Opportunity-to-Learn Index

An opportunity-to-learn (OTL) index quantifies how much exposure students have had to the content and instructional resources they need to succeed on an assessment. Rooted in Carroll's model of school learning and developed through the IEA international studies, OTL measurement asks whether students were actually taught the material before being tested on it. Constructed from teacher reports, curriculum analysis, or instructional logs, OTL indices are used both as a fairness criterion for interpreting test scores and as a policy instrument for monitoring equitable access to the intended curriculum.