Block Schedules

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a pretty important letter posted to the Arlington Education Matters group on Facebook about the block controversy at Williamsburg MS yesterday. It's a closed group, though, though there are about 1,300 members.

Letter basically said that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act point to a lack of "stakeholder buy-in" among parents and teachers. There's no way to link to it, unfortunately.

I don't know, that parent is definitely starting to sound a little fanatical about it. I get that he's upset and has invested a lot of time, but it all seems a little over-the-top, both the letter and his posts/comment responses on Facebook. As a parent who doesn't fully understand the pros and cons, it's hard to trust the position of someone who now seems totally personally invested in the issue and letting it color his perceptions of other people.

And I still don't understand how this differs from what is happening at the other middle schools in APS. Don't they all have some form of block scheduling? If it's such a bad idea for the kids of WMS, why isn't it a bad idea generally? What makes the students at WMS different? Why aren't all the schools employing the same schedules? They allegedly have the same curriculum, no?

This is a great question. Can anyone explain?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a pretty important letter posted to the Arlington Education Matters group on Facebook about the block controversy at Williamsburg MS yesterday. It's a closed group, though, though there are about 1,300 members.

Letter basically said that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act point to a lack of "stakeholder buy-in" among parents and teachers. There's no way to link to it, unfortunately.

I don't know, that parent is definitely starting to sound a little fanatical about it. I get that he's upset and has invested a lot of time, but it all seems a little over-the-top, both the letter and his posts/comment responses on Facebook. As a parent who doesn't fully understand the pros and cons, it's hard to trust the position of someone who now seems totally personally invested in the issue and letting it color his perceptions of other people.

And I still don't understand how this differs from what is happening at the other middle schools in APS. Don't they all have some form of block scheduling? If it's such a bad idea for the kids of WMS, why isn't it a bad idea generally? What makes the students at WMS different? Why aren't all the schools employing the same schedules? They allegedly have the same curriculum, no?

This is a great question. Can anyone explain?

Swanson does not have block scheduling. They have every class every day for about 45 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
And I still don't understand how this differs from what is happening at the other middle schools in APS. Don't they all have some form of block scheduling? If it's such a bad idea for the kids of WMS, why isn't it a bad idea generally? What makes the students at WMS different? Why aren't all the schools employing the same schedules? They allegedly have the same curriculum, no?

One school has it for 6th graders but not 7th and 8th.

Swanson tried block scheduling years ago and went back to a standard schedule.

Our kids aren't zoned for Williamsburg and I don't know the parent who's taking the lead on this, but I don't feel inclined to criticize him for objecting to a major change that he thinks is not in the interests of the children and which APS has been unable to defend. That inability to defend it only becomes more infuriating when there's this sort of Theatre of Community Buy-In in which administrators pretend to be interested in what teachers and parents have to say, then proceed to do what they were going to do anyway.

And I don't want to hear that change is hard or you can't please everyone. The point is, this is a change for no reason, with no benefit, and the people who are unhappy are the people most affected by it and their parents.

If the teachers had been pushing for it, I think the idea would have a lot more support. APS teachers are fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And I still don't understand how this differs from what is happening at the other middle schools in APS. Don't they all have some form of block scheduling? If it's such a bad idea for the kids of WMS, why isn't it a bad idea generally? What makes the students at WMS different? Why aren't all the schools employing the same schedules? They allegedly have the same curriculum, no?

One school has it for 6th graders but not 7th and 8th.

Swanson tried block scheduling years ago and went back to a standard schedule.

Our kids aren't zoned for Williamsburg and I don't know the parent who's taking the lead on this, but I don't feel inclined to criticize him for objecting to a major change that he thinks is not in the interests of the children and which APS has been unable to defend. That inability to defend it only becomes more infuriating when there's this sort of Theatre of Community Buy-In in which administrators pretend to be interested in what teachers and parents have to say, then proceed to do what they were going to do anyway.

And I don't want to hear that change is hard or you can't please everyone. The point is, this is a change for no reason, with no benefit, and the people who are unhappy are the people most affected by it and their parents.

If the teachers had been pushing for it, I think the idea would have a lot more support. APS teachers are fantastic.

I don't have a problem with anyone objecting to a change. But now this guy is on a vendetta, so I'm less inclined to trust what he says.

[Anonymous]

Are FCPS block schedules all the same or are some combinations of block and standard? Which is preferred?

