Predictors of First Grade Teachers’ Teaching-Related Time Allocation During COVID-19

Exposure to teachers and teaching-related activities is vital for young children’s learning. When COVID-19 closed schools, teachers responded with a mix of live- and pre-recorded lessons and one-on-one communication with students, which necessitated shifts in planning time. The current study identifies pre-COVID predictors of time teachers devoted to each of these teaching-related activities to illuminate actionable levers for supporting educators during widespread educational disruption. Teachers with higher pre-pandemic job commitment devoted more overall time to pandemic-induced remote teaching. Teachers’ pre-pandemic executive functioning and observed classroom instructional and organizational quality – features of successful teachers during normal times – predicted more during-pandemic time remote teaching, while teacher older age and having more high-needs students was associated with less remote teaching time. These results contribute to an emerging literature that spotlights potential promising avenues for supporting teachers via professional development during normal times as well as in future widespread educational disruptions.