<p>My school would like to consider changing to a Block or modified schedule.</p>
<p>Could some please tell me if your school has either of these types of schedules and how academically you feel it has affected the students. Good or Bad.</p>
<p>Block is superior in my opinion because the kids don’t switch as often thru the day, longer focused teaching blocks, and homework that is staggered which allows for some free time if properly planned out.</p>
<p>My daughter enjoyed block scheduling for all four years of H.S. It allowed her to take all of the AP course she desired and kept her homework at a reasonable level. My son had block scheduling for the first three years but our district switched back to traditional scheduling this year for financial reasons - they felt they could get by with a few less teachers. The result for my son was a screwed up senior year schedule. He missed out on two AP classes due to scheduling conflicts with classes needed for graduation.</p>
<p>Academically, we’re fans of block scheduling.</p>
<p>My school has block scheduling and I like it. It’s closer to the college system where you take different classes every semester, and it’s fun to switch classes halfway through the year. Also, block scheduling makes it easy for students to advance if they’ve fallen behind (you can take a prerequisite class in the fall semester and the advanced class in the spring semester).</p>
<p>I like the block for the reasons mentioned above - more continuous time, and homework for few classes per day. Especially with respect to the arts and science labs (and similar), the extended periods are great. However, there are issues.</p>
<p>Our HS doesn’t have enough space in elective classes to accommodate everyone, so study halls tend to be “automatically” included in schedules. A study hall is now one quarter of the academic day, and in general my kids are not interested in having them (and I would prefer them not be wasting 80 minutes in a study hall). I have had to be pro-active to make sure that the GC understands we don’t want study hall; and usually with high-achieving kids they will accommodate that. An art class, or foods, or woodworking…whatever… is a much better use of time IMO, and many of these classes have no homework to speak of. But as I said, they don’t have enough spots for all of the kids, so they really push those study halls…</p>
<p>The other issue is that all teachers - and this is particularly true when the block schedule is new - do not use the 80 minutes effectively. Training can help; but frankly some never will be good at it when their entire career has been teaching 40 minute sessions. It takes a different strategy to effectively use those longer class periods.</p>
<p>How are you defining Block and Modified Block?</p>
<p>At some schools, Block Scheduling is when the students only take a class for a semester. </p>
<p>My kids have Modified Block and that seemed to work well. Each day was 4 classes…so each class was a double-period. They had A Days and B Days. On A Days, they had classes 1-4. On B Days, they had classes 5-8. MW were A Days. TTh were B Days. Fridays rotated. </p>
<p>On the first day of school, then had all 8 classes since that was just for handing out syllabi and discussing class rules and such.</p>
<p>The nice thing about having A days and B days is that a student has two days to do homework. So if one day is very busy, then he has the second day to finish.</p>
<p>We’ve done both, traditional and alternating block (4 classes A day, 4 classes B). I must say I’m a fan of the traditional seven periods a day over block.</p>
<p>Block class periods are too long. You’d be hard pressed to find research indicating mid-teens can stay focused for the 90 minute block periods. </p>
<p>Sure, every class meets every day for the traditional schedule, but they cover less material. The nightly amount of homework has really stayed the same. There are fewer classes to prepare for each night in block, but one should be preparing twice as much. So that’s a wash. </p>
<p>Block can be nice for labs, but do students do labs every day in every class? No. And in college, a lab period is probably going to be longer than 90 minutes anyway.</p>
<p>For my district, one possible advantage to block was that now there are 8 periods for classes instead of seven. That’s also the disadvantage. Kids who jump on the hamster wheel can now run faster because they can take more classes. </p>
<p>Finally, what we found is that the district is going to do what they’re going to do, in spite of any parental input. The district said we WERE going to change, come up with a plan. Our high school teachers put together a great plan, with 3 days a week of traditional and 2 days of block. It was must more similar to a college schedule of 3 classes + a longer lab period on a 4th day. Parents supported it. After the invitation to come up with a plan and all the work that went into it, the district implemented what they were always going to.</p>
