A National Study of Common Planning Time Activities: Examination of Differences by State

The Common Planning Time Project of the Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group (MLER SIG) of the American Educational Research Association provided an avenue through which researchers from throughout the United States could investigate numerous aspects of common planning time in schools. Although several studies have investigated common planning time in singular states, few studies have examined the national data set looking both within and across the data. For example, Flowers and Mertens (2013) examined the national data set of the Common Planning Time Project of the MLER SIG and provided an overall view of common planning time across the United States. Merits of that study were many and are overviewed herein. However, many significant aspects of the national data set were not explored by Flowers and Mertens (2013). Consequently, the purpose of the present quantitative national study was to extend the work of Flowers and Mertens, examining differences between states regarding middle grades teachers' activities during common planning time (CPT). This study was guided by the following research questions: (1) How do middle grades teachers spend common planning time? (2) Are there differences by state in how teachers report spending common planning time? (3) Does teacher certification level and teamwork during student teaching influence teachers' time spent on CPT activities? and (4) Does teacher certification level and teamwork during student teaching influence their understanding of quality CPT? [Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April 2015, Chicago, Illinois.]