Block Schedule
From WikEd
[edit] Descriptions, definitions, synonyms, organizer terms, types of
Block scheduling remodels the traditional school day with seven or eights periods to a school day that has four periods. This four period day might follow either an A/B model or a 4x4 model. The A/B model is a school week that has class periods one through four on one day and class periods five through eight the following day throughout the whole school year. Benefits of the A/B model are to extend school periods for more time for active learning, projects, and curriculum planning. Another model for block is the 4x4 model that meets for only five periods a day identical to the A/B model, but the 4x4 Model class periods meet everyday not every other day. Benefits of the 4x4 model are extended school periods just like the A/B model. However, since the same classes meet everyday, these classes would be completed in only one semester, allowing students to have more electives or allowing students to make up failed classes to keep on track for graduation in one year.
[edit] Application in classrooms and similar settings
By reducing the total number of class periods in one day, additional benefits can be gained from a block schedule. One is the reduction of the total number of discipline problems outside of the classroom. Schools operating on block schedule now only have five periods of class therefore reducing the total amount of time spent going between classes between periods. Because there would be fewer periods, there would be fewer opportunities for students to get into trouble in the hallways. Less trouble in the hallways will obviously result in fewer discipline referrals and a safer school climate. Also, a reduction in the total number of class periods would provide an additional positive aspect for both teachers and students. Teachers would only have to prepare for fewer, but longer class periods and in turn, students would have fewer classes to study for and less homework to complete.
What administrator, teacher, student, or parent wouldn’t want a safer school climate or have a smaller number of classes for less work? A block schedule can provide these easy answers. Unfortunately, a block schedule is not as easy as it appears and problems will arise if both administrators and teachers do not meet certain challenges. Challenges will occur in scheduling both the semester and the class periods, in retention of learning either on a day-to-day basis or on a yearly basis, and in student behaviors inside or outside of the classroom.
Block scheduling allows teachers to use a new teaching tool called differentiated instruction. Allowing the teacher to teach with a variety of methods; some of these methods are new to each teacher but ultimately help each student learn in their best way.
A challenge to overcome with block scheduling might occur depending on how guidance counselors, administrators, and teachers plan the student’s day spent in school. A block schedule would create more choices for all students. Guidance counselors and administrators would be able to offer more choices on what classes they might want to take during the school year. Administrators would need to hire more teachers for more student choices in favor of electives.
Guidance councilors and administrators need to plan on a yearly basis far in advance. Teachers must be able to plan on a daily basis and yearly basis as well and for a longer class period with a variety of instructional methods. An important point to remember is to be able to engage students with active learning activities. Active learning provides students the opportunity to actively practice what he/she learned in class and apply recently exposed knowledge to complete projects and activities. These experiences would help students retain what they learn in meaningful ways. In addition, cross curricular planning and co-teaching would also need to be planned by regular and special education teachers for daily classroom lessons during a common prep in order to provide a curriculum for the needs of all students. Administrators need to help teachers succeed by providing teachers the ability and time allowed to work together by having a common prep time. This common prep would allow all teachers to plan together for lesson plans to include all students.
[edit] Evidence of effectiveness
The study reported by the article, "Block Scheduling: An Evaluation of Outcomes and Impact," (Evans, et al., 2002) reported outcomes by teachers, administrators, students, and parents in a study of three schools as the follows:
Teacher interviews
- By varying activities between large group assignments, small group assignments, and individual projects, teachers reported that they were able to spend more then half of each class period on activities other then teacher-oriented lecture.
- Students seem more settled in class, and there are fewer student behavior problems, resulting in fewer detentions.
- The extended time blocks allowed teachers to do more activities and expand on lessons. For example, teachers could present a lesson, show a movie, and conduct a review all in one day.
- Students were able to participate in more independent projects and present the results from the projects to their teachers and classmates during class time
- In general, teachers spent much more time working with individual students and felt that they know students better.
- Because they could cover concepts with more depth, teachers perceived teaching to be more interesting and challenging. Teachers also reported that they could cover the same amount of material, or more, then they could cover under a traditional schedule.