[Anonymous]

Links to FOIAed documents

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Survey%20monkey.pdf?token=AWyB2auV5tGNwp1B8WiOBZfVkiNe440-ivCrfputYmPaRajpCRpbgVxf7AHlzu6-u6XUO2cseSnMlt3J8WZt2rQFjyvbaPf9S5IgoaPI1UhTVnFDybxCUXX-UFPnhWQSY3dScr_7gqVUD8epqJd-KzN6ER321jxHjYO2wzQOnSoW4Q

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/AB%20Day%20Schedule%20with%20Monday%20Periods%201-7.pdf?token=AWxfm4g8R_78IoOjAVUB3w6jNCSbxdFVgLGb1BIuvLN67hcMYQsihJK7tcxmMvyeI-1SIY5bVIhBJzvs8oWOh5rM4lCHVaDikpOw4Mlw327XyINu7nyloZo6teOHkIGMkpeNhytbwA69DV1S28lWFxiDNoZqDXQMxtWHwRp0RQNstQ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I don't have a problem with anyone objecting to a change. But now this guy is on a vendetta, so I'm less inclined to trust what he says.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a pretty important letter posted to the Arlington Education Matters group on Facebook about the block controversy at Williamsburg MS yesterday. It's a closed group, though, though there are about 1,300 members.

Letter basically said that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act point to a lack of "stakeholder buy-in" among parents and teachers. There's no way to link to it, unfortunately.

I don't know, that parent is definitely starting to sound a little fanatical about it. I get that he's upset and has invested a lot of time, but it all seems a little over-the-top, both the letter and his posts/comment responses on Facebook. As a parent who doesn't fully understand the pros and cons, it's hard to trust the position of someone who now seems totally personally invested in the issue and letting it color his perceptions of other people.

I agree. I posted a few times about how block scheduling had worked well for me 3in a high school setting, and he blasted me right back each time I posted. I gave up trying to convince him that maybe there were some positives to the idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And I still don't understand how this differs from what is happening at the other middle schools in APS. Don't they all have some form of block scheduling? If it's such a bad idea for the kids of WMS, why isn't it a bad idea generally? What makes the students at WMS different? Why aren't all the schools employing the same schedules? They allegedly have the same curriculum, no?

One school has it for 6th graders but not 7th and 8th.

Swanson tried block scheduling years ago and went back to a standard schedule.

Our kids aren't zoned for Williamsburg and I don't know the parent who's taking the lead on this, but I don't feel inclined to criticize him for objecting to a major change that he thinks is not in the interests of the children and which APS has been unable to defend. That inability to defend it only becomes more infuriating when there's this sort of Theatre of Community Buy-In in which administrators pretend to be interested in what teachers and parents have to say, then proceed to do what they were going to do anyway.

And I don't want to hear that change is hard or you can't please everyone. The point is, this is a change for no reason, with no benefit, and the people who are unhappy are the people most affected by it and their parents.

If the teachers had been pushing for it, I think the idea would have a lot more support. APS teachers are fantastic.

I'm not one who has criticized him. I just want to know which schools in APS are already doing it and why, and whether there is any way to measure whether teachers and/or student performance has been affected by various schedules. If block scheduling is bad policy, then it's bad policy for APS, not just for the students at WMS. I want to know, because I may want to apply for a transfer for our kids out of our zoned school (which I believe does employ some sort of block scheduling) to one that isn't on any block scheduling if it could affect my children's educational attainment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And I still don't understand how this differs from what is happening at the other middle schools in APS. Don't they all have some form of block scheduling? If it's such a bad idea for the kids of WMS, why isn't it a bad idea generally? What makes the students at WMS different? Why aren't all the schools employing the same schedules? They allegedly have the same curriculum, no?

One school has it for 6th graders but not 7th and 8th.

Swanson tried block scheduling years ago and went back to a standard schedule.

Our kids aren't zoned for Williamsburg and I don't know the parent who's taking the lead on this, but I don't feel inclined to criticize him for objecting to a major change that he thinks is not in the interests of the children and which APS has been unable to defend. That inability to defend it only becomes more infuriating when there's this sort of Theatre of Community Buy-In in which administrators pretend to be interested in what teachers and parents have to say, then proceed to do what they were going to do anyway.

And I don't want to hear that change is hard or you can't please everyone. The point is, this is a change for no reason, with no benefit, and the people who are unhappy are the people most affected by it and their parents.

If the teachers had been pushing for it, I think the idea would have a lot more support. APS teachers are fantastic.

I don't have a problem with anyone objecting to a change. But now this guy is on a vendetta, so I'm less inclined to trust what he says.

Actually, you seem to have an axe to grind. I think I recognize you from another thread on this topic. I haven't seen anything that suggests a "vendetta" unless you consider the pursuit of truth to be without virtue. If anything, he has exposed some fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how things get done in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And I still don't understand how this differs from what is happening at the other middle schools in APS. Don't they all have some form of block scheduling? If it's such a bad idea for the kids of WMS, why isn't it a bad idea generally? What makes the students at WMS different? Why aren't all the schools employing the same schedules? They allegedly have the same curriculum, no?

One school has it for 6th graders but not 7th and 8th.

Swanson tried block scheduling years ago and went back to a standard schedule.

