When Oklahoma public schools open their doors this fall, not only will school leaders face tough financial times, they also must step up efforts to raise student achievement as well as raise graduation rates. I addressed this conundrum July 8 in my annual State of Education Address, “Teach the Children Well — Give Them Time to Learn.”

This dilemma facing schools requires a greater focus on protecting instructional time from interruptions and better engaging students by using the digital tools they use in day-to-day life. Oklahoma requires fewer days of classroom instruction (175 days) than surrounding states and the national average (180 days). Yet, more and more is expected of students, teachers, and school leaders each year. New state and federal mandates take additional time and require educators to make the most of every minute available to them.

My vision of time reform in Oklahoma is about increasing the quality and, eventually, the quantity of instructional time. School staff members should examine their use of time in order to declutter the day to allow increased time for teaching and learning.

The State Board of Education is requiring all schools to undertake a time analysis this school year and report their findings and plans in a public meeting of their local board of education to help our schools meet the goals.

State Department of Education staff and members of the Time Reform Task Force have worked with the National Center on Time and Learning in Boston to create an electronic Time Analysis Tool that is being provided to school leaders at no cost as a means of opening faculty discussions of how interruptions can best be eliminated.

One of our Task Force members, Cathy Williams, elementary school principal with Vinita Public Schools, is helping her peers use the Time Analysis Tool. During the last several years, she has led time analysis assessments with her faculty and significantly increased the amount of time students in Vinita are engaged in learning.

The other part of the conundrum facing schools — improving student achievement while increasing the numbers who graduate — has to do with using technology to better engage students. Providing a world-class education for every student means we also must address how each student learns best.

Children and teenagers today are digital natives. They are growing up surrounded by the light of technology: a TV screen, a Gameboy screen, a portable DVD player. Boys and girls are connected to each other by text messaging and e-mailing photos at the click of “send.” They have access to the Internet showing them 24/7 what’s happening across the world and across the street.

When we were children, our world was IN our backyard. For our children, their backyard IS the world. Today’s students will learn and be more engaged by using the tools with which they are the most familiar.

Today’s teachers shouldn’t have to struggle to make the most of minutes that are too few and far between. If we want more students to stay in school, then we must make it a journey, not a treadmill.

The clock is still ticking toward the future of Oklahoma and the United States of America, and defining our place in the current global economy is only one challenge we will face. As I reminded school leaders in my address, we can continue to be bound by the time constraints of the past, or we can lead the way to doing a better job with the time we have now.



SANDY GARRETT is the state superintendent of public instruction.