- There were fewer projects and papers to grade at one time because teachers had a lighter student load than under the traditional schedule.
Student interviews
- Greater opportunity to take a variety of courses, academic electives, and advanced placement.
- More time to work with other students in class; more opportunities for independent projects; and higher teacher expectations for learning.
- Fewer classes to focus on and more concentrated assignments and homework.
- Class time available for the teacher to answer homework questions.
- More time to address difficult assignments comprehensively
Parent interviews
- Seventy-eight minutes are a long time for students to devote to a subject with which they may be struggling. They may become frustrated and lose motivation to work.
- Block scheduling has isolated the children because of lack of opportunities for them to interact with one another. There are limited opportunities for students to socialize because they spend less time in the hallways.
- With block scheduling there is concern that the students are not being challenged enough in their classes, and this calls into question whether block scheduling provides "tougher" courses.
[edit] Critics and their rationale
Retention is the amount of learning that takes place without students losing the knowledge they have learned or forgetting it over time. When following an A/B block schedule, students may forget information between the days off.
On a 4x4 model, students meet everyday for a semester, but might not be tested on a state or district test until the end of the following semester. Especially with testing being tied with No Child Left Behind. Students might forget some information during the off semester. To overcome this problem, teachers need to change the way they present material and to team teach using strategies and curriculum to help students better retain information. Administrators need to help train or find workshops in order to train teachers to make better lesson plans under a block schedule for the retention of knowledge. In addition, for more training for teachers, administrators need to support and schedule a common prep time for teachers to get together for planning.
Within the classroom, teachers need to plan for a longer class period. A student’s attention span tends to be about 20 minutes on any one particular topic or activity. Teachers need to plan different activities during the class period to keep students actively engaged and involved with the lesson. Regular educators especially need to communicate and plan lessons with special educators in order to make lessons accommodate the needs of all students in the classroom. Students with ADHD, poor organizational skills, and memory problems require lessons tailored to their needs to keep them actively occupied with the lesson. Regular educators and special educators as well need to communicate often about a student’s needs with the intention of facilitating the student with additional time, practice, help, and organization during the student’s resource class. Administrators need to schedule a common prep time for both the regular and special educators, which will help make team teaching more successful.
Absenteeism is an outside classroom behavior that has an impact on any school schedule. Nevertheless, absenteeism is a larger problem for students on a block schedule due to the fact that if a student misses one day, it would be the equivalent of missing two days. Students with medical problems or truancy problems would miss a great deal more instruction time with a block schedule. Teachers and administrators need to communicate often with students and parents to keep them informed. Communication is the key in this situation and would aid the student by enabling him/her to catch up with missed lessons and work.
Foreign languages would also we greatly affected. Foreign language teachers need a whole year to teach a language because retention is very difficult in learning a new lesson. Some languages are very difficult and students need time to practice speaking and learning with one another. Can one imagine learning German 1 and German 2 all in one year?!
Overall, block scheduling in the A/B method can work very well, but there is one major drawback that relates to proper planning. The school schedule of days off, half days, and special events in the afternoon such as field trips or plays can cause an imbalance in the schedule, especially if a teacher is teaching the same grade but in two different sections on opposite days. For example, if a teacher taught 6A English on Thursday afternoon and 6B English on Friday afternoon, but Friday was a half day, that class would be behind the other. Since the block schedule makes that period 90 minutes, it's like being two days behind. If the days off or half days fall on days when 6B has English, then that class will not make it to the same place that 6A is unless the teacher cuts some lessons down. This is difficult to plan for with the A/B schedule because every other week, the schedule changes, so it's not just Fridays every week that 6B has that class, it's every other Friday. This takes careful planning by the administration if they happen to be in charge of yearly scheduling as well. Sometimes, it's impossible to plan for when there are holidays.
[edit] Alternative explanations due to Diversity or Other considerations
According to the article, "Going on the Block," (Santos & Rettig, 1999) scheduling was harder for students in self-contained classes. Students whose needs cannot be met in the regular education or inclusion classes, need to be placed into self-contained class. However, these classes can only be offered on a limited basis due to block scheduling, which causes restrictions on the number of classes and on which period they can occur. For example, if self-contained History and English classes were offered third period only and the student needed both classes to graduate, the student would only have the option of taking one class or the other. This would obviously cause scheduling nightmares for guidance counselors, special education teachers, and students. This challenge could have been easily avoided with team planning by administrators, guidance councilors, and special education teachers.
