Block scheduling: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Type of organization of school classes}}

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{{Redirect|Block teaching|the program in the LDS Church formerly known as block teaching|Home teaching}}

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'''Block scheduling''' or '''blocking''' is a type of academic scheduling used in some schools in the American [[K-12|K-12 system]], in which [[Student|students]] have fewer but longer classes per day than in a traditional academic schedule. It is more common in middle and high schools than in primary schools. In one form of block scheduling, a single class will meet every day for a number of days, after which another class will take its place. In another form, daily classes rotate through a changing daily cycle.<ref name="Tai"/>

Blocks offer more concentrated experiences of subjects, with fewer, usually half as many if going through a schedule transfer, classes daily.

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==Description==

Under a traditional American schedule, pupils in a [[High school (North America)|high school]] will study seven subjects a day for 45 minutes for each day of the week for a [[semester]]. There will be two semesters in the year so 14 subjects could be studied. Some pupils will not study all seven subjects. There was great variety as each school board was free to decide the requirement.<ref name="Owl">{{cite web|last1=H|first1=Natasha|title=What Is High School Block Scheduling? Block vs Traditional Schedules|url=https://owlcation.com/academia/What-Is-a-Block-Schedule-Facts-About-Block-Scheduling|website=Owlcation|access-date=28 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>

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! colspan=6"4" |Fictional example of blockTraditional schedulingScheduling

|-

! Time !! MonSemester (A)1!! TueSemester (B)!! Wed (A)!! Thu (B)!! Fri (Mixed)2

|-

| 09:00 –Before 09:5045

| colspan="2" | Sports training some electives

| rowspan="2" | Math

| rowspan="2" | English

| rowspan="2" | Math

| rowspan="2" | English

| Math

|-

| 09:5545 – 10:4530

| rowspan="1" | Government

| English

| rowspan="1" | Economics

|-

| 10:5030 – 11:4015

| rowspan="21" | HistoryFrench

| rowspan="21" | ScienceFrench

|-

| rowspan="2" | History

| 11:15 – 12:00

| rowspan="2" | Science

| rowspan="21" | EnglishGeometry

| History

| rowspan="21" | HistoryGeometry

|-

| 1112:4500 – 1213:3500

! colspan="2" | '''Lunch'''

| Science

|-

| 1213:4000 – 0113:0045

!| colspanrowspan="51" | LunchComputing 1

| rowspan="1" | Computing 2

|-

| 13:45 – 14:30

| rowspan="21" | EnglishBiology

| rowspan="21" | MathBiology

|-

| 0114:0530 – 0115:5515

| rowspan="21" | P.E.English

| rowspan="21" | ComputerEnglish

| rowspan="2" | P.E.

| rowspan="2" | Computer

| P.E.

|-

| 0215:0015 – 0216:4500

| rowspan="21" | MathPE

| Computer

| rowspan="1" | PE<ref name="Owl"/>

|}

==Schedules==

'''Block scheduling''' is a type of [[academic scheduling]] in which each [[student]] has fewer classes per day for a longer period of time. This is intended to result in more time for teaching due to less time wasted due to class switching and preparation.

Many forms of block scheduling were devised.<ref name="Owl"/>

=== Alternate day block scheduling ===

Conversion to block scheduling became a widespread trend in United States schools in the [[1990s]].{{fact}} Prior to that, many schools scheduled classes such that a student saw every one of his teachers each day. Classes were approximately 50 minutes long, but under block scheduling, they became approximately 90 minutes long.

Also referred to as A/B block scheduling, Odd/Even block scheduling, or Day 1/Day 2 block scheduling. Students take three to four courses, around 90–120 minutes in length, per day all year long on alternating days resulting in a full six or eight courses per year.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Trenta|first1=Louis|last2=Newman|first2=Isadore|date=Fall 2002|title=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|journal=American Secondary Education|volume=31|pages=54|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Lewis|first1=Chance W.|last2=Dugan|first2=James J.|last3=Winokur|first3=Marc A.|last4=Cobb|first4=R. Brian|date=December 2005|title=The Effects of Block Scheduling on High School Academic Achievement|journal=NASSP Bulletin|volume=98|issue=645 |pages=72–87|doi=10.1177/019263650508964506 |s2cid=59575924 }}</ref>

=== 4x4 block scheduling ===

One way of doing block scheduling is shown in the example table. Instead of taking 6 classes every day, students take 3 classes every other day, spending twice as long in each class. The example reverts to a six-period day on Fridays. Another way of distributing the classes would be to have "A" and "B" days on alternate Fridays, or to alternate "ABABA" weeks with "BABAB" weeks.

Students take four courses, around 90 minutes in length, every day for the first semester and take four different courses every day for the second semester. This results in a full eight courses taken per year.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":1"/>

===Waldorf blocking===

Most American high schools use a six or seven-period day, and classes run for one semester (half a year). A method called 4x4 block scheduling splits the academic year into quarters, and uses a four-period day.<ref>http://www.internet-high.com/4x4/may93.zip</ref> This leaves eight slots available for classes during a semester (four classes in each of two quarters). The 4x4 method is somewhat more flexible in that students can take two sequential classes (such as Algebra 1 and 2) in the same semester (in different quarterts), which would not be possible on a traditional schedule. This also allows students in their final year to fail a third-quarter class but repeat it in the fourth quarter in order to graduate.

