Telling Tales Over Time

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Joel Weiss, Robert S. Brown

   Pages 1-10

3. Time as Storyline

   • Joel Weiss, Robert S. Brown

   Pages 11-22

4. Telling Tales Over Time

   • Joel Weiss, Robert S. Brown

   Pages 23-54

5. Absenteeism

   • Joel Weiss, Robert S. Brown

   Pages 55-79

6. The Current Absenteeism Scene

   • Joel Weiss, Robert S. Brown

   Pages 81-105

7. Time Structures and the Canons of Testing

   • Joel Weiss, Robert S. Brown

   Pages 107-127

8. Inequities and Effectiveness

   • Joel Weiss, Robert S. Brown

   Pages 129-143

9. The Role of Virtual Learning Environments in Time and Spatial Structuring

   • Joel Weiss, Robert S. Brown

   Pages 145-167

10. The Challenge of Changing Curriculum Stories Over Time

    • Joel Weiss, Robert S. Brown

    Pages 169-182

11. Back Matter

    Pages 183-184

    PDF

How do calendars and clocks influence considerations of school effectiveness? From the creation of compulsory education to the future of virtual schooling, Weiss and Brown trace two centuries of school practices, policies and research linking the concept of time with ‘opportunity to learn’. School calendars and clocks are shaped by both the physical and social worlds, and the ‘clock of schooling’ is shown to be one of the ‘great clocks of society’ that helps to frame school effectiveness. School time does not operate in a vacuum, but within curriculum, teaching and learning situations. The phrase ‘chrono-curriculum’ was devised by the authors as a metaphor for exploring issues of school effectiveness within the time dimension. Using American and Canadian sources, stories are created to illustrate four themes about time and school effectiveness. The first three stories utilize access, attendance and testing as criteria associated with these eras of schooling. How will the story read in the fourth era, the digital age, which forces us to a reconsideration of time and its influence on education? Quoting David Berliner in his Foreword: “ this is an opportune time for these authors to bring us insights into the reasons we in North America created our public school systems, and how the chrono-curriculum influences those systems. The authors’ presentation of our educational past provides educators a chance to think anew about how we might do schooling in our own times.”

• opportunity to learn
• summer learning
• online learning/courses

• University of Toronto, Canada

  Joel Weiss

• Toronto District School Board, Canada

  Robert S. Brown

Policies and ethics