Block scheduling may also create hardships for the highest achieving students. Advanced Placement (AP) courses are typically not designed to operate on a block schedule, especially one that would have students finishing their AP course in one semester. A study of block scheduling with high school math instruction (Kramer, 1996), found that students who took the AP course first semester were rusty by the time of the exam in May, and those who took it second semester were not able to cover enough material. The study also reported evidence of schools having to adjust their block schedule to accommodate AP programs. Some held AP courses in the fall semester and offered an AP seminar in the spring to prepare for the exam, while others offered block-length AP classes all year.
A change from a traditional schedule to a block schedule must be thoroughly planned on a four-year basis and not a year-by-year basis. The needs of the students must not be passed over in a hurried attempt to quickly change to a block schedule for its proposed promises. Classes need to be well timed for students with disabilities to graduate on time and with their peers.
In his review of pertinent research literature on block scheduling, David E. Gullatt proposed some important considerations for school administrators who are contemplating a change in schedule format (Gullatt, 2006). His suggestions include:
- Determine the reason for a change in schedule (i.e. improve GPA, decrease dropout, provide more electives, etc.). The reason for a change may affect the procedure utilized.
- Gather input from the affected faculty. Let them help plan the process, and establish that the majority of the faculty wishes to adopt alternative scheduling.
- Provide targeted professional development for faculty involved in the transition.
- Educate students who will be affected by the change.
- Reflect and plan often as the change in schedule is implemented.
- Revert back to the traditional schedule if the results do not measure up to the expectation.
[edit] Signed life experiences, testimonies and stories
Block Scheduling was the best move throughout my high school years. During my sophomore year, we changed from 8 blocks a day to block scheduling. I can see how it may not work with certain subjects. I did not like it for math because it became very difficult to do all the homework and have the class every day since it was 90 minutes long. It was a wonderful schedule for art because it allowed for us to really spend time on our artwork and not have to worry about the warm up/clean up time that usually takes up 10-15 minutes of the period.I can see block scheduling being a problem with certain classes especially now with NCLB and making sure students retain what they are learning in math for testing. C MCulley
Math can be effectively taught on a block schedule. As a middle and high school student, I attended classes in the 4x4 block system. During this experience, it was only the math and science teachers that were able to fill a 90 minute period with meaningful material and activities. Math teachers were able to activate prior knowledge with review excercises, introduce new material, and allow guided practice for students all in the same class period. The long, uninterrupted period also allowed for lab activities, brining subject matter to life. The only conflict I see between math (or any cummulative subject such as foreign language) and block scheduling is that there is often a problem with taking a semester or even two off before returning the next year to the subject. -Rebecca Hix Foley
I had block scheduling when I student taught. The year after I left the school went back to a more traditional schedule because it cost too much. For the last three years I have been in a more traditional 8 hour day except that we have Literacy blocked. I see positives to both ways of teaching. Our high school has full block scheduling and there is talk that our junior high school may be switching to full block. I think that for some classes it can be very beneficial. Our literacy teachers all really like having blocked class. It gives them time to teach both reading and composition. I feel the problem with block scheduling is with math. It will be really hard for math teachers to teach more than one concept in a day. Some schools have blocked schedules, but do not block math so the teachers can have the students everyday. I feel that this is a very good format. B. Moore
One school that had a great twist on arts and block scheduling is Saline School District, Saline, MI. This school has grade level centers and each school is on a modified block schedule. Band, Orchestra, Chorus and Arts electives are placed opposite of lunch every day. So there are two 5th grade bands, two 6th grade bands, two 7th grade bands, and two 8th grade bands. The amazing thing is that students have to take either music or art and thus the enrollment in music and art classes is near 100% of the school. Because of the huge enrollment, there is the need for 4 band directors, who team teach at each of the different grade levels. Not a bad approach to music in the block scheduling. - W.Rank
I wonder how much time of a 75 minute period is spent ineffectively for many teachers. I attended a school that did not use the semester system and have taught in one that does. I notice that in schools that use a block schedule many teachers who do not know how to plan properly for a long period end up with unmotivated and bored students. I also wonder if block scheduling and having fewer courses can affect knowledge transfer from one subject to another.-G. Vigneron
My high school special education colleagues do not care for the block eight style for their students. It can be very difficult for students who need a great deal of consistency to use a schedule like this. It creates confusion and discomfort. For the slightly higher functioning students, they have trouble remembering what they have learned every other day and what to take with them each day. This has been my only experience with block 8 and perhaps a fear if I would be transferred to the high school. Block 8 doesn't work for all students. - V.C.
