Opportunity to Learn
Opportunity to learn (OTL) is an evolving construct from which to better understand and use the intricacy of the schooling process. Progress to date includes considerations of how it might serve as an index of key factors of teachers’ and students’ contributions to learning and as a tool to guide fair and productive measurement of its operation. In this chapter, we provide an account of OTL measurement where classrooms have been the unit of analysis and where concentrations of focus have moved to include calibration of the quality of instruction alongside considerations of time and content elements of a learning opportunity. The account highlights the significance of this inclusion and presents current developments in creating feasible, reliable measurement and ongoing challenges where additional research is needed to further refine our conceptualization and current tooling for measuring OTL.