Title: A case study of instructional time allocation of elementary schools in Taiwan and the USA

Authors: Evan Ortlieb; Tao Wei Chuang

Addresses: Faculty of Education, Peninsula Campus, McMahons Road, Building A, Frankston, Victoria 3199, Australia ' Department of Educational Leadership, Curriculum and Instruction, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, ECDC 219, Corpus Christi, Texas 78412, USA

Abstract: This study presents a comparison of the distribution of subject area courses across school days in two school districts: a US elementary school in South Texas and an elementary school in Taiwan. Grades one through five was included in the study. The data showed that the US school allocated much more time for language arts subjects. The elementary school in Taiwan addressed many more different subject areas in a day. The US school schedule reflected the primary goal of the school district, which was to improve reading skills. The Taiwan school scheduled reflected the goal of the school to provide a wide range of academic and real-life experiences for students.

Keywords: Taiwan; USA; United States; instructional time allocation; comparison; case study; elementary schools; elementary education; subject areas; subject courses; taught subjects; teaching schedules.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTCS.2014.067808

International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies, 2014 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.276 - 288

Received: 16 Sep 2014
Accepted: 17 Sep 2014
Published online: 13 Mar 2015 *

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