Anonymous wrote:I'd like to hear pros and cons of block scheduling. Can anyone weigh in on the subject so I can understand both sides better?

Are you talking about the controversy at Williamsburg MS? There are a couple of threads on this recently. It was also the subject of a segment on the Kojo show a week or so ago...

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2016-12-20/arlington-debates-a-change-in-class-scheduling

Bottom line is it's probably not very good for middle schoolers... Has some efficacy in HS.

A colleague did his dissertation on block vs traditional schedules in VA. All kids take the same SOLs, so it was easy to compare schools across the entire state. He accounted for things like school size, location and percentage of free/reduced meals.

Traditional schedule had significantly higher achievement.

Middle school teacher here. We have had several variations of block schedules and they did not work well for core skill subjects (math, language arts) and electives like band or orchestra or chorus at our school. These are classes where it is important to see the children every day for many of the reasons already identified as 'pros' in other posts above. The block schedules worked well for core content subjects (science, social studies) and electives other than band/orchestra/chorus.

If your middle school is making the grade for accreditation then a block schedule may work. If your middle school is struggling to reach or maintain accreditation in math or language arts then a block schedule is not a good idea.

At our middle school, we have found much more success (as measured by substantial increases in SOLs and consistently rising GPAs) when we have maintained a 7-subject day following a static, not rotating, schedule.

Anonymous wrote:Pros:
1. It allows more flexibility for homework. If you have a busy schedule one night, you can do the homework the next night.

2. The kids can take more classes. This allows them more opportunities to take electives.

Cons:
The kids can take more classes. This means a heavier workload - more homework, more stress.

How are they taking more classes? Ours had block scheduling and had the same number of classes they would have had whether it was block or traditional.

But to answer OP's question, ours had block from 7-12th grade and much preferred it to having the same classes each day. It helped them develop organizational and time management skills that worked for them.

Anonymous wrote:Pros:
1. It allows more flexibility for homework. If you have a busy schedule one night, you can do the homework the next night.

2. The kids can take more classes. This allows them more opportunities to take electives.

Cons:
The kids can take more classes. This means a heavier workload - more homework, more stress.

Agree with #1 pro, but number two is not true. Same amount of hours in a school day, however there is less time spent class switching.

I'm in NC and we have block schedules, but the kids have the same 4 classes every day for the first semester, and then different 4 classes for the next semester. In my opinion, it's the best of both worlds.

When I was a teacher, I liked block schedules because I had more time to teach. For every class at least 10-15 mins is spent starting and ending class. The way our schedule worked we had 3 90 min blocks every day (classes met every other day) and one class that met every day for 45 mins. Even though each class met for the same amount of time, my every day class was always behind because I had double the amount of startup/wrapup time.

Pros:
1. It allows more flexibility for homework. If you have a busy schedule one night, you can do the homework the next night.

2. The kids can take more classes. This allows them more opportunities to take electives.

Cons:
The kids can take more classes. This means a heavier workload - more homework, more stress.

If your kid has all of his non-interesting or less liked classes on one day it makes every other day a dreaded day. The balance can be a sort of roll of the dice thing.

Pros: you never get a surprise assignment due the following day when you have already scheduled something important for the family (of course, your kid can still forget stuff).

For example, my son's Wednesday is always too full for homework because of a school activity and an athletic activity. But that's ok.

Con: not sure there are any, except you might have out of balance days. My kid has all his hard things on the same day. It is a long day, but it does make scheduling the orthodontist easier.

Thanks. That thread is helpful. I am interested in middle and high school and general pros and cons unrelated to specific counties.

Hi OP. There was a similar question posted a few months ago about block scheduling in middle schools.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/594170.page

Con is in subjects that need smaller chunks and daily reinforcement . . . like math and foreign language (building type of courses).

Pro is in classes where longer lab time is necessary or where a long block of time is otherwise useful.

My kids really like it. They have a stack of notebooks for Odd/Even days. Homework is often finished in class at the end of the block. Allows for a more indepth treatment of a subject -especially in HS.

I'd like to hear pros and cons of block scheduling. Can anyone weigh in on the subject so I can understand both sides better?