.7 92.1 90.4

Louisiana 88.7 97.6 90.1 90.6

Maine 96.4 93.3 91.9 90.2

Maryland 82.5 95.2 84.8 87.8

Massachusetts 97.4 99.4 94.2 87.3

Michigan 96.6 98.0 96.5 89.2

Minnesota 89.6 98.9 94.8 93.0

Mississippi 98.0 98.2 93.8 90.5

Missouri 97.9 97.9 95.3 91.7

Montana 93.9 95.6 92.4 91.6

Nebraska 96.9 96.2 89.0 92.2

Nevada 100.0 93.7 88.3 84.0

New Hampshire 86.7 100.0 97.6 89.8

New Jersey 76.9 96.3 87.1 85.7

New Mexico 97.8 96.3 93.3 90.2

New York 94.0 92.8 89.3 79.9

North Carolina 96.3 97.5 89.8 90.3

North Dakota 95.9 98.7 95.7 93.3

Ohio 100.0 96.1 92.8 88.7

Oklahoma 94.2 94.8 94.5 87.2

Oregon 98.0 97.0 93.0 90.0

Pennsylvania 90.3 96.3 88.5 88.2

Rhode Island 100.0 93.9 89.8 84.5

South Carolina 93.5 96.8 87.3 90.6

South Dakota 95.9 98.9 95.9 89.4

Tennessee 96.9 97.4 94.5 89.1

Texas 96.5 96.9 94.2 89.6

Utah 95.9 99.5 98.4 91.5

Vermont 99.1 94.1 93.3 86.2

Virginia 88.4 96.0 89.3 89.9

Washington 97.7 98.7 95.8 88.1

West Virginia 96.4 100.0 92.8 92.0

Wisconsin 91.0 99.4 93.9 92.5

Wyoming 85.2 98.1 94.7 91.0

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and

Staffing Survey, 1993–94 (Teacher Demand and Shortage Questionnaire, Principal Questionnaire,

School Questionnaire, and Teacher Questionnaire).
Appendix C

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 65

B. Item Response Rates

The unweighted item response rates (i.e., the number of sample units responding to an item

divided by the number of sample units that participated in the survey) for the SASS and the

Library Survey ranged from 50 percent to 100 percent. Tables V–3 and V–4 provide a brief

summary of the item response rates. The item response rates in these tables are unweighted,

and do not reflect additional response loss due to respondents’ refusal to participate in the

survey.

Table V–3. —Summary of unweighted item response rates by questionnaire

Survey response rates rate of 90% or rate of less than

Range of item with a response with a response

Percent of items Percent of items

more 75%

LEA Survey 67–100% 91% 1%

Principal Survey

 Public 65–100% 92% 4%

 Private 55–100% 90% 6%

 Indian 72–100% 91% 1%

School Survey

 Public 83–100% 83% 0%

 Private 61–100% 77% 3%

 Indian 70–100% 84% 1%

Teacher Survey

 Public 71–100% 91% 0%

 Private 69–100% 89% 1%

 Indian 70–100% 84% 3%

Student Survey

 Public 90–100% 97% 0%

 Private 84–100% 97% 0%

 Indian 79–100% 88% 0%
Appendix C

 The questionnaire wording for these items can be found in The Schools and Staffing Surveys: 9

1993–1994, Data File User’s Manual, a forthcoming NCES publication. 

66 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table V–4. —Items with response rates of less than 75 percent9

Survey Items

LEA Survey 26c(2)

Principal Survey

 Public 14b(1,1), 14b(2,1), 14b(4,1), 14b(5,1), 14b(7,1), 14b(8,1)

 Private 14b(1,1), 14b(2,1), 14b(4,1), 14b(5,1), 14b(8,1), 21a, 21c, 28b

School Survey

 Public None

 Private 31c(2), 31c(5), 31c(6), 31c(7), 31c(8), 31c(9)

Teacher Survey

 Public 41c

 Private 39, 51c, 55

Tables V–5 through V–8 provide summaries of the unweighted item response rates for the

items used in this report. All item response rates for the items used in this report are above 75

percent.
Appendix C

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 67

Table V–5. —Unweighted item response rates, District File

Source code Response rate (%)

Item description Public Private Public Private

Number of FTE teachers

 All D1010 S1010 94.9 93.3

 Certified D1015 S1015 94.9 91.7

 Continuing D1010 minus S1010 minus -- --

D1050 S1050

 Continuing and certified D1015 minus S1015 minus -- --

D1055 S1055

 Newly hired D1050 S1050 99.2 96.6

 Newly hired and certified D1055 S1055 98.6 93.3

Total FTE positions

 Vacant D1030 S1030 99.0 95.8

 Withdrawn D1035 S1035 98.6 95.9

Teacher salary schedules by

earned degree and experience

 Bachelor’s and no experience D2100 S2100 98.2 87.5

 Master’s and no experience D2105 S2105 97.2 81.2

 Master’s and 30 credits D2110 S2110 91.8 71.1

 Master’s and 20 years D2115 S2115 95.8 76.2

NOTE: Only for districts or private schools with no scheduled salaries.

