<p>Exactly bluebayou, exactly.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>IMO, the real reason districts go to a Block is economics -- it can add a class (and 30 kids) to a teacher's schedule.</p>
<p>Florida study shows block students peform worse on state test.
<a href="http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2001news/blockschedule.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2001news/blockschedule.htm</a></p>
<p>and our Canadian friends.
<a href="http://www.jefflindsay.com/Block.shtml#sci%5B/url%5D">http://www.jefflindsay.com/Block.shtml#sci</a></p>
<p>My daughter's school does the 4x4 block and it seems to work in some classes and not so much in others. Going in, I thought foreign language would be problematic, but the longer instructional time seems to give more depth of understanding. Or maybe it's just the teacher, but she's thriving there. World History was a mess. The teacher seemed to lose focus half way through the fall semester and ended up throwing a different country and time period at them every day at the end. Teachers have to be extremely organized and focused to make it work. Some of our APs run the full year, some run 3/4 of the year with a related elective tacked on at the end. I don't know if it's an issue in college admissions that these classes represent two periods running the full year, when non-block kids take their AP classes in one period. In general, scheduling is quite problematic due to gym, art/music, and technology mandatories.</p>
<p>jlauer95, At our school if you took a double block class it just meant that you went to that class every day of the school year for 90 minutes versus every other day for 90 minutes on the A/B schedule. This means you only had 7 classes per year instead of 8 because the double blocked class took up 2 class periods (one on A day and one on B day).<br>
Also our A/B day schedule changes every week:</p>
<p>Week 1
A day-MWF
B day-T TH</p>
<p>Week 2
B day-MWF
A day- TTH</p>
<p>and so on back and forth thru the entire year...
We thought that was weird until we were hit with changing to 4x4. Now we may be beggin' for our old crazy schedule back again.</p>
<p>I hate the 4x4 block. It was implemented in our school to help the underachievers - so they could have time to retake required classes and try to eliminate summer school (summer school here is only for remedial purposes, you can't take classes to accelerate). So what happens? There are not enough quality electives for the high achieving kids. </p>
<p>When they switched to the 4x4 we were told the students would be able to take the foreign languages continually - no breaks. I had a friend whose daughter was supposed to take Spanish 3 in the fall - whoops! forgot to schedule it! OK, spring semester - no, we need that teacher to teach the students that failed Spanish! </p>
<p>OK - rant off. They tried the A/B schedule for one year. The teachers were crazy (6 classes of 30 students - 180 students to deal with all year), the students taking APs were overwhelmed, AP scores were terrible. The next year they switched to double blocking the AP classes. If like my daughter you take 4 APs, you take the same 4 classes for 90 minutes all day, every day. Scores came up last year. In order to take the AP classes this way, you really have to be organized before you get to high school and it helps to be advanced in some areas. You really don't have time to take anything for fun.</p>
<p>The irony here is that they switched to the schedule for the underachievers - at the school where they have the advanced academic magnet. They have forgotten the magnet students at every turn. The teachers and the parents have been together in opposing the block, it has been the administration pushing this all the way.</p>
<p>OK, I'm confused with the semantics.</p>
<p>See my post #11 -- it describes my kids' school's schedule which we call a "modified block". Do you guys call that kind of schedule something else?</p>
<p>Is a 4X4 schedule one that has 4 classes for one semester and then 4 different classes the next semester? </p>
<p>Or is it one that has 4 classes on one day and 4 different classes on another for a total of 8 classes that are taken all year long?</p>
<p>jlauer, the way our school does 4x4 is you take the same four classes every day for one semester. Then you take four different classes second semester, except in the case of the AP's which you take every day (90min/day) both semesters. They also double block freshman English and some freshman math. Also, if you want to take jazz band or chorus, they are on the block, so it will use up 1/4 of your class time if you take those. Regular band and orchestra are A period classes (they meet before school starts).</p>
<p>4x4 is 4 classes one semester and 4 different classes the next semester.</p>
<p>oops, sorry didn't hit the post button quick enough..didn't mean to say the same thing mstee just said!</p>
<p>mstee and Packmom: </p>
<p>That's what I thought.</p>
<p>Now.....
The A day / B day that others have mentioned...
