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User:GhostRiver/block

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Description

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In the United States, the traditional secondary education schedule is based around the Carnegie Unit, which measures learning as a function of time spent in the classroom. Traditional, Carnegie-based schedules operate under the assumption that a year's worth of learning in a certain subject is satisfactorily completed in 120 hours, and that each academic subject should be allotted the same amount of time.[1] As such, the average school day typically consists of between six and eight class periods, with periods lasting between 40 and 60 minutes.[2]: 22–23  While the block schedule retains the principle of the Carnegie Unit for its scheduling, learning units are arranged into fewer classes per day, with each one lasting for a longer percentage of the school day.[3]

There are four basic methods of designing block schedules. Some maintain the number of classes that students take per grading period, with students taking different classes on different days, while in others, students take fewer courses per grading period.[2]: 22–27 

History

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Responses

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Students and parents

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Teachers and administration

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Teachers who enjoy block scheduling cite that the longer periods allow them to vary the instructional strategies that they employ in their classes, and that they allow their students to gain a more in-depth understanding of academic concepts.[4] A survey of teachers found that, while block scheduling increased the level of detail given to classroom material, the amount of material covered in the classroom decreased: students were studying fewer topics in greater detail. Outside of academics, teachers found no obvious impacts that block scheduling had on their classroom climate, or on the amount of planning time they had in the day.[5]

School principals have echoed teachers' sentiments that block scheduling allows instructors to deviate from lectures and accommodate varied learning styles, which they believed would improve academic achievement as well as teacher-student relationships. Some principals, however, voiced concerns about the abilities of younger students to focus for the full length of a block period. Another concern was that 4x4 block scheduling of classes typically taught sequentially, such as foreign languages and mathematics, would disrupt students' learning if they did not receive instruction in these subjects year-round.[6]

Outcomes

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Attendance and academics

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While a four-year longitudinal study found that block scheduling increased student performance in individual classes, there was no correlation between high school schedule type and cumulative grade point average or student attendance.[7]

Standardized testing

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Students in the US state of Georgia who attended schools on a 4x4 block schedule experienced worse outcomes on the Georgia High School Graduation Test than their peers who attended schools with traditional instructional schedules. This could be due in part to attendance issues, as an absence in a block-scheduled class is equivalent to two absences in a traditional schedule.[8]

University performance

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References

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  1. ^ Shedd, Jessica M. (Summer 2003). "The History of the Student Credit Hour". New Directions for Higher Education. 122: 5–12. doi:10.1002/he.106. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Canady, Robert Lynn; Rettig, Michael D. (1995). Block Scheduling: A Catalyst for Change in High Schools. Princeton, NJ: Eye on Education. ISBN 1-883001-14-5. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  3. ^ Khazzaka, Joseph (December 1997). "Comparing the Merits of a Seven-Period School Day to Those of a Four-Period School Day". The High School Journal. 81 (2): 87–97. JSTOR 40364699. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  4. ^ Benton-Kupper, Jodi (October 1999). "Teaching in the Block: Perceptions from Within". The High School Journal. 83 (1): 26–34. JSTOR 40364427. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  5. ^ Staunton, Jim (December 1997). "A Study of Teacher Beliefs on the Efficacy of Block Scheduling". NASSP Bulletin. 81 (593): 73–80. doi:10.1177/019263659708159309. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  6. ^ Hamdy, Mona; Urich, Ted (March 1998). "Principals' Perceptions of Block Scheduling". American Secondary Education. 26 (3): 8–12. JSTOR 41064235. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  7. ^ Trenta, Louis; Newman, Isadore (Fall 2002). "Effects of a High School Block Scheduling Program on Students: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Block Scheduling on Student Outcome Variables". American Secondary Education. 31 (1): 54–71. JSTOR 41064590. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  8. ^ Gruber, Charlotte D.; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. (April 2001). "Effects of Block Scheduling on Academic Achievement among High School Students". The High School Journal. 84 (4): 32–42. JSTOR 40364386. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
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