<p>My DD’s school started straight block a few years ago and has evolved into a modified block schedule. Block is good for academically rigorous classes, not so great for electives and required classes. Ninety minutes of health or PE is just too much.</p>
<p>The other issue with block is that students can conceivably go one year without math which is problematic for standardized testing. A student can have math first semester of sophomore year and it is possible not to have math again until second semester of junior year.</p>
<p>Our school now has block and “skinnys” (half block both semesters). Kids often have holes in their schedule which means they go to the library and take an online class. For some reason, we don’t have study halls. Math and APs have turned into skinnys as the material was going too fast for many students. DD says per precalc skinny doesn’t leave much time for the teacher to explain things. Frankly, it’s a mess and I don’t know how the registrar keeps her sanity.</p>
<p>DD’s independent school has block scheduling (75 or 80 minute classes) with Letter days A-H assigned. On days A,C,E & G 4 classes meet; on days B,B,F & H the other 4 classes meet (or study hall, lunch etc.). The school also alternates on the letter day what time a class will meet: Math isn’t always at the same time; on two days it will meet in the morning, afternoons the other two days. Some students are better AM students others PM, so this evens things out. </p>
<p>School day is from 8AM-3 PMwith 20 minutes set aside about 9:30 in the morning every morning for students to see faculty if they have questions on schoolwork, need extra help etc. Meeting every other day gives a student 2 days to work on assignments, which does help, especially with the workload and college apps required of upperclass students. </p>
<p>The school administration studied various options for some time before settling on this model. Both the students and faculty seem to prefer it.</p>
<p>D’s school does blocks differently than I see here-there are four classes a day and the only ones that change are electives. The core classes are the same all week long all year long. It’s also a project-based school, so often a project will involve 2 or more subjects so the blocks don’t really mean anything. There are also no AP classes, but if a student wants to take one at a comprehensive HS in the district, or a class at the community college nearby, that’s worked out. </p>
<p>This is a public school that is very small and where each kids gets all the support needed to go as far as they can go in whatever way they need to. I can’t imagine going back to a traditional school.</p>
<p>I think block schedule with 3 or 4 classes each semester is good for a school that have students stronger than the average. Some weaker students cannot absorb the materials in shorter time and struggle with block schedule. Block schedule in my area is good in general. Students who don’t do well have the option to switch to regular schedule schools in the same district. The only bad thing with block schedule in my district is the school has to align with the district schedule for regular schools from August to mid June. Teachers have adjust teaching materials for AP classes so that students can take AP exams in early May.</p>
<p>A few years ago the local hs switched to something they called block/rotate. All classes are for the full year (except certain electives like health, arts, etc. which are half-year). You have 8 classes but you only go to 6 of them any given day. There are 4 morning classes (which you have three on any given day) and then the same for 4 afternoon classes. You end up with 4 types of days (day 1,2,3,4). So the periods are longer (allowing for labs when combined with lunch). The upside was not having every subject every day made it better to manage homework and studying (once every 4 days you did not have math homework).</p>
<p>We have a standard A/B block schedule. Four 90 minute blocks per day, alternating days, so 8 different blocks in all. A short separate lunch period meets before, during, or after second block. Pros: 1. I think it’s good for kids not to have every class every day. It helps them to schedule and complete homework. 2. Having the opportunity to take 8 classes is great for the kids. It’s sad to see kids who hardly get any electives in high school. We have generally strong elective programs because the kids have room in their schedules to take their classes. Kids also have the option to take a study hall if they are concerned about the workload of 8 classes. A few remedial core classes are double blocked (meet on both A and B days), so those kids are getting 90 minutes of instruction every single day, all year long. Some language and math classes are also offered double blocked for those who want to cover 2 years of material in a single year. Our high school tried the semester block system once and it was hated by everyone–students, teachers, and parents alike. Our middle school system used it for years and every teacher there hated it also.
