<p>The 4x4 block schedule (courses are one semester only) in high school is educational malpractice, especially in regard to math, foreign language and all AP courses, unless they are two semesters in succession. </p>
<p>The alternating AB Block is better, but not really very good. Certain projects and science labs might benefit from the longer (90 minutes?) sessions, but a lot of time is wasted on many days. I suspect there is something about teacher prep time and course load that drives this fad.</p>
<p>One the other hand, a 7-"hour" day could use a change of pace occassionally, such as an occasional AB pair of double hours.</p>
<p>At my school we have maroon days and gold days. I love block scheduling--we have blocks 1-4 on maroon days and blocks 5-8 on gold. If you have a year long class you will have it every other day for the entire year, so AP's, foreign language, math, and english are no problem. I feel that the greatest thing about the type of block scheduling at my school is the extra time for homework. I love having 2 nights to get things done, because we all know how busy school, work, extra curriculars....etc.. can be. I also like having more time in classes like calculus, and economics to ask questions and take tests without being rushed. I know if I had 8 classes everyday I would be much more stressed than I already am. Also, our system seems much more efficient than some of the local schools that are on trimesters. Some students are taking AP's when they haven't been in the class for over 10 weeks.</p>