I had 8 Block scheduling when I was in junior high and high school and I loved it. I only had to worry about homework for 4 subjects each night and if I had an FFA event to attend, I knew I had an extra night to get that homework done. As far as being absent and keeping caught up, I did not find that to be a problem. I was the National Youth Delegate of Farm Safety 4 Just Kids my senior year of high school and I would miss a week of classes at a time to attend safety conferences all across the U.S. and give presentations on behalf of FS4JK. I kept a planner to keep track of when I would be gone and I always let my teachers know in advance and they were willing to work with me, whether I was turning homework in early or late. However, I had my eyes opened last spring when I student taught. I taught at a school with a traditional period, where I taught 6 classes every day and had a prep hour. I felt like I was in constant chaos, as soon as the students were in and ready to start, it was practically time to leave. Since I teach agriculture, it made having a lab session nearly impossible. I would much rather be on an 8 Block schedule, both as a student and as a teacher! ~Linda
I have taught one year of history in regular schedule and one year in the block (90 minutes) and I far prefer the block for my own reasons but most especially for the students. In 40-45 minute periods, there is so much time spent with procedural issues such as settling down and collecting homework. In block scheduling, there is less time transitioning and less times homework is assigned. This makes the time in class more productive and in the end, students don't have to overload with 6-8 subjects in homework every night. Additionally, block scheduling helps the content to flow much easier. I can start on a concept, thoroughly address it, and not worry so much about being cut right out of it. However, it is critical that a teacher breaks up the class into about 20-25 minute segments of varied activities (including some audio or video primary sources). Usually I spend 20-25 minutes lecturing, 30 minutes in activity, and the rest in group work, debate, or product creation. In this way, it is broken up more. All the segments are related and in the end, the subject is thoroughly addressed. -L. Keener
I have taught on a block schedule for the past ten years. Ours is the traditional 8 block so classes meet every other day. When we first switched over I didn't like it very well over the last ten years though I have adapted to it. I teach American History so I do not get all the advantages that the science and shop teachers get from the block schedule. The 82 minute periods are certainly long. It can be hard for the lower level students and students with short attention spans. One of the things I have found is that you must be much better organized in the block then in a traditional schedule. The block will definitely make struggling or poor teachers worse. I have also found it can be difficult to cover the needed amount of material. You can cover much more material in a traditional schedule. One of the big advantages in social studies is certainly if you show a video or do a project you have a longer class period to finish it. The 82 minute planning period each day is also nice. I have also found that it is a difficult system to sub in it is hard to come up with a full 82 minute period to keep students busy for a sub. It is also hard when we have long weekends or if students are gone. You can sometimes go almost a week without having class or seeing absent students. Our administration likes the fewer passing periods and no study halls. It certainly helps with discipline as students are in the halls less. Craig Johnson
If you want to kill your music program within a couple of years, go to the block schedule. If you want to save a program from the block schedule go to this site Block schedules and Music Programs - Brandon Correa
I disagree about killing music programs with block scheduling. My school has block scheduling and I get 90 minutes a day of band. Our choirs get 90 minutes a day of rehersale too. There are no other high schools in our area that get 7 and a half hours of music practice a week. Our show choir has just won a national championship and I would say a big contribution to that has been our block scheduling. -V.G.