Our kids aren't zoned for Williamsburg and I don't know the parent who's taking the lead on this, but I don't feel inclined to criticize him for objecting to a major change that he thinks is not in the interests of the children and which APS has been unable to defend. That inability to defend it only becomes more infuriating when there's this sort of Theatre of Community Buy-In in which administrators pretend to be interested in what teachers and parents have to say, then proceed to do what they were going to do anyway.

And I don't want to hear that change is hard or you can't please everyone. The point is, this is a change for no reason, with no benefit, and the people who are unhappy are the people most affected by it and their parents.

If the teachers had been pushing for it, I think the idea would have a lot more support. APS teachers are fantastic.

I'm not one who has criticized him. I just want to know which schools in APS are already doing it and why, and whether there is any way to measure whether teachers and/or student performance has been affected by various schedules. If block scheduling is bad policy, then it's bad policy for APS, not just for the students at WMS. I want to know, because I may want to apply for a transfer for our kids out of our zoned school (which I believe does employ some sort of block scheduling) to one that isn't on any block scheduling if it could affect my children's educational attainment.

The only other MS to use block scheduling is Kenmore, and they do it for sixth graders only, likely because of the impact on languages and math that are taught for high school credit in 7th and 8th grade.

Some people will say HB Woodlawn uses block, but it's not "block" in terms of how that bell schedule is commonly known.

The high schools all use a block schedule, but they are very different than what WMS is looking to adopt next year.

Contrary to pp, Swanson never had it. They tried to force it on Swanson in 2012 and there was a parent revolt there, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Links to FOIAed documents

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Survey%20monkey.pdf?token=AWyB2auV5tGNwp1B8WiOBZfVkiNe440-ivCrfputYmPaRajpCRpbgVxf7AHlzu6-u6XUO2cseSnMlt3J8WZt2rQFjyvbaPf9S5IgoaPI1UhTVnFDybxCUXX-UFPnhWQSY3dScr_7gqVUD8epqJd-KzN6ER321jxHjYO2wzQOnSoW4Q

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/AB%20Day%20Schedule%20with%20Monday%20Periods%201-7.pdf?token=AWxfm4g8R_78IoOjAVUB3w6jNCSbxdFVgLGb1BIuvLN67hcMYQsihJK7tcxmMvyeI-1SIY5bVIhBJzvs8oWOh5rM4lCHVaDikpOw4Mlw327XyINu7nyloZo6teOHkIGMkpeNhytbwA69DV1S28lWFxiDNoZqDXQMxtWHwRp0RQNstQ

The A/B schedule seems to work the best and be the most popular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I agree. I posted a few times about how block scheduling had worked well for me 3in a high school setting, and he blasted me right back each time I posted. I gave up trying to convince him that maybe there were some positives to the idea.

Then you were off-topic. I'm not saying he's a people person, but you don't get to complain about a thread about middle schoolers wanting people to talk about middle schoolers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a pretty important letter posted to the Arlington Education Matters group on Facebook about the block controversy at Williamsburg MS yesterday. It's a closed group, though, though there are about 1,300 members.

Letter basically said that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act point to a lack of "stakeholder buy-in" among parents and teachers. There's no way to link to it, unfortunately.

I don't know, that parent is definitely starting to sound a little fanatical about it. I get that he's upset and has invested a lot of time, but it all seems a little over-the-top, both the letter and his posts/comment responses on Facebook. As a parent who doesn't fully understand the pros and cons, it's hard to trust the position of someone who now seems totally personally invested in the issue and letting it color his perceptions of other people.

I agree. I posted a few times about how block scheduling had worked well for me 3in a high school setting, and he blasted me right back each time I posted. I gave up trying to convince him that maybe there were some positives to the idea.

How is talking about a high school bell schedule relevant to something happening in a middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Links to FOIAed documents

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Survey%20monkey.pdf?token=AWyB2auV5tGNwp1B8WiOBZfVkiNe440-ivCrfputYmPaRajpCRpbgVxf7AHlzu6-u6XUO2cseSnMlt3J8WZt2rQFjyvbaPf9S5IgoaPI1UhTVnFDybxCUXX-UFPnhWQSY3dScr_7gqVUD8epqJd-KzN6ER321jxHjYO2wzQOnSoW4Q

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/AB%20Day%20Schedule%20with%20Monday%20Periods%201-7.pdf?token=AWxfm4g8R_78IoOjAVUB3w6jNCSbxdFVgLGb1BIuvLN67hcMYQsihJK7tcxmMvyeI-1SIY5bVIhBJzvs8oWOh5rM4lCHVaDikpOw4Mlw327XyINu7nyloZo6teOHkIGMkpeNhytbwA69DV1S28lWFxiDNoZqDXQMxtWHwRp0RQNstQ

The A/B schedule seems to work the best and be the most popular.

Do I read that correctly or did just 9 people take that survey? The A/B seemed to be preferred by for just 3 of them... I could be reading it wrong, though. If it's a survey of 9 people, though, not sure that tells us anything at all.