APS Block Schedule - 90 minute core classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Some serious sour grapes. Sorry your kid didn't get in.

Whatever, what I'm upset about is the supersizing of WL and the overcrowding of the rest of the schools -- that's the root cause of why so many people are desperate to get into HBW.

If the schools were all treated equitably there wouldn't be an sour grapes. We need a 4th high school FFS.

DP. And if the County and APS hadn't spent years pushing back against building at the Kenmore site, we'd have a fourth high school by now. Costs have risen over the past ten years and APS' shoe-horning "capacity solutions" onto small sites exacerbates that higher cost.

The surrounding neighborhood and then the county and its transportation experts pushed back against the Kenmore site for a 4th neighborhood high school. After years of planning and public input, the “4th high school” will be Arlington Tech, officially a “program” like HB. That’s seems reasonable as students can play sports at their home schools. The neighborhood schools will stay a similar size to the growing FCPS schools. Except for maybe D.C., there has been no desire for local school districts to go back to the smaller 1,300 student high schools common in the older suburbs for a brief period from the 1980s through early 1990s.

That’s nonsense. All the parents want smaller schools, look at demand for HBW. Tech is seen as a vocational program, somewhat unfairly, and hence won’t ever attract as many students. Besides, we need a 2000 seat high school, not a semi popular 700 seat program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Some serious sour grapes. Sorry your kid didn't get in.

Whatever, what I'm upset about is the supersizing of WL and the overcrowding of the rest of the schools -- that's the root cause of why so many people are desperate to get into HBW.

If the schools were all treated equitably there wouldn't be an sour grapes. We need a 4th high school FFS.

DP. And if the County and APS hadn't spent years pushing back against building at the Kenmore site, we'd have a fourth high school by now. Costs have risen over the past ten years and APS' shoe-horning "capacity solutions" onto small sites exacerbates that higher cost.

The surrounding neighborhood and then the county and its transportation experts pushed back against the Kenmore site for a 4th neighborhood high school. After years of planning and public input, the “4th high school” will be Arlington Tech, officially a “program” like HB. That’s seems reasonable as students can play sports at their home schools. The neighborhood schools will stay a similar size to the growing FCPS schools. Except for maybe D.C., there has been no desire for local school districts to go back to the smaller 1,300 student high schools common in the older suburbs for a brief period from the 1980s through early 1990s.

Of course nobody wants the loud high school full of horny teenagers driving around their neighborhood, but how once one small population hobble the entire education system of the county.

Furthermore, the overcrowded high schools will lower the luster of Arlington schools overall and eventually impacts property values, making everyone poorer.

[Anonymous]

Having a 4th high school that requires students to go back to home schools for sports is not a great solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having a 4th high school that requires students to go back to home schools for sports is not a great solution.

Why not? Why is that worse that packing them into the 3 existing high schools? They will be on the sports teams either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having a 4th high school that requires students to go back to home schools for sports is not a great solution.

We need like two more small high schools is the real problem. Tech is not enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having a 4th high school that requires students to go back to home schools for sports is not a great solution.

Why not? Why is that worse that packing them into the 3 existing high schools? They will be on the sports teams either way.

Arlington needs a 4th comprehensive high school. tech is a bandaid not a real solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having a 4th high school that requires students to go back to home schools for sports is not a great solution.

Why not? Why is that worse that packing them into the 3 existing high schools? They will be on the sports teams either way.

Arlington needs a 4th comprehensive high school. tech is a bandaid not a real solution.

Problem is the neighborhoods zoned to that hypothetical 4th high school would want the all the sports fields, a stadium, and a pool that the other schools have. Kenmore was the only place it could’ve been done. No other site has the space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DHMS, they have block on M/T and T/F and all classes on W. So most classes meet 3x/week. One class meets 5x/week.

This doesn't sound terrible. Why all the complaining??

DHMS has block 80% of time, regular 20% for most classes. If you like block, you like that. If you don't like block, that's not very appealing.
MCPS has block 40% of time, regular 60%. While it skews toward regular, it is more evenly matched than DHMS. Those who favor regular might be ok with MCPS schedule, recognizing the benefits of block to science and the arts at least once a week. Would block advocates support MCPS's approach? Weigh in!

No. The non-block days on Wednesdays always sound so rushed. Good for mid-week check-in but nothing they don’t cover a ton those days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DHMS, they have block on M/T and T/F and all classes on W. So most classes meet 3x/week. One class meets 5x/week.

This doesn't sound terrible. Why all the complaining??

DHMS has block 80% of time, regular 20% for most classes. If you like block, you like that. If you don't like block, that's not very appealing.
MCPS has block 40% of time, regular 60%. While it skews toward regular, it is more evenly matched than DHMS. Those who favor regular might be ok with MCPS schedule, recognizing the benefits of block to science and the arts at least once a week. Would block advocates support MCPS's approach? Weigh in!

No. The non-block days on Wednesdays always sound so rushed. Good for mid-week check-in but nothing they don’t cover a ton those days.

I have no doubt that block scheduling is much more relaxed, as they are covering less material and switching classes less. Kids are at school 6 hrs, so it’s not that much time so they should make use of it, and adapt to feeling rushed. Since they only have periods one day a week, they don’t develop a rhythm. Every day is completely different than the day before!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DHMS, they have block on M/T and T/F and all classes on W. So most classes meet 3x/week. One class meets 5x/week.

This doesn't sound terrible. Why all the complaining??

