Perspectives - Missing Key to Student Engagement: Teachers’ Time

This article is authored by Jessica Fredston-Hermann and was originally published by District Administration.

As a middle school teacher, I stayed up late, lesson planning, grading and worrying about my students—but I never actually had enough time in the school day to give each student the support they needed.

And I wasn’t alone. Two decades later, teachers report working on average 10 hours more than contracted, with some research suggesting teachers spend about half of their working hours on tasks like lesson preparation that don’t involve direct interaction with students—the reason most educators were initially drawn to the profession.

All this time spent on non-student-facing work is even more problematic given the significance of student needs: less than one-third of students are performing on grade level in math and reading, students report low engagement in school, and nearly a third say they don’t have an adult at school they can go to with a problem.

But the next 20 years of teaching don’t have to look like this. By embracing both proven and promising practices, school and district leaders can help teachers gain valuable time to deepen student engagement and, ultimately, improve outcomes.

Increase access to HQIM

Reimagining teachers’ time starts with ensuring they have the materials they need to enhance student learning, reducing hours spent looking for those materials in the first place.

High-quality instructional materials that are rigorous, research-based and aligned with grade-level standards give educators time to connect with students on what’s being learned instead of worrying about sourcing materials to lead the lesson.

Studies show that the use of HQIM can improve student learning and save teachers time, a key benefit given that teachers report spending seven to eight hours per week finding materials and creating lesson plans.

How these materials are implemented is just as important. Too often, even high-quality materials are cobbled together, with teachers indicating they use as many as seven different sources in their classrooms.

Professional learning aligned with HQIM is critical to ensuring that teachers have not only the materials, but also the skills, to be effective. In Virginia, students in classrooms led by teachers with access to HQIM paired with aligned professional learning performed 50% higher on standardized assessments of math achievement than students in classrooms where teachers were given HQIM with no support.

Collaborate and connect

Teachers, especially those in elementary schools, are often asked to be experts in all aspects of an increasingly complex role, often in a traditionally “one teacher, one classroom” paradigm.

The opportunity for student disengagement is high: more advanced students are bored with the material because they already know it; students who are behind can’t keep up; and the teacher naturally ends up “teaching to the middle.”

Strategic staffing models help schools reimagine teachers’ time through team-based teaching structures where educators with varied expertise collaborate to support a shared group of students. This could look like a fifth-grade teacher leading reading instruction while another focuses on math, increasing students’ access to educators who are passionate about the content.

Or it could be designing leadership opportunities for expert teachers to coach newer colleagues, increasing the likelihood that every student will benefit from an effective educator and engaging instruction.

Studies show that teachers participating in team-based models experience higher satisfaction, improved teacher-student interactions, and lower turnover. At the same time, students report higher levels of support and opportunities for collaboration—key measures of engagement.

Efficiency and personalization

Recent advances in artificial intelligence show potential to save teachers time in grading, lesson planning, and parent communication without replacing their vital role in the lives of students. Early studies suggest that teachers using AI tools can save more than five hours per week, particularly in creating lesson materials and doing administrative work.

In classrooms where AI supports background tasks, teachers can focus on what only they can do: building student relationships and fostering engagement.

Tech-enabled tools can also support deeper, personalized learning for students, freeing up teachers to work with small groups and tailor instruction to different levels. For instance, AI-powered solutions can save teachers time by breaking down activities into scaffolded steps to engage learners while maintaining grade-level rigor aligned with HQIM.

Blended classroom models can enable students to master self-paced content while helping teachers optimize class time for targeted one-on-one and flexible small-group instruction. And, innovative assessment tools can leverage AI to convert data from student work and assessments into immediate, actionable feedback for educators. Instead of analyzing test results, teachers can focus on how to use the results to support each student.

It’s likely that when you ask your teachers why they chose the profession, the answer you’ll hear is “because of the students.” Ask a student what makes them feel engaged in school, and they’ll most likely talk about a teacher who makes them feel excited about the future.

These relationships are crucial in shaping meaningful learning and are what drive many educators to stay in the role. We have the tools to save teachers time and make these connections happen more often. Let’s use them to give teachers more opportunities to ignite student potential.

Header image courtesy of Arizona State University