I currently teach physical education in a 8 block system. One advantage of this system is that the students actually have a chance to warm-up, play an activity, and have time to take a good shower at the end of class. We also utilize text books as part of the class to have students learn about what we are trying to teach them. After using the text book during a period we still have time for physical participation. I believe the 8 block system is good for physical education. -
My high school was on a modified 4x4 block, where we only had 4 classes a day with a resource period where students could visit teachers and the like every week. Personally I enjoyed having a block schedule for my music classes. I had band rehearsal every day for 90 minutes. Coming from a middle school that was a normal schedule I loved having a much longer band rehearsal period, it felt like more was accomplished when the whole band could sit down and practice together for extended periods of time. As far as the rest of my classes were concerned, classes like math could become boring rather quickly, but the 90 minute periods allowed science classes to explore more in depth labs that would otherwise be unavailable in a normal schedule. I liked my block schedule school, it was a very unique experience with a schedule that CAN work if implemented properly. Matt Munley
I am a choral director who teaches on an alternating day block schedule. According to the available research on block scheduling the students are achieving greater heights and being allowed to accomplish more in the regular education classrooms. It is the position of many music educators though that the longer period, but lack of repetitive practice for students is detrimental to the music programs that function on block scheduling. I, on the other hand, have only ever known block scheduling as a choral director and have found many positives of this type of scheduling for the music program. I also believe that the way the schedule is set up can be the beginning or the end of any co-curricular class. --Chris Royer--
I, as a band and choir director at the high school level have mixed feelings for the Block Schedule. I currently also teach in an alternating A-B school. For the marching band it seems to be very helpful to be able to use the full 80-90 minutes to get the equipment outside, begin rehearsal and have a full rehearsal. On the other hand the repetition that Chris brings up is key for the younger students who have not learned good practice habits. I grew up in a 9 period school where we still had rehearsal outside and brought everything outside and back inside in that small amount of time. It was just something we did. To me, it worked better because of the repeated daily rehearsals than what I see at my school and neighboring districts. For the choral ensembles, it the shorter amount of time is nice also for the sake of singing. Yes we do other activities, music theory, history and other topics, but since I require my students to memorize the music, many do not take the music home, and therefore it takes twice as long to memorize when you do not sing everyday. As I said before, it is mixed feelings for this because of what I said at the before. -Jeremiah Kramper-
As a science teacher I loved block scheduling because we were able to do pre-lab activities, the lab, post-lab activities all in one day. The downside is that if you don't have plans for the entire time the students get a bit restless. With block scheduling the teacher has to keep the students engaged in learning for longer periods of time. This could be challenging at times. --Valerie Munds
I taught on block scheduling where the students changed classes the latter part of the school year. As a music educator it had its pros and cons. The pros were that you had a longer period of a day to work with kids. The con, for me, is the retention of the students for the day. Also retention when it came to having practice when they were not obligated, via a grade, to the class.......C. Graham
Block scheduling is a great tool for a small school (around 200 high school students). It gives a teacher a great deal of time with each student individually while a concept is being reinforced. I was taught under this concept and enjoyed the variation of my schedule from day to day. Nick Chatterton
I also teach in the A/B Block schedule and I greatly dislike it. We have block at the middle and high school levels in my small district so I spend A days at one school and B days at another school. It is okay at the high school level where most of my students are mature enough to stay focused for as long as I need them to. I do get worried about possibly strained voices in choir, but I can work around that most of the time. The worst part of the situation for me is that the administration felt that the middle schoolers all needed to have a study hall even though block scheduling is supposed to be without study halls. Therefore, the students get 1/2 period for a study hall. That is the period that band meets which gives me 1/2 period of band every other day. That tells me that the value of music education in this district is not very high and it is frustrating because block scheduling is taking away time from my classes at this level. My attitude will be more positive if and when I can convince administrators that music should not be slighted for study hall. - Missy Legutki
I spoke with a high school chemistry teacher who changed to a school with block scheduling after teaching 30 years with regular scheduling. He did not like the block schedule at all. All of the labs in his curriculum were based on 50 minute intervals. He felt the extra time was wasted. He also said he did not get through as much of the material because classes didn't meet every day. -- Debbie Unewitz
My high school had a very weird form of scheduling that allowed science classes to have double or triple periods but not other subjects. We had 6 schedule days, but still only attended school 5 days a week. The days were labeled a - e, with the 6th day being called an "ex" day. Days a, b, c, all classes met for one period. D days and E days were double period days; most classes still met one hour these days (math, english, foreign language)some classes did not meet on one of these, such as social studies, music and pe, and the extra hours were used as double, or even triple periods for the science classes. On the ex day no classes were in session, but students could use these days to catch up on homework (of which there was plenty!), see professors for extra help and conduct research and experiments. It made the schedule very confusing, but it was one solution. I share this not because I think it would be good for everyone, but because it was one way of being creative with the schedule, and I think it's important for teachers and administrators to be ready to think creatively about scheduling. -- Emily Cox
Raised in a military home, I had the opportunity to attend many different schools with traditional, 4x4 (also known as Block 4), and Block 8 scheduling. One difficulty that I experienced was being able to transfer mid-year from traditional scheduling to Block 4. At the beginning of the school year, I was enrolled in 7 courses in the traditional schedule. When I transferred mid-year, I was only able to take 4, because the school that I moved to was on Block 4. I was not able to complete the other three courses. This seemed to be a guidance counselor nightmare.
