Why high schools go to long Block Schedule

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

At school in China, teachers switch classes but not students.

[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.

This isn’t how block scheduling is supposed to work. It’s not meant to be 40 min instruction/50 min homework time. That is insane and I’d be upset as a parent. Block classes are 90 min because they are supposed to learning an entire year’s worth of content in half the time (one semester). In a traditional 7 period schedule, each class is 40-50 min but you take it for two semesters. If your kid is only getting 40 min of instruction in a block schedule class, they aren’t going to get through all the material in one semester. That is doing them a disservice. You’re right, homework is meant to be done at home, instruction is meant to be in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

How old are you? No 80 minute classes? Seminars went longer when I was in college and I’m Gen X.

The block schedule reduces kids stress when done properly and results in better learning. Transitioning in 3-4 minutes from subject to subject 7-8 times per day actually increases stress. The teacher who is by lecturing for 40 minutes then giving the kids the rest of the block for homework has not adjusted to teaching in a block schedule environment.

My kids (who had ADHD) did block schedules at different schools and preferred it. Having to transition more often and switch gears constantly actually isn’t good for most ADHD kids. Every time they move a class they have more executive functions to do (gather materials, check you have everything, pack up get to your next class on time and unpack everything, lather, rinse repeat).

Also, as a prior poster pointed out it is more like college. It did help with planning. Also, my kids teachers knew how to plan lessons, projects, peer review, class discussions, etc. during the time.

Sounds like your problem OP is the teachers not understanding how to teach in a block schedule or the desire to modify their lesson plans from the old schedule.

[Anonymous]

My kids private HS is on a block schedule and he likes it. He likes having more time to complete homework between classes (they get a lot of homework).

Discipline during passing periods is not an issue.

[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.

This isn’t how block scheduling is supposed to work. It’s not meant to be 40 min instruction/50 min homework time. That is insane and I’d be upset as a parent. Block classes are 90 min because they are supposed to learning an entire year’s worth of content in half the time (one semester). In a traditional 7 period schedule, each class is 40-50 min but you take it for two semesters. If your kid is only getting 40 min of instruction in a block schedule class, they aren’t going to get through all the material in one semester. That is doing them a disservice. You’re right, homework is meant to be done at home, instruction is meant to be in class.

You're speaking about something different--that's the semester block schedule. People are talking about A/B block--you have all 8 classes all year long, you just only see 4 of them on any given day.

But really it's the same hours of class whether 40 minutes every day or 80 minutes every other day or 80 minutes every day for one semester.

Nearly everyone in education supports "mini lessons" (10 minute warm up or intro, 20-30 minute lesson, 30-40 minute work time where the teacher can pull small groups to support/remediate/extend, 10 minute reflection/closing) for block scheduling. It's the same instruction as what happens in two 45 minute periods. When I taught 7 period days, I had a 5 minute warm up, 10-20 minute lesson, and 15-20 minute work time where I could pull my high needs kids.

The only classes I don't follow this structure with is my AP classes where they are able to switch back and forth between exploring a concept in a group, getting direct instruction to formalize what they just experienced, and then practice independently. We'll cycle through 2-3 of those segments in an 80 minute block.

[Anonymous]

My kid's HS went to block scheduling a few years ago - think they introduced it during the pandemic/online learning and continued it when kids returned to school. Reasons given were:
-larger chunks of instructional time
-allow for more experiential and hands-on learning
-reduce the number of transitions during the day

All 8 classes meet on Mondays for about 30 minutes with the school day ending at 2:00pm. Thereafter, 4 classes meet T/Th and the remaining 4 on W/F for 90 minutes each with the school day ending at 3:30pm.

It has worked out well. He likes that it gives more time to complete h/w.

[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.

This isn’t how block scheduling is supposed to work. It’s not meant to be 40 min instruction/50 min homework time. That is insane and I’d be upset as a parent. Block classes are 90 min because they are supposed to learning an entire year’s worth of content in half the time (one semester). In a traditional 7 period schedule, each class is 40-50 min but you take it for two semesters. If your kid is only getting 40 min of instruction in a block schedule class, they aren’t going to get through all the material in one semester. That is doing them a disservice. You’re right, homework is meant to be done at home, instruction is meant to be in class.

I had semester block scheduling growing up and loved it. Only having four classes at a time was great and I was ready for longer classes in college. (I took a few classes in college that met once a week for three hours.)

[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.

Giving kids time to do work in school is a godsend. Last year none of my kid's teachers did that and he was doing homework for hours every night and got completely burnt out. This year is much better and healthier.

[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.

This isn’t how block scheduling is supposed to work. It’s not meant to be 40 min instruction/50 min homework time. That is insane and I’d be upset as a parent. Block classes are 90 min because they are supposed to learning an entire year’s worth of content in half the time (one semester). In a traditional 7 period schedule, each class is 40-50 min but you take it for two semesters. If your kid is only getting 40 min of instruction in a block schedule class, they aren’t going to get through all the material in one semester. That is doing them a disservice. You’re right, homework is meant to be done at home, instruction is meant to be in class.

Who made you the homework police? I'm a teacher, and this is just your opinion, and a pretty outdated one at that.

[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.

Having gone to HS with that system myself, it was more conducive to better learning. 40 minutes was the most for the lecture part. Kids have checked out after that. Then we either worked on our assignment ( not work from other classes) or we had time to really discuss the topic as a class. I learned far better in math this way. I never understood the topic the first time through. This way the teacher was there to help as soon as the topic had been introduced. We learned more, and faster, than kids with a different set up.

I far preferred this, as does my husband as a teacher.

[Anonymous]

I thought block scheduling was to easily accommodate labs and other longer learning experiences. Treating it as a 45 minute regular class and then 45 minutes of study hall doesn't make sense at all.

[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;[b] 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.

They aren’t going to talk at the kids for 80 minutes. You sound old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids private HS is on a block schedule and he likes it. He likes having more time to complete homework between classes (they get a lot of homework).

Discipline during passing periods is not an issue.

It’s working well for my freshman at a Catholic high school also. For him, having two days between classes helps him balance his workload. The longer classes help him focus better, instead of jumping between seven different subjects every single day.

We didn’t intentionally select a school with that schedule, but it’s going very well and we’re glad it turned out that way.

[Anonymous]

Unintended benefit is IF teacher chooses some of the block time to do work, they can manage / minimize AI & cheating if done in class with laptops closed. Sadly, that's where we are.