Teachers' time is one of our most precious resources in schools. A teacher's day is a whirlwind of tightly scheduled tasks, from planning and preparation to delivering instruction and engaging with students.
To craft and implement policies that make the best use of time to support teachers to be effective, we need to look at how districts expect teachers to use their time and how that compares across the country. In this month's District Trendline, we take a deep dive into NCTQ's Teacher Contract Database (TCD) to explore requirements on how teachers spend their time. We analyzed and compared the following:
Despite the common belief that teachers work less than a standard 8-hour day, most teachers in NCTQ's sample are contracted to work between 7.5 and 8 hours a day, generally aligning with the conventional 40-hour work week. Over 20% of districts do not address the length of the workday at all. Only six districts require significantly shorter work days of 6.5 hours or less. Stockton Unified School District (CA) has the shortest workday, determining its teachers' workday based on instructional time. This ranges from just over 4 hours a day for middle school teachers to 4 hours a day for K–6 teachers.1179
However, contracted hours often do not reflect the full scope of a teacher's day. In fact, a 2024 RAND survey found that while 92% of teachers reported that their contract requires 21–40 hours of work a week, 88% reported actually working from 41 to more than 80 hours a week.1180
In districts that clearly define time on site beyond the student day, the most common requirement is 30 minutes or less, often split evenly in 15-minute increments before and after the end of the school day.1181 But several districts require significantly less time. For instance, Little Rock School District (AR) requires elementary teachers to be on site just 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after the school day,1182 while Los Angeles Unified School District (CA) requires secondary teachers to be on site five minutes before school and 2 minutes after school. On the opposite end of the range, Prince George's County Public Schools (MD) requires elementary teachers to be on site for 90 minutes1183 beyond the school day.
Finally, several districts leave the decision up to district personnel like the superintendent, school board, or principal. For instance, Milwaukee Public Schools (WI) specifies that "the board will determine the length of time teachers must be at school before students arrive and after they depart."
Our analysis of district documentation, based on a subsample of 86 large districts,1186 reveals that many districts provide minimal guidance or do not set requirements on how long teachers should be teaching these four core subjects.1187
More districts provide explicit requirements or recommendations for reading1188 and math than in other subjects. Forty-five percent of districts provide explicit instructional time requirements or recommendations for reading, which may include a range of times. The remaining 20% merely require "sufficient" time without defining what that means or only broadly reference that reading instruction should be provided.1189
Reading requirements vary from a minimum of 150 minutes per week for 3–5th graders in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (TN) to 900 minutes per week for K–2nd graders in Round Rock ISD (TX). Many districts set a minimum instructional time requirement. For instance, Atlanta Public School's (GA) PK–12 literacy plan notes that "the daily schedule should provide an opportunity for students to receive at least 120 minutes of literacy instruction." In math, 34% of districts recommend or require a specific amount of instructional time, with roughly 300 minutes (five hours) per week being the most commonly cited. Still, that leaves 66% of districts with vague or no guidance on time dedicated to math instruction in the documents NCTQ reviewed.
Some districts vary time requirements by grade level. For instance, Anne Arundel County Public Schools (MD) sets mathematics instruction requirements at 300 minutes per week in kindergarten, 325 minutes per week in grades 1–3, and 350 minutes per week in grades 4–5. This strategy is common across all four subject areas.
Districts were far less likely to provide instructional time requirements in social studies or science. In districts that do provide some form of guidance, instructional time varies significantly. In social studies, instructional time ranges from as little as 60 minutes per week in Orange County Public Schools (FL) to as much as 300 minutes per week in Omaha Public Schools (OK). Similar variation appears for science, with instructional time ranging from 60 minutes per week in kindergarten and 1st grade in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (FL) to as much as 300 minutes per week for 4th and 5th graders in Baltimore County Public Schools (MD).