-- Item response rates are not applicable for computed variables.
Appendix C

68 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table V–6. —Unweighted item response rates, School File

Public and Private Response rate (%)

Item name

Item description Public Private

English as a second language

 Program S1410 98.9 98.5

 Students S1415 94.0 94.6

Bilingual education

 Program S1420 98.6 98.4

 Students S1425 93.0 93.5

Remedial reading

 Program S1360 98.3 97.5

 Students S1365 88.8 88.1

Remedial mathematics

 Program S1370 97.7 97.1

 Students S1375 88.6 87.7

Handicapped

 Program S1380 98.4 97.7

 Students S1385 91.0 89.2

Gifted and talented

 Program S1390 98.1 96.9

 Students S1395 90.4 85.5

Diagnostic and prescriptive

 Services S1430 98.2 98.1

Extended day/after-school

 Services S1400 98.8 98.6

 Students S1405 88.0 90.8

Chapter 1

 Services S1600 97.3 98.1

 Students (pre-K) S1605 99.6 99.8

 Students (K and above) S1610 83.2 89.2

Free or reduced-price lunch (Public only)

 Services S1645 98.1 98.2

 Students (pre-K) S1655 90.5 89.3

 Students (K and above) S1660 84.1 78.3

Schools with 12th grade students S0245 99.2 98.4

Number of graduates last year S1835 95.5 96.5

Number of graduates applied S1840 87.3 93.1

college
Appendix C

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 69

Table V–7. —Unweighted item response rates, Principal File

Source code Response rate (%)

Item description Public Private Public Private

Associate’s degree A160 A160 98.9 98.0

Bachelor’s degree A060 A060 99.9 99.9

Master’s degree A125 A125 99.9 99.4

Education specialist degree A175 A175 99.0 98.0

Ph.D./first professional degree A190 A190 99.0 98.0

Current annual salary A495 A495 96.1 91.6

Months employed A500 A500 99.3 98.4

Years employed:

 As a principal in this school A325 A325 100.0 100.0

 As a principal in other schools A330 A330 99.2 98.4
Appendix C

70 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

Table V–8. —Unweighted item response rates, teacher file

Source code Response rate (%)

Item description Public Private Public Private

Associate’s degree T0270 T0270 96.4 93.8

Bachelor’s degree T0170 T0170 99.7 99.6

Master’s degree T0235 T0235 98.9 98.6

Education specialist degree T0285 T0285 96.4 93.8

Ph.D./first professional degree T0300 T0300 96.4 93.8

Full-time experience (private schools) T0095 T0095 94.5 92.7

Full-time experience (public schools) T0105 T0105 94.9 95.2

Academic base year salary T1420 T1420 91.6 90.3

School year supplement T1425 T1425 97.8 96.4

 Salary from school year supplement T1430 T1430 96.0 94.5

Summer supplement T1390 T1390 97.7 96.1

 Salary from summer supplement T1395 T1395 95.2 94.2

VI. Imputation Procedures

For questionnaire items that should have been answered but were not, values were imputed by

(1) using data from other items on the questionnaire, (2) extracting data from a related

component of the Schools and Staffing Survey (for example, using data from a school record to

impute missing values on that school’s LEA questionnaire), (3) extracting data from the

sample file (information about the sample case from other sources; for example, the Private

School Survey or the Common Core of Data, collected in the 1991–92 school year), and

(4) extracting data from a respondent with similar characteristics.

For some incomplete items, the entry from another part of the questionnaire or information

from the sample file was directly imputed to complete the item; for others the entry was used as

part of an adjustment factor with other data on the incomplete record. For example, if a

respondent did not report whether a school offered remedial reading in item 22a of the public

school questionnaire, the response (1 = Yes or 2 = No) for a similar school was imputed to item

22a of the incomplete record. However, if a respondent had answered “Yes” to item 22a but

had not reported the number of students in the program, the ratio of number of students in

remedial reading to the total enrollment for a similar school was used with the enrollment at

the school for which item 22a was incomplete to impute an entry to item 22a (i.e., SCHOOL
Appendix C

 For a detailed description of the weighting processes, see Abramson et al. (1996). 10

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 71

A item 22a = SCHOOL A ENROLLMENT multiplied by the ratio of SCHOOL B item 22a to

SCHOOL B ENROLLMENT).

Values were imputed to items with missing data for records that had been classified as

interviews (ISR=1). Noninterview adjustment factors were used during the data weighting

process to compensate for data that were missing because the sample case was a noninterview

(ISR=2). For more information about imputation procedures, see Abramson et al. (1996).

VII. Weighting10

Weighting of the sample units from the public sector was carried out to produce national and

state estimates for public schools, teachers, principals, and LEAs. The private sector was

weighted to produce national and association group estimates.

