Poverty-related Challenges Sap Instructional Time in High Schools is the headline of an article in Education Week on a new study that finds teachers in high-poverty schools like ours end up with thirty minutes of less instructional time each day than those in higher-income areas:

Disruptions such as welcoming new students to the classrooms, and locking down the school during emergencies and drills eat away at more instructional time at high poverty schools than in lower-poverty schools. So too do routines, such transitioning students from the hallways to the class period. First period is a particular challenge in high-poverty schools.

I tend to think that in schools with an excellent administrative team in place and with a strong system of teacher support, like we have, that half-hour figure is considerably less. However, there is no question that we do face challenges.

Here’s a passage in the story that particularly struck me: