Transcript of Speakers III. Case Studies from Schools that Adopted Scheduling A. The 4 by 4 Block Schedule Moving to a 4 by 4 Schedule I'm often asked by visitors at Angola High School why we would want to move to a 4 x 4 block schedule. And I'm quick to point out often that I don't always think of our schedule as a 4 x 4, even though everyone conjures up in their minds what that means and so forth. I've often heard Lynn Canady say that probably the best schedule is one that incorporates some hybrids of different kinds of schedules. And that's certainly what we do here. Even though our basic fundamental schedule is a 4 x 4, there are things that we do to make other programs work within it. I think the important thing for schools to consider when they're looking at block scheduling is the research on what different kinds of scheduling structures do for students. The only reason we were going to change anything is to make it better for students. And, certainly, that was a focus that we had at Angola High School when were looking at making some transition. But Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution is a document that I know many of the listeners of this program will know well. And within that document it talks about three different types of schedules that offer opportunities for students to do things like repeat a class within a year, or to accelerate within certain areas that— perhaps they want to take two math classes in a year—those kinds of things. Also, we have to find ways in our scheduling of high schools to reduce the number of students that teachers see within a grading period, not just on a daily basis on our team, but within a grading period; so that class load is less so that they can work more effectively with their students. So some of the whys of going to a 4 x 4 block schedule for us would be imbedded in those questions of what kinds of schedules deliver those things for students. Certainly, the 4 x 4 is not the only one, but I would encourage all listeners of this program to look at scheduling in a way that provides those kinds of things for students that are better than the research and are schedules that permit the flexibility for those things if you want. I often refer to the www.educationalimpact.com © 800.859.2793 1 Creating Online Professional Development for Educators schedule at Angola High School as Angola High School's flexible scheduling not the 4 x 4 or not the trimester or not an alternating block or whatever. Because I think too often parents and others have preconceived notions of what those schedules are. And because they have a relative in Colorado or any state or neighboring our school, wherever that might be, they think that what we're doing in this school must be what is happening in another school. It may be positive; it may not be. But regardless it's probably going to be different than Angola High School; and it's probably going to be different in every school, based on things like how you run your bus schedules or how you do lunches or how you share teachers with middle schools or whatever the situation may be. It's probably going to be different. But I hope individuals look at the research, look at what's best for kids. And, in our case, that's why we chose the basic 4 x 4 structure and then made some modifications to make it work for us. Prior to moving to our block scheduling at Angola High School, we were on a traditional seven-period day. And I would simply report to everyone that traditional schedules have served us well for years; however, there are a number of things that today's students need and, perhaps, the pressures of education in the past were not the same. I know, for example, today we are expected to have a hundred percent graduation rate, and that's the only acceptable thing that we're after. Therefore, we have to have the flexibility to offer different kinds of programs. So, our seven-period day in the past on the 50-minute period, seven of those per day, is not unlike a six-period day or an eight-period day. But it meant the students went from one class to the next—that might be science to English to physical education to a business course—with probably not a lot of continuity in what they did. So, we were looking for a way to deliver our education in a way that was not only a vehicle for change, but also a stimulus for positive kinds of things that happened within the classroom. So that was a critical piece and move that we made from a seven-period day to a four block schedule. The Transition Process BY: REX BOLINGER I’m often asked by guests of our school who come to visit us to tour and visit with our students and teachers, How is it that you made the change, the transition, from what you did at www.educationalimpact.com © 800.859.2793 2 Creating Online Professional Development for Educators one time to what you currently do? This is an interesting story, probably not unlike many others. But I can recall about seven years ago sitting with the faculty in a meeting suggesting that I’d like to have volunteers who would like to explore with me in the coming fall schools who were looking at block scheduling. And there were none really in Indiana at the time. And we took a trip to Missouri and to other states to look at what people were doing with scheduling. And, fortunately, I had eight volunteers that indicated they would be interested to go. And I was lucky because the majority of those eight volunteers are people that I would call pillars of the faculty, the foundation kinds of people. And I found about a year later that three of them volunteered just to make sure it would never happen. And, so, you kind of get the picture of how we started this. I don’t think our faculty is unlike any other faculty. I mean, I’ve talked to enough individuals and visited enough schools to know that you have three segments in a faculty. One segment are the people who would just fly tomorrow if we brought in change and said, “We’re going to bring these things about if you want to join us.” And then you’d have another segment, second segment, that would be okay; but they’ll need some help. And they’ll be able to move and progress and grow, but you have to help them do that. And then you’ll have a third segment that essentially will do anything they can do to keep this change from happening because they see their setting for the good right now, and why change that kind of thing. And I think that’s true whatever you look at in change. And, of course, we’ve all read enough research to know lots of things about change and how that affects us. But it’s an important piece to keep in mind as you’re making a transition. So we did our visits. And the surprising thing to me was that as we visited other schools, regardless of what type of block scheduling they were on when we visited them, we seemed to be finding that people by and large enjoyed things much more, students liked it better than a traditional seven-period day. And I would report to you that there were schedules that we looked at that we came back and we were excited about, and we thought this is what we wanted to do. But then as we started to look at how that would fit within our setting, perhaps there were things about it that we would have to change and whatever. And we had lots of discussions. www.educationalimpact.com © 800.859.2793 3 Creating Online Professional Development for Educators How Does Block Scheduling Affect Retention? BY: REX BOLINGER We really were worried about this whole issue of academic retention because on schedules like ours now, you teach a traditional algebra class, for example, in a semester. And everyone asked about things like math and foreign language, band. Instrumental music's a big one. How in the world can you do something—let's go back to algebra. First of all, teach it because kids have to have the soak time. They have to have time to learn something and then reflect upon it. And then to really absorb it, have this time. And I would report to you that we put this schedule aside for about three months because we were concerned about that issue. But yet this schedule seemed to bring all of the other components into place because we wanted kids to be able to accelerate and take more courses within a year. We wanted the kids to have opportunities where they have longer period of time so they could leave our building and experience things within the community and come back and do that. So, we had to find the research that indicated how people remember things. There wasn't a whole lot at the time, and there still isn't, I don't think, on schools and block scheduling.