The proposed teachers contract turns time for small-group instruction into time for teacher collaboration and family outreach. (Photo: Sarah Darville)

The proposed teachers contract stakes a claim about the time educators spend with students: quality beats quantity.

The new agreement would upend a key provision of the 2005 contract, which added two-and-a-half hours to the school week so teachers could work with small group of students. Now, most of that time would be devoted to teacher professional development and some to parent outreach.

The idea behind the contract changes, officials explained, is that better-trained teachers will have a greater impact on students even if they spend less time with them.

“We have to train teachers so that the time they’re spending with students is much more effective and valuable,” said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew. “Versus doing, once again, this political punch line — more time with the student. Let’s make it better time with the student.”

While that approach makes sense to many, others note that professional development can vary widely in quality, and they question whether teacher training ever trumps instructional time.

“I honestly have never met one teacher who thinks the solution to the educational crisis is less time with students and more time in PD,” wrote the author of the education blog Doenuts.

Read the full story on Chalkbeat New York.