Teaching in a Block 8 seemed to have many advantages. One obvious advantage was extra preparation time for teachers and a reduced load of students. The more time a teacher has to prepare, the more likely the teacher will be to run high quality lessons. I did not notice a reduction in the amount of misbehavior between classes. Often administrators, teachers, and students feel that passing periods should be longer since students are required to sit for so long on the block schedule. I think that it would be better to have more, shorter passing periods than a couple of long ones. I did enjoy teaching and being a student in the block 8 schedule the best. It seemed as if the block 8 schedule does not have incompatibilities with transfer students, and it allows for more in-class time and all of the benefits of having extended periods, especially in science education. --Mindy Waters
I learned how to teach math using Block 4 (4 classes for 90 minutes.) It made me value being prepared and having enough activities to keep students occupied and engaged for an hour and a half. I now teach in a regular schedule with 47 minute classes and I feel I was a better teacher using the block. - Brad Frey
In my high school block scheduling was offered to certain students. My freshman year, I was in a block that included three classes, biology, world history, and English. Some days we went to all three classes and some we had one class for three hours. One thing that I really liked about the block schedule was that all the same people were in all three classes with you. It allowed us all to bond and get to know each other. It helped me because I was more comfortable speaking and participating when I was with a group of people I was comfortable with. –J. Brewczynski
Although my school does not utilize the A/B block scheduling model, we do have block scheduling; however, it is only for the language arts classes. I teach language arts at the middle school level and normal class periods are 40 minutes long. With the language arts classes, it is a block of 80 minutes (two back-to-back class periods). This occurs on an everyday basis throughout the school year. This schedule has been in effect since I began teaching at the school three years ago. As a result of the block-scheduled language arts classes, our students' reading scores on the ISAT (Illinois Standards Achievement Test) have gone up. The school district is thinking about making the math classes block-scheduled as well beginning next year since our math scores on the ISAT need to improve. I believe block scheduling is a fantastic concept as there is so much time to work with the students and do more involved activities. Half of my school year is spent teaching Spanish and it's a 40 minute class period. The time goes by way too fast and so many times I wished Spanish was in a block of time as well. ~Kristy Kleckauskas
Like Kristy above, our school only utilizes the block schedule in the language arts classes. I think it has its positives and negatives. I can see where a science teacher can use the entire 90 minutes for a lesson and then a lab to follow or to allow students to ask questions about the lesson or the assignment. However, I also know many teachers who have taught in the block schedule who lecture for the entire class period which becomes very tedious for the students. I think that there definitely has to be some time set aside for questions and to also allow them to work on their assignments. It is definitely something that if used right can be beneficial to both the student and teacher. Nick Hartz
I have taught in a block 8 for the past two years and I really like it. I am sure there are some subject matters that it does not work with, but for Math and PE it is ideal. It give the math student time to do their work in class so they don’t have to take as much home. If their math goes home, many parents are not capable of helping their children. This gives time to ask the teacher if they are struggling. We have a homeroom in the morning so the student s can come see the teachers if they have any additional questions. The only problem seems to be if you are absent for one day, it is like missing two days. – Dale Donner
I am a band director with a 4x4 block in Georgia. In my limited experiences, block scheduling CAN work, but the MOST IMPORTANT aspect that will make block scheduling successful is having a scheduler and an administration who are willing to compromise and work with the conflicts which arise. Without a compassionate scheduler, you'll have a rough time of it. --David Roth
