Teacher Autonomy: A Multifaceted Approach for the New Millennium ...

Zajano and Mitchell (2001) contended that teachers with high levels of autonomy can deny students access to instruction, time, curricular coverage, and opportunities for success. The data related to student tracking and ability grouping demonstrated one way in which this occurred. Murphy, Hallinger, and Lotto (1986) systematically examined what they defined as student “opportunity to learn” (OTL). These researchers defined OTL as student access to time, curriculum content, success rate, and quality of instruction and analyzed the following variables: time, curriculum content covered, success rate, and quality of instruction. The notion that teachers consciously influence and control these variables deserves deeper examination. Murphy et al. indicated that there was evidence of a positive relationship between OTL and student achievement and also evidence of discrimination when researchers looked at these variables among different student groups and curricular tracks.

Murphy et al. (1986) found that even after controlling for variables such as motivation and social background, students in low-ability groups and nonacademic tracks were provided with less OTL by their teachers. The authors argued that the distribution of OTL in the classroom was primarily related to the perceptions of adults rather than student motivation or ability.

According to Murphy et al. (1986), time was distributed equally among different learning tracks, but how the time was used differed. The authors noted that when conducting a class of students in lower ability tracks, teachers tended to take more time in getting class started, end instruction earlier, lose more time to student and teacher interruptions, and allot more time to in-class completion of homework in lieu of further instruction or enrichment. Lower behavioral and academic expectations, lack of purpose for class activities, and undifferentiated instructional methods were some of the reasons provided by the authors for this imbalance in time usage.