DHMS has block 80% of time, regular 20% for most classes. If you like block, you like that. If you don't like block, that's not very appealing.
MCPS has block 40% of time, regular 60%. While it skews toward regular, it is more evenly matched than DHMS. Those who favor regular might be ok with MCPS schedule, recognizing the benefits of block to science and the arts at least once a week. Would block advocates support MCPS's approach? Weigh in!

No. The non-block days on Wednesdays always sound so rushed. Good for mid-week check-in but nothing they don’t cover a ton those days.

I have no doubt that block scheduling is much more relaxed, as they are covering less material and switching classes less. Kids are at school 6 hrs, so it’s not that much time so they should make use of it, and adapt to feeling rushed. Since they only have periods one day a week, they don’t develop a rhythm. Every day is completely different than the day before!

They aren’t covering less material with block scheduling.

They cover more & more deeply because they aren’t switching gears constantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DHMS, they have block on M/T and T/F and all classes on W. So most classes meet 3x/week. One class meets 5x/week.

This doesn't sound terrible. Why all the complaining??

DHMS has block 80% of time, regular 20% for most classes. If you like block, you like that. If you don't like block, that's not very appealing.
MCPS has block 40% of time, regular 60%. While it skews toward regular, it is more evenly matched than DHMS. Those who favor regular might be ok with MCPS schedule, recognizing the benefits of block to science and the arts at least once a week. Would block advocates support MCPS's approach? Weigh in!

No. The non-block days on Wednesdays always sound so rushed. Good for mid-week check-in but nothing they don’t cover a ton those days.

Why wouldn't you be able cover material in a regular class period? Historically, that's a class duration that has been used many times. As another PP said, kids need to adjust to the period length, with classes starting on time and instruction being more structured, perhaps with less moving students around in groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having a 4th high school that requires students to go back to home schools for sports is not a great solution.

Why not? Why is that worse that packing them into the 3 existing high schools? They will be on the sports teams either way.

Arlington needs a 4th comprehensive high school. tech is a bandaid not a real solution.

Problem is the neighborhoods zoned to that hypothetical 4th high school would want the all the sports fields, a stadium, and a pool that the other schools have. Kenmore was the only place it could’ve been done. No other site has the space.

Couldn't Barcroft Rec center work if you built a multi level school where parking lot is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DHMS, they have block on M/T and T/F and all classes on W. So most classes meet 3x/week. One class meets 5x/week.

This doesn't sound terrible. Why all the complaining??

DHMS has block 80% of time, regular 20% for most classes. If you like block, you like that. If you don't like block, that's not very appealing.
MCPS has block 40% of time, regular 60%. While it skews toward regular, it is more evenly matched than DHMS. Those who favor regular might be ok with MCPS schedule, recognizing the benefits of block to science and the arts at least once a week. Would block advocates support MCPS's approach? Weigh in!

No. The non-block days on Wednesdays always sound so rushed. Good for mid-week check-in but nothing they don’t cover a ton those days.

Why wouldn't you be able cover material in a regular class period? Historically, that's a class duration that has been used many times. As another PP said, kids need to adjust to the period length, with classes starting on time and instruction being more structured, perhaps with less moving students around in groups.

They obviously cover some material, just not as much as during blocks.

The non-block days sound rushed. I get why they do them, but the block days sound better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DHMS, they have block on M/T and T/F and all classes on W. So most classes meet 3x/week. One class meets 5x/week.

This doesn't sound terrible. Why all the complaining??

DHMS has block 80% of time, regular 20% for most classes. If you like block, you like that. If you don't like block, that's not very appealing.
MCPS has block 40% of time, regular 60%. While it skews toward regular, it is more evenly matched than DHMS. Those who favor regular might be ok with MCPS schedule, recognizing the benefits of block to science and the arts at least once a week. Would block advocates support MCPS's approach? Weigh in!

No. The non-block days on Wednesdays always sound so rushed. Good for mid-week check-in but nothing they don’t cover a ton those days.

Why wouldn't you be able cover material in a regular class period? Historically, that's a class duration that has been used many times. As another PP said, kids need to adjust to the period length, with classes starting on time and instruction being more structured, perhaps with less moving students around in groups.

They obviously cover some material, just not as much as during blocks.

The non-block days sound rushed. I get why they do them, but the block days sound better.

Blocks are twice as long as regular periods so one block class would definitely cover more material than one regular class. But, you want to compare the content covered adjusted for class length. Blocks likely feel less rushed but there may be trade-offs for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At DHMS, they have block on M/T and T/F and all classes on W. So most classes meet 3x/week. One class meets 5x/week.

This doesn't sound terrible. Why all the complaining??

DHMS has block 80% of time, regular 20% for most classes. If you like block, you like that. If you don't like block, that's not very appealing.
MCPS has block 40% of time, regular 60%. While it skews toward regular, it is more evenly matched than DHMS. Those who favor regular might be ok with MCPS schedule, recognizing the benefits of block to science and the arts at least once a week. Would block advocates support MCPS's approach? Weigh in!

No. The non-block days on Wednesdays always sound so rushed. Good for mid-week check-in but nothing they don’t cover a ton those days.

I have no doubt that block scheduling is much more relaxed, as they are covering less material and switching classes less. Kids are at school 6 hrs, so it’s not that much time so they should make use of it, and adapt to feeling rushed. Since they only have periods one day a week, they don’t develop a rhythm. Every day is completely different than the day before!

They aren’t covering less material with block scheduling.

They cover more & more deeply because they aren’t switching gears constantly.

Seems like a good reason to avoid HB! It’s good that only a small number of APS students are subjected to this mayhem.