Block Scheduling: Better or Worst for students

Here are some Advantages and Disadvantages. View and begin your decision making.

Although many experts say block schedules can take the pressure off the school day and improve student engagement, the transition can be demanding.

Whether you're brand-new to block scheduling or you've been doing it for years, these strategies will have you handling those 90 minutes like a boss.

May 11, 2004 | Volume 2 | Number 10

    The Effects of Block Scheduling on Teacher Perceptions and Student Performance

The merits of block scheduling are a subject of great debate. Is it a flexible scheduling alternative that benefits students -- or is it a fad that's sure to pass?

Block scheduling is a method of restructuring schools to give a student more time in each class during a day. Learn about the pros and cons.

If your student is telling you he only has four classes to study for, he may be telling the truth. Unlike traditional high school schedules with 6 or 7 periods a day, many high schools are using block scheduling. Block scheduling has taken America by storm in recent years. What, exactly, is block scheduling? And who really benefits from it: school districts, teachers, or students?

The educational world is abounding with reforms from changes such as block scheduling to vouchers and year round education. It seems like everyone has their own perception on how to ‘fix’ education. The truth of matter is that educators are actually doing a great job. However, with matters such as politicians and Columbine paling against what they deem ‘failing’ schools, it appears that the public education system is not receiving a fair hearing.

Block scheduling is a system of class scheduling typically used in middle schools and high schools. It replaces the tradition six to seven classes a day at 40-50 minutes each and does longer classes where teachers meet with students fewer times during the week.   There are three basic types of block scheduling. They are alternate...

This We Believe (NMSA, 1995) defines a developmentally responsive middle school as one in which the organizational structure is complementary to the students it serves. This structure encompasses team teaching and how team teachers use the time allotted them in regard to instructional parameters. The traditional departmentalized schedule is characterized by a fixed number of daily periods of uniform length, with delivery of instruction strictly adhering to departmental classifications (Hackmann and Valentine, 1998). Meehan (1973) indicated that uniform scheduling makes instructional experiences such as lab activities, field trips, and cooperative learning difficult. In contrast, flexible block scheduling permits the freedom to schedule what is important to a school community. There are many different kinds of block schedules. Two of the most common forms of block scheduling are the alternate day plan and the flexible block. These are the two forms of scheduling to be discussed during the research summary.

Block scheduling is the newest student scheduling innovation slated against the existing traditional schedule. Block scheduling, which reorganizes the school day into longer periods for in-depth learning, allows students to see groups of teachers on alternating days, according to research by the National Education ...

Voxitatis talked with Todd Minichiello, the coordinator of counseling for the high schools in the Rockwood R-VI School District near St Louis, Missouri. The district offers its high school students a true choice in scheduling: students can decide on an individual basis whether to take all their classes in traditional-length periods of about 49 minutes or to use a few of those class periods as an extended period with 74 minutes of instruction on two days a week.

Block scheduling refers to a type of academic scheduling that lets students have fewer classes in a day than the usual scheduling allows. Since there are fewer classes, each class lasts longer than normal; a 50-minute class, for example, can be extended to 90 minutes or so. There are a few kinds of block scheduling: the 4×4 semester plan, for example, allows students to take four 90-minute classes each quarter instead of six classes. The alternate day schedule, meanwhile, lets students meet with their teachers every other day with a longer classroom time, instead of having a shorter class every day.

The merits of block scheduling are a subject of great debate. Is it a flexible scheduling alternative that benefits students -- or is it a fad that's sure to pass?

Are you considering adding a flex block/activity period to your school schedule? If so, how can you make it work? The idea of adding an extra block to an already busy schedule might seem like it's going to be a lot of extra work for staff. But it really doesn't have to be. By making minor adjustments, many schools have successfully implemented a flexible block. There are so

November 1995 | Volume 53 | Number 3

        Productive Use of Time and Space

    Pages 24-27

In most public high schools in the Washington area, classes last as long as 90 minutes apiece and course lineups for each student alternate every day under the block-scheduling innovation that took root a decade ago. Campuses often use color coding to remind students where to go. Fairfax High Sch...

By Emily Liebtag and Mary Ryerse - There are many options for secondary school scheduling. Which is best? It depends what you’re trying to accomplish.

Article on reaction by middle- and high-school students and teachers in Yonkers, NY, to block scheduling, which lengthens traditional 43-minute class periods to 90 minutes each; photo (M)

The seven class change has many benefits to the students of CCHS. BY JEREMY HAAS Cooper City High School has built its reputation around the use of block scheduling, allowing students four classes each semester, totaling up to eight credits per year and thirty two credits by the end of high school.  While this seemed…

Middle schools do it. High schools do it. Should elementary schools do it too? Asking teachers to drop their traditional roles as generalists and serve instead as experts teaching one or two content areas is part of a growing trend called departmentalizing (or platooning) and some say it can result in many benefits for teachers and kids if it’s well planned and executed.

Day after day, students of all ages are faced with the great challenge of getting through seven classes in a short amount of time. Classes come and go in the blink of an eye, giving the students no time to process what is happening around them. Students are often exhausted, and by the end of the day,...

On average, American educators spend more hours with students than their international counterparts—and that may not be a good thing.

EAVI recently attended conferences at the European Parliament to discuss 'Diversity in Media and Culture versus Convergence' and 'An Alternative Media

The debate over whether secondary and post-secondary schools should use a semester or quarter schedule has been ongoing for years.