Are they talking about a schedule like my kids' school (see post 11) or are they talking about something else? AND, what do they call that schedule. (We call ours a "modified block")</p>
<p>4 x 4 block is 4 classes are taken for 1 semester and then the next semester 4 NEW classes are taken. That would be why those taking spring AP classes only have 12 weeks of AP curriculm in a specific subject before the exams in early May, therefore resulting in the conflicts I stated in post #9.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>jlauer: </p>
<p>Semantics, definitely! Our school uses what they term a 'modified block' -- 4 classes one day, and 4 different classes the next day for all year; some schools also call it an alternating block, A/B block or even/odd block. Another neighboring school just calls their program a 'block' schedule - 4 classes each day for one semester every day, and 4 new classes the next semester every day.</p>
<p>Happy that son is on a non-block schedule! 7 classes, taught every day!</p>
<p>All our A days are M and W
All our B days are T and Th</p>
<p>Fridays switch from A to B each week (the school makes sure on Thursdays to reinforce to the kids whether the next day (Friday) will be an A or B day (plus its on the website).</p>
<p>Now, the schools which have ABABA and then BABAB the next week ...</p>
<p>is it confusing for the kids? do kids show up on Mondays with the wrong books? I think that our school just switches Fridays because they were afraid that kids would get confused.</p>
<p>i'm on this schedule right now. When we moved here(Nor. AZ) at the beginning of my junior year it was a bit of a shock.</p>
<p>I've had a hard time scheduling classes, (the AP program is still in a beginning phrase) for example I had to choose between AP Chem and AP Spanish because they were offered at the same time and only then. If your motivated enough to keep up on the old material, and study in April it isn't too bad. I have heard people complain about not having enough time to get material done second semester, but so far i'm doing okay. Do try to take your weak subjects second semester, so they will be fresh in your mind.</p>
<p>My kids' school has a 4X4 block system. For certain AP courses, two courses are paired and the A/B system is used. For other AP courses, a related companion course is paired with it. No one ever takes the AP test in May after having completed the course in December. This system of pairing with other AP courses or a related companion course prevents this from happening.</p>
<p>FYI: Here's another older CC thread which also covers the 4x4 block scheduling:</p>
<p>Re: AP classes, my d's former school made all Honors and AP classes 3 of the 4 blocks (filling in the last quarter with gym or computer or other small elective classes). AP classes then ended slightly before the AP exams. The timing was great, but it significantly limited the number of core courses you could fit into an "honors" schedule.</p>
<p>How's this for a schedule. They have tried to combine the best of all worlds.</p>
<p>M/T/F-7 periods (6 academic, 1-lunch/advisory), 55 mins each
W-double block of 3 classes-110 mins and lunch/advisory-55 mins
Th-double block of opposite 3 classes-110 mins and lunch/advisory-55 mins</p>
<p>This schedule is followed all year from late Aug. thru mid-June. Teachers use the double block days for labs and more involved lessons. </p>
<p>Advisory is a mandatory class of about 10 that meets for 1/2 the lunch period everyday with a faculty advisor who provides "academic and personal support and helps foster communication skills, team building, trust and self-esteem. The advisor is the primary contact person with parents, students and teachers." Some of the things they focus on are transition to HS, Div I Exhibition (roundtable presentation reflecting on the 1st 2 years of HS), post secondary plan, Senior Project and college app process. The advisor is not the kid's GC (separate position) and changes every year. The idea is that there will be one faculty member every year that really knows what is going on with your kid. The theory is good, but depending on the advisor, some years translate into practice better than others.</p>
<p>We have a similar schedule as my-3-sons. M/T/F, periods 1-6 + lunch, W - periods 1,3,5 for 105 minutes each+/-, TH - periods 2,4,6 for 105 minutes each. These are referred to as "Lab days". There are also "tutorials" after school on W & Th. The teachers are available in their rooms for 45 minutes after school for extra help, time to make up missed tests etc, and the tutorials are mandatory for anyone with a D or F in the class. (I don't know what you do if you are failing multiple classes.) It took some time to get used to it, but I love it. It provides a regularly scheduled block of time for labs and other lessons that may extend past the normal class period, but allows the curriculum to be taught over the entire year.</p>
<p>I had a four-period block in high school, with the year divided into four quarters. We had the same four classes every day, with classes changing each quarter. Most required classes, except some AP's, ran one semester. Here's how AP's worked:</p>
<p>Social studies AP's: Euro and APUSH ran 3 quarters (September up until spring break). Review sessions from then until the AP test. Econ is two quarters, one of macro and one of micro. (If you don't take econ AP, it's only one term.) Regular gov't is one term. When I was there, AP gov't (U.S.) was just one quarter, but now it's been changed to two.</p>
<p>Sciences: For a long time, we didn't have AP sciences, just a one-semester honors course. Shortly after I started, they started offering AP sciences (bio, chem, phys) as a one-semester follow-up to the honors course. I think you took honors first and second quarters, then AP third and fourth quarters. Now it's being changed so that there's no honors course, just a full-year AP. You're allowed to take only one semester, but it's discouraged (and you don't get grade weighting).</p>
<p>Math: AP calc (AB) is offered both semesters. I'm not sure how they do it spring semester, with it starting in late January. Formerly, a class called "Enriched Math Topics" was offered in the spring that covered a variety of topics; students who took it were generally prepared for Calc BC. Now it's more or less the same course (I think), but it's officially called "AP Calc 2".</p>
<p>Also: Band, choir, and orchestra meet for one period a day, all year. You had the option of taking only half a year, but in order to get into the top band or choir, you had to commit to the full year.</p>
<p>I really, really liked block scheduling. I think it allowed me to concentrate on each class a lot more. Compare it to my junior high schedule: 7 classes a day, two or three of which met on alternate days, so you'd have 9 or 10 classes to keep track of at any given time. And to confuse you more, they had A, B, C, and D days. C and D days had the same classes as A and B, but in the opposite order. Really annoying.</p>