[[Waldorf schools]] traditionally employ a mixed approach. Certain academic subjects are taught in intensive three to five week blocks known as ''[[main lesson]] blocks'', while other subjects are taught in regularly meeting skills classes.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Trostli|first=Robert|title=Main lesson block teaching in the Waldorf School|journal=Research Bulletin of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education|date=January 2001|volume=6|issue=1|url=http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/RB6107.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105011709/http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/RB6107.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-11-05}}</ref>

== Effectiveness ==

Part of the motivation for block scheduling is to prepare students for taking end-of-grade/end-of-course [[standardized tests]] used to measure student achievement (and in some school districts, teacher pay and school funding). Another is social--to foster cooperation among students. This is done by having students work in groups (called "[[cooperative learning]]") to help them learn from each other, rather than have classes that focus on teacher-delivered content, as some experts believe that students learn better from peers than from professionals.

"Where we were able to combine data to produce summary effect sizes, we found that 4 x 4 block scheduling resulted in higher cross subject achievement than traditional schedules. However, the outcome average cross-subject achievement could conceal worsening performance in some subjects and better performance in others."<ref>{{cite web|title=Block Schedules and Student Performance on AP® Examinations|publisher=The College Board|date=May 1998|url=http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/pdf/block_schedules_10409.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727133107/http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/pdf/block_schedules_10409.pdf|archive-date=July 27, 2011}}</ref>

A systematic review on Block Scheduling was also conducted by Dickson et al. (2010) at the EPPI-Centre which asserts that there is no conclusive evidence to support the introduction of policy guidance on the use of block scheduling in secondary schools in the UK. Although the findings do not indicate that participating in block schedules would produce negative outcomes for pupils across subjects, neither are the positive effects of block scheduling strong enough to recommend their implementation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=2476|title=What is the effect of block scheduling on academic achievement? A systematic review|work=EPPI-Centre}}</ref>

==Effectiveness==

A study [http://www.collegeboard.com/research/pdf/block_schedules_10409.pdf] by the [[College Board]] found that students taking AP courses on a 4 x 4 block schedule score less well than do students taking the same AP course on a traditional full-year schedule.

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Some schools have compensated for this by making AP courses last for the entire school year, providing essentially double the instruction time of normal classes, but this results in a dramatic reduction in the number of courses a student can take. Some schools that make AP courses year long offset this by having students always choose a pair of AP courses during class registration. The student will go to the first AP class one day, and the other AP course the next day. Therefore, the student takes the same number of courses as other students, but both AP classes last for the duration of the year.

==Criticism==

Some critics believe that certain subjects suffer from a lack of daily exposure to subject matter and practice that occurs with an A/B block schedule. Courses like mathematics, foreign languages, and music may benefit from daily practice and suffer from a lack thereof.<ref name="Lindsay">[http://www.jefflindsay.com/Block3.shtml "The Case Against Block Scheduling"] by Jeff Lindsay</ref>

A [[University of Virginia]] study of 8,000 college students found that students who had block scheduling in [[high school]] performed worse in university science courses.<ref name="Tai">[http://www.virginia.edu/insideuva/2006/08/block_scheduling.html "Block scheduling: Not helping high school students perform better in college science"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123143800/http://www.virginia.edu/insideuva/2006/08/block_scheduling.html |date=January 23, 2008 }} by [[Robert Tai]]</ref>

Block scheduling has been criticized as resulting in class periods that exceed the attention span of students, resulting in less retention and watering down of the material to maintain interest. It may result in gaps of weeks or months where students are receiving no instruction in a specific subject like math or history, and critics say this results in retention problems and the need for more remedial review.<ref name="Lindsay">[http://www.jefflindsay.com/Block3.shtml "The Case Against Block Scheduling"] by [[Jeff Lindsay]]</ref>

StudentsSome whostudents missare abetter block-scheduledable dayto willmanage misstheir atime considerable amountwith ofnightly materialhomework in aevery single subjectclass, possiblywhile makingother itstudents moredo difficultbetter with larger homework assignments that are spaced out over several days. Some subjects may benefit from daily drills while other subjects may lend themselves to catchless frequent homework upprojects. Mid-term transfers between schools with different schedules iscan be problematic duein tocases where the need to repeatschedules certainare material while other material has been misseddifferent.<ref name="Lindsay" />

==See also==

* [[Academic term]]

* [[Flexible modularModular scheduling]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

<references />

==External links==

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071222000913/http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kque0011.htm "Block Scheduling Revisited"] by J. Allen Queen (Original link no longer available. Redirected to the Internet Archive)

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927102823/http://killeenroos.com/link/block.htm Collection of web links] about block scheduling

*[http://www.ericdigests.org/1996-4/block.htm Block Scheduling] – by Karen Irmsher of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management

*[http://www.johnwcooper.com/papers/blockscheduling.htm Block Scheduling: Is this Right for America’s Public Schools?]- by John W. Cooper

*[http://www.illinoisloop.org/blocksched.html Block Scheduling: Discussion and links at the Illinois Loop website]

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