Why high schools go to long Block Schedule

[Anonymous]

With generational rise in ADHD, fatigued teachers unlikely to develop the project based, hands on work that best suits it — why are more high schools going to block schedule.

My impression at our local Arlington high school is the teachers teacher for 40 min, then have the kids do classwork/homework quietly for the next 40 minutes. I feel like they are squandering instruction time; they can leave homework for home.

Do other schools make better use of block scheduling?! Why are so many schools following it, including many privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With generational rise in ADHD, fatigued teachers unlikely to develop the project based, hands on work that best suits it — why are more high schools going to block schedule.

My impression at our local Arlington high school is the teachers teacher for 40 min, then have the kids do classwork/homework quietly for the next 40 minutes. I feel like they are squandering instruction time; they can leave homework for home.

Do other schools make better use of block scheduling?! Why are so many schools following it, including many privates.

That's not equitable and that's how school districts make their decisions these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With generational rise in ADHD, fatigued teachers unlikely to develop the project based, hands on work that best suits it — why are more high schools going to block schedule.

My impression at our local Arlington high school is the teachers teacher for 40 min, then have the kids do classwork/homework quietly for the next 40 minutes. I feel like they are squandering instruction time; they can leave homework for home.

Do other schools make better use of block scheduling?! Why are so many schools following it, including many privates.

That's not equitable and that's how school districts make their decisions these days.

What? So high schoolers don’t get homework anymore?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With generational rise in ADHD, fatigued teachers unlikely to develop the project based, hands on work that best suits it — why are more high schools going to block schedule.

My impression at our local Arlington high school is the teachers teacher for 40 min, then have the kids do classwork/homework quietly for the next 40 minutes. I feel like they are squandering instruction time; they can leave homework for home.

Do other schools make better use of block scheduling?! Why are so many schools following it, including many privates.

That's not equitable and that's how school districts make their decisions these days.

Is this driving the move to block?

[Anonymous]

My ADHD kids did better with block schedule because the teacher had more time to do hands-on projects and they only had to do homework for half of their classes each night. Teachers should not be lecturing for that long.

It’s also more similar to the way the college is set up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ADHD kids did better with block schedule because the teacher had more time to do hands-on projects and they only had to do homework for half of their classes each night. Teachers should not be lecturing for that long.

It’s also more similar to the way the college is set up.

My Ivy League had no hands on projects or homework time. We had lectures, small group sessions, and labs. None went 80 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ADHD kids did better with block schedule because the teacher had more time to do hands-on projects and they only had to do homework for half of their classes each night. Teachers should not be lecturing for that long.

It’s also more similar to the way the college is set up.

What classes had hands on projects? What do they do in core academic subjects like math, English, and history?

[Anonymous]

So most people prefer to long blocks and no homework?

[Anonymous]

When the block schedule is implemented poorly—eg teachers routinely teaching for half the time and then having kids do HW for the balance of class—it’s a waste. But done right (and we saw this at our DC’s private) it’s great. Sure there were days when teachers let kids do some work at the end of class when they finished class work early but typically it looked something like lecture + in class writing with peer critiques/lab work/projects/discussions. Not having HW every night for every class was more similar to what DC would experience in college and it allowed them to balance academics with ECs and learn time management.

[Anonymous]

I prefer students working on assignments at school, at least starting them. That way a student can ask a question and get some help if they are not understanding the concept. If the practice is sent home then the student is working on material and cannot ask questions. There are several outcomes:

1) They understand it and complete it just fine on their own.
2) They don't complete the assignment, because they don't understand it and there is a penalty for not completing it.
3) They complete the assignment incorrectly and have practiced an incorrect method.

Having time in the classroom lets students ask for help before getting really discouraged and ingraining an incorrect method in their brain.

DS rarely has homework, he is in MS but takes HS math and foreign language, he is able to complete most of it at school. Plenty of his friends are bringing work home and completing it at home. DS does bring home the occassional work that he didn't finish or he needs to review.

The other nice thing about the block schedule is that it gives kids additional time to balance school work. Not everything is due the next day. You can prioritize based on what you have coming up and you need to focus on.

I have no idea if daily meetings is better for learning or block scheduling works better but I can see the pros to the block schedule.

[Anonymous]

Admins like it because it minimizes the number of class transitions they have to supervise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With generational rise in ADHD, fatigued teachers unlikely to develop the project based, hands on work that best suits it — why are more high schools going to block schedule.

My impression at our local Arlington high school is the teachers teacher for 40 min, then have the kids do classwork/homework quietly for the next 40 minutes. I feel like they are squandering instruction time; they can leave homework for home.


Block scheduling as a trend long predates the focus on equity. Schools don’t use it for “equity.”
Do other schools make better use of block scheduling?! Why are so many schools following it, including many privates.

That's not equitable and that's how school districts make their decisions these days.

[Anonymous]

The actual reason most schools switch to block is for behavior. The majority of incidents (fights, drug deals, skipping) occur during passing periods. Cut the passing periods in half, cut the disciplinary incidents in half. It has nothing to do with academic benefits/deficits.

[Anonymous]

Our MS has it and my kid likes it a lot. We started it this year and it allows time to settle in and get in a full lesson. They are taught or doing class work/projects for the full period. There are fewer transitions so less disruptions and enjoys school more now.

[Anonymous]

TJ had block scheduling back in the day. It was great. Though they used it with longer passing periods, which wouldn't help the discipline issues above.

I was perfectly able to handle 2 hour classes in college after 90 minute classes in high school.