Planning time serves multiple purposes: reviewing curricula, refining lesson plans, finishing paperwork, grading assignments, collaborating with peers, calling parents and families, and numerous other tasks essential to maximizing instructional time when students are in the classroom.
According to the most recent analysis from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), public school teachers receive roughly 53 minutes of planning time per day, or just under 4.5 hours per week. This is slightly greater than the average across the large districts in NCTQ's sample. In our sample, elementary and secondary teachers have an average of 51 minutes of planning time per day.1190 It should be noted that 7% of the districts in our sample don't provide an explicit amount of time for teacher planning, and 11% don't mention planning time at all, making calculating an exact figure challenging.
About one-third of the districts in our sample (45) allocate roughly four hours per week for teacher planning time. This amounts to approximately 48 minutes or about one class period per day. This figure remains relatively consistent with the last time NCTQ analyzed teacher planning time in early 2023.
Two districts stand out for providing significantly more planning time, with eight hours per week. The School District of Manatee County (FL) offers both elementary and secondary teachers at least 50 minutes per day for planning during the school day, plus an additional three hours and 45 minutes before or after the student day each week. On the flip side, San Bernardino City Unified School District (CA) provides just 50 minutes of planning time per week for elementary teachers, specified in its contract as 1,720 minutes throughout the year.
While many districts differentiate planning time allotments between elementary and secondary teachers, Fresno Unified School District (CA) has the most significant gap,1191 offering eight hours per week for secondary teachers but just four hours for elementary teachers.
Teachers may need short- or longer-term professional learning time spent away from their classrooms for various reasons, including learning new instructional methods, attending conferences, and observing other classrooms to enhance their own practices.
While districts in the TCD generally offer paid leave for professional development, many fail to specify how much time teachers are permitted away from the classroom. Some districts determine eligibility based on the needs of other teachers in the district or school. For example, Boston Public Schools (MA) provides 2,000 paid days annually across the district, which the district's Career in Teaching Panel allocates to schools. In contrast, while Hillsborough County Public Schools (FL) does not limit individual teachers' time for professional leave, it stipulates that approved paid leave is limited to a maximum of 10% of teachers in the same subject area group on any given school day in cases where teachers would need to take leave together.
Over half of districts (52%) offer extended sabbatical or developmental leave, typically available in half-year or full-year increments. Teachers usually receive their full salary for a half-year sabbatical or half their salary for a full year. Most districts also have minimum service requirements before a teacher is eligible to take sabbatical leave, typically ranging from five to seven years. For instance, District of Columbia Public Schools (DC) requires six consecutive years in the district, while Buffalo School District (NY) restricts sabbatical leave to 1% of permanent teachers who have completed at least seven years of service. One unique approach emerges in Montgomery County Public Schools (MD): Teachers with seven years of experience are paid either 50% or 60% of their normal salary during their sabbatical if they agree to two or three years of service upon their return, respectively.1192
Only Mobile County Public Schools (AL) and Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VA) explicitly allow for developmental leave but specify that it is unpaid.1193
To craft and implement policies that make the best use of time to support teachers to be effective, we need to look at how districts expect teachers to use their time and how that compares across the country. In this month's District Trendline, we take a deep dive into NCTQ's Teacher Contract Database (TCD) to explore requirements on how teachers spend their time. We analyzed and compared the following:
- length of the workday and school year
- required time on campus
- allocated planning time
- instructional time for specific subjects
- time dedicated for professional development
Length of the teacher workday and year
Comparing the workday of teachers to other professions with similar educational requirements can be challenging due to the unique structure of the school day and calendar. Teachers working in districts that are part of NCTQ's sample1176 are contracted to work an average of 191 days1177 per year (including both school days with students and days without students).1178 There is a broad range across the nation. Tulsa Public Schools (OK) and Anchorage School District (AK) have the shortest contract years at 180 days, while districts in North Carolina require 215 employment days.Figure 1.
