The state will provide adequate funding to enable all students to meet the content and performance standards of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program and the High School Assessments. Teachers' Time Some of the recommendations that seem relatively inexpensive in terms of dollars may involve important shifts in the use of time. This time is not without cost. Yet research shows that a teacher's time in front of the class is valuable only if backed up by the teacher's time learning to teach those students effectively. A RAND study found that teachers need up to 50 hours of instruction, practice, and coaching to successfully adopt new teaching strategies.
Standardized practice is, in essence, malpractice.
It will require a significant investment of time. While efforts to reallocate teachers' time inevitably run up against old traditions, regulations, and teacher contracts, this intervention plan is designed to be sufficiently comprehensive and powerful to break through these barriers. The schools recognize that time for learning must be adjusted to the needs of the learners and that at-risk students require more time. These effective Title I schools also understand that teachers need more time to adopt teaching strategies that are effective in helping at-risk students reach high standards. In considering the adoption of any policy alternative, it is important to recognize not just the direct costs associated with the intervention but also the kind of infrastructure that needs to be in place if the intervention is to work.