Reply to "4x4" block at Wilson HS next year?

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Reply to ""4x4" block at Wilson HS next year?"

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[quote=Anonymous]Folks should explore the research on this.  The district (I assume) is trying to use existing evidence to improve student outcomes.  This is a good thing.  There are certainly pros and cons to this approach.  Many of the previous posts have identified the cons - all of which should be considered.  But the research has found may positives.  And anecdotally I can see that this approach would be helpful for my son (and many kids I know) who struggle with balancing multiple subjects/assignments/teacher styles etc. at once.  Having fewer things to juggle and more time to go in depth in a few subject sounds appealing (this is how college schedules are set up...).

Please see the following for more info:
http://www.aasa.org/SchoolAdministratorArticle.aspx?id=14852 
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3b6c/1c8fd11c583db771dd44daad78b3a33c3519.pdf
http://www.nea.org/tools/16816.htm
http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol3/SLMR_BlockScheduling_V3.pdf

And consider this excerpt for the second link which is a A Synthesis of Evidence-Based Research on block scheduling done by an independent academic researcher for the Department of Ed):

The findings from experimental and quasi-experimental studies have generally been positive for the effect of block scheduling on student grades, attendance rates, and graduation rates. Most researchers have reported statistically significant grade-point average (GPA) gains for students on a block schedule (e.g., Deuel, 1999; Edwards, 1995), while only some have found no effects, or adverse effects, for block scheduling students (e.g., Skrobarcek et al., 1997). This pattern continues with the findings for attendance and graduation, as a majority of studies have shown significant increases in daily attendance and student graduation rates Block Scheduling in the High School Setting after conversion to a 4X4 (Nichols, 2000; O’Neil, 1995) or A/B block scheduling plan (Buckman, King, & Ryan, 1995). The research on student discipline is decidedly mixed. Some studies have shown significant drops in discipline problems (e.g., suspensions) with block scheduling (Buckman et al., 1995; Eineder & Bishop, 1997; Thomas & O’Connell, 1997), while an equal number have
reported no change in the amount of discipline incidents as compared with traditional scheduling (Deuel, 1999; Knight, DeLeon, & Smith, 1999; Wilson & Stokes, 1999).

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