Despite the common belief that teachers work less than a standard 8-hour day, most teachers in NCTQ's sample are contracted to work between 7.5 and 8 hours a day, generally aligning with the conventional 40-hour work week. Over 20% of districts do not address the length of the workday at all. Only six districts require significantly shorter work days of 6.5 hours or less. Stockton Unified School District (CA) has the shortest workday, determining its teachers' workday based on instructional time. This ranges from just over 4 hours a day for middle school teachers to 4 hours a day for K–6 teachers.1179
However, contracted hours often do not reflect the full scope of a teacher's day. In fact, a 2024 RAND survey found that while 92% of teachers reported that their contract requires 21–40 hours of work a week, 88% reported actually working from 41 to more than 80 hours a week.1180
Figure 2.
Time on site outside of the school day
Teachers often need to arrive on campus before school starts or stay after it ends for preparation and planning, meetings with parents or fellow faculty, and other school-related activities. But nearly half of districts make no mention of such requirements at all. And in districts that make requirements explicit, district documentation reveals that this time can vary greatly, ranging from as little as 10 minutes to well over an hour.Figure 3.
In districts that clearly define time on site beyond the student day, the most common requirement is 30 minutes or less, often split evenly in 15-minute increments before and after the end of the school day.1181 But several districts require significantly less time. For instance, Little Rock School District (AR) requires elementary teachers to be on site just 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after the school day,1182 while Los Angeles Unified School District (CA) requires secondary teachers to be on site five minutes before school and 2 minutes after school. On the opposite end of the range, Prince George's County Public Schools (MD) requires elementary teachers to be on site for 90 minutes1183 beyond the school day.
Finally, several districts leave the decision up to district personnel like the superintendent, school board, or principal. For instance, Milwaukee Public Schools (WI) specifies that "the board will determine the length of time teachers must be at school before students arrive and after they depart."
Time spent on reading, math, social studies, and science
As one may expect, research has shown that increased instructional time generally leads to improved student outcomes.1184 In fact, a 2011 OECD report found that about 25% of the variation in test outcomes between countries in reading and math, and 7% in science, could be attributed to how much time students spend learning.1185 Despite a general consensus that more time spent learning leads to improved student outcomes, districts vary significantly in how much time they expect teachers to teach four core subjects: reading (ELA), math, social studies, and science.Our analysis of district documentation, based on a subsample of 86 large districts,1186 reveals that many districts provide minimal guidance or do not set requirements on how long teachers should be teaching these four core subjects.1187
More districts provide explicit requirements or recommendations for reading1188 and math than in other subjects. Forty-five percent of districts provide explicit instructional time requirements or recommendations for reading, which may include a range of times. The remaining 20% merely require "sufficient" time without defining what that means or only broadly reference that reading instruction should be provided.1189
Reading requirements vary from a minimum of 150 minutes per week for 3–5th graders in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (TN) to 900 minutes per week for K–2nd graders in Round Rock ISD (TX). Many districts set a minimum instructional time requirement. For instance, Atlanta Public School's (GA) PK–12 literacy plan notes that "the daily schedule should provide an opportunity for students to receive at least 120 minutes of literacy instruction." In math, 34% of districts recommend or require a specific amount of instructional time, with roughly 300 minutes (five hours) per week being the most commonly cited. Still, that leaves 66% of districts with vague or no guidance on time dedicated to math instruction in the documents NCTQ reviewed.
Some districts vary time requirements by grade level. For instance, Anne Arundel County Public Schools (MD) sets mathematics instruction requirements at 300 minutes per week in kindergarten, 325 minutes per week in grades 1–3, and 350 minutes per week in grades 4–5. This strategy is common across all four subject areas.