VIII. Standard Errors

Estimates found in the tables of this report are based on samples and are subject to sampling

variability. Standard errors were estimated using a balanced repeated replications procedure

that incorporates the design features of the stratified, clustered sample. The standard errors

provide indications of the accuracy of each estimate. If all possible samples of the same size

were surveyed under the same conditions, an interval of 1.96 standard errors below to 1.96

standard errors above a particular statistic would include the universe value in approximately

95 percent of the cases. Note, however, that the standard errors do not take into account the

effects of biases due to item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other

systematic error. Estimates with large standard errors (coefficient of variation greater than 30

percent) should be interpreted with caution.

IX. Cautions Concerning Change Estimates

Care must be taken in estimating change over time in a SASS data element, because some of

the measured change (e.g., an 8 percent increase in the number of students receiving Chapter 1

services) may not be attributable to a change in the education system. Some of the change

may be due to changes in the sampling frame, to a questionnaire item wording, or other

changes detailed in Abramson et al. (1996).
Appendix C

 This represents a change in the definition of teacher from previous administrations of SASS. In 11

1987–88 and 1990–91 a teacher was defined as any full-time or part-time teacher whose primary

assignment was teaching in any of grades K–12. The prior definition excluded administrators and other

staff who taught regularly scheduled classes, but whose primary assignment was not teaching.

72 Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools

X. Definitions

The following survey terms are defined as they apply to SASS.

Local Education Agency (LEA). An LEA, or public school district, is defined as a

government agency that employs elementary or secondary level teachers and is

administratively responsible for providing public elementary and/or secondary instruction and

educational support services.

Districts that do not operate schools but employ teachers are included. For example, some

states have special education cooperatives that employ special education teachers who teach in

schools in more than one school district.

Public School. A public school is defined as an institution that provides educational services

for at least one of grades 1–12 (or comparable ungraded levels), has one or more teachers to

give instruction, is located in one or more buildings, receives public funds as primary support,

and is operated by an education agency. Schools in juvenile detention centers and schools

located on military bases and operated by the Department of Defense are included.

Private School. A private school is defined as a school not in the public system that provides

instruction for any of grades 1–12 (or comparable ungraded levels). The instruction must be

given in a building that is not used primarily as a private home.

Teacher. A teacher is defined as a full-time or part-time teacher who teaches any regularly

scheduled classes in any of grades K–12. This includes administrators, librarians, and other

professional or support staff who teach regularly scheduled classes on a part-time basis.11

Itinerant teachers are included, as well as long-term substitutes who are filling the role of a

regular teacher on a long-term basis. An itinerant teacher is defined as a teacher who teaches

at more than one school (for example, a music teacher who teaches three days per week at one

school and two days per week at another). Short-term substitute teachers and student teachers

are not included.

Special Education School. Special education schools focus primarily on direct instructional

activities required to educate students with mental handicaps, such as mental retardation;

physical handicaps, such as hearing- and speech-impairment, and learning disabilities, such as

dyslexia.

Typology. Categories (three major with three sub-categories each) into which private schools

are divided: (1) Catholic - parochial, diocesan, private; (2) Other religious - affiliated with a

Conservative Christian school association, affiliated with a national denomination,

unaffiliated; (3) Nonsectarian - regular, special program emphasis, special education

(McMillen and Benson 1992).
Appendix C

Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects in Elementary Schools 73

In the case of other religious schools, recent work (Carper and Hunt 1984) documents major

differences in decisionmaking, educational goals, revenue, and enrollment trends between

denomination schools (i.e., Lutheran, Jewish, Seventh-day Adventist) and those

nondenominational schools affiliated with a Conservative Christian school association

(e.g., Accelerated Christian Education, American Association of Christian Schools,

Association of Christian Schools International, Oral Roberts Educational Fellowship). This

category is reportedly the fastest growing private school sector. Schools in this type are

commonly known as evangelical or fundamental, and are not tied to a denomination per se,

but rather are governed by a single church, a foundation, or a local society. A third Other

Religious category, Unaffiliated, is suggested to capture those religious schools which affiliate

with neither a national denomination nor with a conservative Christian school association.

The three nonsectarian school categories are determined not by governance but by program

emphasis. This classification disentangles private schools offering a conventional academic

program (Regular) from those which either serve special needs children (Special Education) or

provide a program with a Special Emphasis (e.g., arts, vocational, alternative).

Common Core of Data. The Common Core of Data is a group of surveys that acquire and

maintain public elementary and secondary education data from the 50 states, the District of

Columbia, and the outlying areas through the state-level (or equivalent) education agencies.

Information about staff and students in public schools is collected annually at the school, LEA

(local education agency or school district), and state levels. Information about revenues and

expenditures is also collected at the state level.

Newly hired teachers. Newly hired teachers are teachers who were newly hired by the school

district for the 1993–94 school year. It includes teachers returning from unpaid leave of

absence of one school year or more, but does not include substitute teachers.