I am in agreement with my fellow music educators above in believing that block schedule can cause some difficulties in maintaining a quality music program (and I'm going to guess other co-curricular programs). While I love block schedule during marching season because it gives us plenty of time to march down to the football field (about four blocks away from the school), practice, and get back in time for the bell I find the inconvenience of not seeing my students every day taxing. Especially when performance time comes up and there are last minute information the students need to know it's difficult to get the needed information to them if it is not their day for class. Of course, as already mentioned above there is the impact of not rehearsing daily on musical retention as well. -- Christy Cyrus
I taught secondary mathematics in a four period block schedule. I think that this schedule was extremely beneficial to both the student and the teachers. Students appreciated the fact that their school day was divided into a manageable number subjects. Teachers liked the schedule because it have them ample opportunity to conduct extended classroom activities, to more frequently assess student knowledge, and to utilize other teaching strategies that are often impossible or inappropriate in a six or seven period day. In my classroom specifically, I used these extended teaching periods to present new mathematics material using a broad range of teaching techniques to accommodate a broad range of learning styles and preferences.
While I am an elementary school teacher in a self-contained classroom, I am certainly interested in what is said about different types of scheduling. I came across this website that is adamantly opposed to block schedules, it is called The Case Against Block Scheduling[1]. ~S. Ward
I can not speak as a teacher, but as a student I loved block scheduling. At first it was something to get used to because the classes that you were in seemed so long. After while the teachers started to come up with different ways to keep the class active for the whole time. We were able to do more group work, like big projects that were do at the end of the semester. I thought this worked out great. Another reason, with this block schedule as student were allowed to night during the week to get your homework done because your class wasn't going to meet until the day after next. For myself, block scheduling worked for well and even helped me become a better student. J. Simmons
I have been involved as a student and a teacher in both settings, block schedules and no block schedule. When I was in high school we did not follow a block schedule. This was about 10 years ago. We had 7 class periods and we met for 50 - 55 min. everyday for a whole year. I think it worked fine. Now as a teacher I teach in a block schedule. We have MWF classes and TTH classes. I like it a lot. I think for most students meeting every other day is fine. They have the ability to retain the knowledge even though it has been a couple of days since they were in class last. However there are some that need to be in class everyday to get through the class. I teach math so I see this a lot. We do offer some classes especially developmental that meet for an hour everyday. For students who need this it works wonders. If I had to choose which way I prefer, I would have to go with the block schedule.--M. Smith
My school uses a modified block schedule. All electives and Juniors and Seniors are on block schedules. Freshman and Sophomores have core classes for 45 minutes in Social Studies, Language Arts, and some math classes. As an art educator, I prefer a block schedule to regular 45 minute periods. Ninety minutes allows us more time for studio work and students have time to settle into their work and ideas. I find that creating a transition halfway through class also helps with engagement. As far as concerns about test scores with block schedules, my school has moved from Average to High on our School Accountability Report since the implementation of our Block schedule. --J. Delaney
My high school, Lockport Township High School, switched from a two campus system to a 10-12 High School and a "Freshmen Center" in 1997. The freshmen center uses block scheduling with the middle school model of 'teams' or 'houses.' Teachers, students, and administrators love the system and when a referendum to split the district into two 4 year campuses, the elimination of the freshmen center was one of the number one reasons it did not pass. Jakob
My high school use the A/B block scheduling and I loved it! Initially I thought I would dread it, but it allowed me to be much more involved in extra curricular activities. It also allowed me to work in a Kindergarten classroom two-three days a week at a local elementary school. This truly helped me discover my first passion...teaching. M Hafenrichter
