The study reported on in this volume and its companions began in the fall of 1991. The themes of the studies had been determined through a process that solicited ideas from a broad spectrum of leaders in the education field. Time is pervasive.
Time lends itself to cliches.
Time, as an issue, crops up when you thought that you were focusing on other things. In short, time is potentially a key element in reform efforts of any kind. Time, it appeared, was coming into its own as an educational research variable. Because of the potential scope of the subject, we needed to set some limits. Our first task was to define the parameters of what quantity and quality of time in and out of school would mean for our study and examine the existing research base within these parameters.