Districts were far less likely to provide instructional time requirements in social studies or science. In districts that do provide some form of guidance, instructional time varies significantly. In social studies, instructional time ranges from as little as 60 minutes per week in Orange County Public Schools (FL) to as much as 300 minutes per week in Omaha Public Schools (OK). Similar variation appears for science, with instructional time ranging from 60 minutes per week in kindergarten and 1st grade in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (FL) to as much as 300 minutes per week for 4th and 5th graders in Baltimore County Public Schools (MD).
Figure 4.
Use the buttons to toggle between subjects and select a district below the graph to see specific requirements for that district.
Planning time
For teachers, time allocated for planning is often considered a sacred part of the day. In fact, a recent survey in Arkansas revealed that 85% of teachers view their planning time as important. However, nearly 40% of teachers in that same survey reported not receiving any planning time.Planning time serves multiple purposes: reviewing curricula, refining lesson plans, finishing paperwork, grading assignments, collaborating with peers, calling parents and families, and numerous other tasks essential to maximizing instructional time when students are in the classroom.
According to the most recent analysis from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), public school teachers receive roughly 53 minutes of planning time per day, or just under 4.5 hours per week. This is slightly greater than the average across the large districts in NCTQ's sample. In our sample, elementary and secondary teachers have an average of 51 minutes of planning time per day.1190 It should be noted that 7% of the districts in our sample don't provide an explicit amount of time for teacher planning, and 11% don't mention planning time at all, making calculating an exact figure challenging.
Figure 5.
About one-third of the districts in our sample (45) allocate roughly four hours per week for teacher planning time. This amounts to approximately 48 minutes or about one class period per day. This figure remains relatively consistent with the last time NCTQ analyzed teacher planning time in early 2023.
Two districts stand out for providing significantly more planning time, with eight hours per week. The School District of Manatee County (FL) offers both elementary and secondary teachers at least 50 minutes per day for planning during the school day, plus an additional three hours and 45 minutes before or after the student day each week. On the flip side, San Bernardino City Unified School District (CA) provides just 50 minutes of planning time per week for elementary teachers, specified in its contract as 1,720 minutes throughout the year.
While many districts differentiate planning time allotments between elementary and secondary teachers, Fresno Unified School District (CA) has the most significant gap,1191 offering eight hours per week for secondary teachers but just four hours for elementary teachers.
Paid leave for professional development
Conversations about paid leave for teachers often spotlight key issues like paid parental leave or sick leave, subjects that NCTQ monitors and reports on frequently. However, there is an often overlooked type of leave that deserves attention: leave for professional development.Teachers may need short- or longer-term professional learning time spent away from their classrooms for various reasons, including learning new instructional methods, attending conferences, and observing other classrooms to enhance their own practices.
While districts in the TCD generally offer paid leave for professional development, many fail to specify how much time teachers are permitted away from the classroom. Some districts determine eligibility based on the needs of other teachers in the district or school. For example, Boston Public Schools (MA) provides 2,000 paid days annually across the district, which the district's Career in Teaching Panel allocates to schools. In contrast, while Hillsborough County Public Schools (FL) does not limit individual teachers' time for professional leave, it stipulates that approved paid leave is limited to a maximum of 10% of teachers in the same subject area group on any given school day in cases where teachers would need to take leave together.
Figure 6.
Over half of districts (52%) offer extended sabbatical or developmental leave, typically available in half-year or full-year increments. Teachers usually receive their full salary for a half-year sabbatical or half their salary for a full year. Most districts also have minimum service requirements before a teacher is eligible to take sabbatical leave, typically ranging from five to seven years. For instance, District of Columbia Public Schools (DC) requires six consecutive years in the district, while Buffalo School District (NY) restricts sabbatical leave to 1% of permanent teachers who have completed at least seven years of service. One unique approach emerges in Montgomery County Public Schools (MD): Teachers with seven years of experience are paid either 50% or 60% of their normal salary during their sabbatical if they agree to two or three years of service upon their return, respectively.1192
Only Mobile County Public Schools (AL) and Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VA) explicitly allow for developmental leave but specify that it is unpaid.1193