I taught one year of block schedule in a small town high school. Unfortunately, I was not well-equipped for this position. I had little experience with this type of scheduling and was not prepared for the change in schedule that I was used to. Although it took a little time, I eventually figured out a process that worked somewhat, but I never felt that I mastered the ability to teach two math lessons in one period and that the students would remember that information until the next lesson 2 days later. I also found that block scheduling worked well with some of my upper level classes, where extra work time was helpful to the students, but I never felt comfortable pushing two lessons at a time onto my lower achieving students. They struggle as is and trying to learn two new things in one day was even more difficult. M Foshee
The middle school I teach in started block scheduling last year ('06-'07). We did this because we were not meeting AYP in math. We based our entire schedule around our math department. We have 4 blocks of 84 minutes. The school overall was pretty intimidated by the block scheduling. How are we going to fill all of that time? How will we ever keep the attention of our students for that long? Why is it ok for Math to have more class time than LA, Science, and Social Studies? These are the questions that were immediately asked when we were told that we were going to block scheduling. I was so excited about it. I would not be teaching Math, LA, and Lit. anymore. I would become a full time math teachers. I couldn't wait. I was not intimidated by any of the concerns that other people were freaking out about. Thus far, it has been very beneficial. Our ISAT scores have increased in all areas. Teachers have not seemed to have had difficulty filling the time and the students do not seem to have difficulty staying in the same classroom. We have an amazing staff, so the key to our success has been that our staff is very good at keeping the students engaged for all 84 minutes. This is so important because in order to get the students to learn to the best of their ability, we have to keep the mind exercised. The students have to get up a few times throughout that long block period in order to have a chance at staying focused. One of the greatest aspects of this block scheduling is that the entire math department teams together during 2nd block. We collaborate and learn from each other in order to be the best teachers that we can be. It has proven to be a huge success. Next, the blocks will be restructured so the other core contents will be able to do the same thing. We had to do this because it was the most logical option that we were given in the restructuring process from the state. That is a whole other story. The other core teachers are nervous about this because due to the restructuring, we are losing our 6th grade hallway and all of our 6th grade teachers will teach two grades instead of one grade. In fact, all teachers will teach at least two grades. This didn't affect math because we already teach all three grades, but the other teachers are quite hesitant. However, when we look at our other options, there really just isn't much there to think about. It pretty much seems like a given decision. ~ R. Hayes
[edit] References and other links of interest
Santos, K., & Rettig, M. (1999). Going on the block: meeting the needs of students with disabilities in high schools with block scheduling. The Council for Exceptional Children, 31(3), 54-59.
Shortt, T., & Thayer, Y. (2000). The principal factor in block schedule success. The High School Magazine, 7(9), 10-15.
Thomas, C. (2001). What is wrong with block scheduling? NASSP Bulletin, 85(628), 74-77.
Rettig, M. & Canady, L. (2001). Block scheduling: more benefits than challenges. Response to Thomas (2001). NASSP Bulletin, 85(628), 79-85.
Weller, D., & McLeskey, J. (2000). Block scheduling and inclusion in a high school. Remedial and Special Education, 21(4), 209-218.
Evans, W., Tokarczyk, J., Rice S., & McCray A. (2002). Block scheduling: An evaluation of outcomes and impact. The Clearing House, 75(6), 319-323.
Kramer, S.L. (1996). Block scheduling and high school mathematics instruction. Mathematics Teacher, 89(9), 758-768.
Gullatt, D.E. (2006). Block scheduling: The effects on curriculum and student productivity. NASSP Bulletin, 90(3), 250-266.
Other Links
Mundelein High School Link to a Chicago area high school that uses a Block Schedule.
University of Minnesota Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. CAREI Project on Block Scheduling
Queen, J.A. (2000). Block Scheduling Revisited. Phi Delta Kappan. online.
Education World, School Administrators Article. Block Scheduling: A Solution or a Problem?
The National Association for Music Education. Scheduling Resources
Mathematics Education @ mathforum.org. Alternative or Block Scheduling
Lindsay, J. (2006). The Case Against Block Scheduling
Colorado College uses a unique block plan