Con: Both my kids think 90 minutes is too long for a class. Many adults at a professional conference would find it pretty wearing to sit through 4 back to back 90 minute talks with great attention, so I think it’s a bad idea for the kids, except it is helpful for the lab sciences, but there are other ways to address this. This is especially true of PE and health. PE is a huge waste of time and health is just agonizing. Also, my kids would like even more electives. Also, first lunch is an hour and 40 minutes after classes start for some kids.</p>
<p>I’d probably prefer a schedule like my own high school had, with 50 minute classes that meet 4 days a week, every day different. The A B block schedule isn’t too bad overall, but I’d really like to see some half year electives or split-block 42 minute electives because it is very limiting for scheduling classes that may not require the same time as an academic core class. </p>
<p>I’d urge you to stay away from semester-based blocks–there are just too many issues with kids forgetting things when they have a 9 month gap between sequential classes, athletes not having opportunity to manage time and complete homework because it’s always due tomorrow, schedule of performing arts classes not matching up with adjudications, AP class schedules wrong for AP exams, etc.</p>
<p>Just to add one advantage of a plain block schedule. It makes it possible for kids to attend more than one school or program. Rotating schedules make that nearly impossible. We have a few middle school kids attending classes at the high school. We have a few high school students attending college classes on college campus. My kids have done both of these things and it would not have been possible if the high school schedule were more complicated. Having a schedule that doesn’t rotate around with a class meeting first period one day and fifth period the next makes these things possible. We also have a lot of high schoolers attending career education classes offsite–they spend half a day in high school and half a day taking their career classes–cosmetology, car repair, electrician, whatever.</p>
<p>We have a modified block schedule and it works beautiful. Two days per week, the students go to all 7 classes. The other days they have a block schedule. It is confusing at first, but they all catch on quickly. We had one of our kids go all the way through HS on a traditional schedule, one go 2 years on traditional and 2 years on modified block, and last kid will have all 4 years on the modified block schedule. All three kids say the modified block is the best. More time for labs, more flexibility for the teachers, easier for students to schedule their homework.</p>
<p>Our daughter was unhappy at a local private school and wanted to switch into public school and the block scheduling made it a nightmare! SHe couldn’t just switch in second semester because the public school didn’t know what to do with her traditional credits, since they didn’t line up. IT’s a mess when there are kids coming in from other schools (we have a lot of military in our area), it’s a mess for some types of cross-registration (with colleges, etc.) and it’s a mess when not all the schools in the area have the same schedules. </p>
<p>We also had an issue with kids finishing an AP in December and then having to restudy for AP exams in the spring with such a long lag in between finishing the course and taking the exam.</p>
<p>Momzie, not all block schedules are like that, but that one sounds like a mess! Our modified block isn’t a problem for kids transferring from private or non-block public schools. Our classes are all 2 semesters except for a few like health and some electives, and all of those are offered both semesters. I had not heard of schools where you might get your whole year of a course finished in one semester. That sounds like a scheduling nightmare and too long of gaps between math courses, etc. Our area is booming so we have lots of kids moving in, and also switching between schools in the same district. Only 2 of 12 high schools currently have block type schedules, but it works fine for transfer students.</p>
<p>Both the girls high schools had modified block.
Each class was 5 hrs a week, but one day a week, you would have a double block, and one day wouldn’t have that class.
It gave time for more intensive labs, field trips & speakers.</p>
<p>My kids HS has a modified block. Some classes (4 per day) are taught everyday for half a year and that counts as a total year. Some classes are taught on a rotating A-B schedule all year long. The schedule is both good and bad. Bad for math that lasts only one term (half year) yet good for those that need a remedial class in between math classes. English has been problematic for those kids who don’t like to read (and thus do none of it for up to 9 months) and foreign language( although if they start in 10th grade , then take it every term it seems to work out).</p>
<p>I don’t know that there is any perfect schedule. I’m interested in a 3x5. Wondering if any CC parents have any experience with it.</p>
<p>One benefit at our high school is that there is an extra slot for a class. Now kids can take two electives (which means they can take band/choir all 4 years, whereas before they could not)</p>
<p>I agree with all the pros and cons referenced above. Love 8 classes per year. Our school offers many interesting programs with ROP trade classes 4th period being a great option for many kids. </p>
<p>Hate Fall AP classes not being tested till May. Hate gap of up to a year between math, foreign language classes. </p>
<p>Absences can quickly overwhelm students as one year of material is covered in a semester. Sick? Go anyway or pay the consequences. Forget any travel opportunities. Count on homework every single weekend.</p>
<p>I do think it prepares serious students for the intensity of college classes- especially colleges on quarter schedule.</p>