We used to have an anchor day followed by block. But then the powers that be in the county decided that all middle schools MUST follow the same scheduled and forced everyone into an odd/even rotation. I much prefer an anchor day. Another benefit to the anchor day is that if there's a snow day or another unexpected day off, you can make the next day an anchor day and then go back to your regular rotation without having classes be unbalanced from there on out.

The problem with anchor days is when you have itinerants that work at two different schools, unless the two school schedules match, it's hard for them to make it work. Hence why the higher ups decided to make it consistent among all schools.

It also helps orient the week for all classes. Helps to make sure kids know what assignments are due that week. What tests are this week. What is the topic of the week. It's basically a small lesson, a small group discussion or individual work time, and a planning time for the rest of the work that week. It can also be a quiz day from the previous week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are kids doing so poorly now? It isn’t block scheduling, it is a lack of discipline, time management, catering to the educational fad of the day, and getting away from core curriculum that all contribute to the challenges faced today.

Going back to all classes everyday will eventually cycle back to the next trend and FCPS will adopt it and claim that block schedule was a bad idea all along.

Block scheduling has been around in US public schools for at least 50 years so not really a "trend"--it's just another standard way of organizing class schedules. I had block scheduling in my own high school eons ago. Both daily class meetings and block meetings have pros and cons. In general, you get more instructional time with block scheduling because there is less transition time between classes and the time spent getting 30 people to settle in and then pack up represents a smaller portion of the overall instruction time. Whether the longer time period is more productive is a matter of teaching skill and student readiness, but there is more instruction time.

I think the earlier poster's idea of an "anchor day" of a Monday where you have all your classes and then 4 block days sounds like a potentially good option--in part because then you wouldn't have the ever-switching schedule and the Monday back from the weekend would be faster-paced to get people energized.

The catholic high schools also have an anchor day around here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Monday should be the anchor day - kids have all classes. Then it’s either M/W or T/Th for the rest of the classes.

Sorry, meant W/Fri.

This is how TJ structures their week. Also many middle schools in Mclean that are high achieving such as Longfellow.

At this point I just can’t imagine the kids having to have all their classes on one day. That’s a lot of homework and intensity in one day. I much prefer block scheduling. At least if you miss one day you don’t miss all your classes.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I like the point about tests being spread out and more time to complete homework. It just really stinks when you miss a class.

I like the idea of doing block scheduling 4 days a week and one day with all the classes.

I could see that about tests, but maybe we are unlucky in that my kid got all core classes on the same day. Now that sucks. No fun one those days to mix it up. Grrrrr.

Anonymous wrote:As others have noted colleges do block scheduling successfully. Went to middle and high school in the 70s with block scheduling. It has been around for a very long time.

Why are kids doing so poorly now? It isn’t block scheduling, it is a lack of discipline, time management, catering to the educational fad of the day, and getting away from core curriculum that all contribute to the challenges faced today.

I would not call it block sceduling. At my college you had MWF classes for 50 minutes or T/Thu for 1 hour and 15 mins.

With the current plan every class is like 80-90 mins for every subject every other day.

Anonymous wrote:Monday should be the anchor day - kids have all classes. Then it’s either M/W or T/Th for the rest of the classes.

Sorry, meant W/Fri.

Monday should be the anchor day - kids have all classes. Then it’s either M/W or T/Th for the rest of the classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every day is a much better way for anyone and everyone to learn. Every other day is not.

Math classes, music classes, foreign language classes know this and explicitly prefer traditional period scheduling. English classes and science classes want longer classes for labs - but those don't happen every class.

Block scheduling is one of the several reasons for the decline of education and resulting lowered test scores of the past 10-15 years. Why do educators choose methods that reduce learning and education?

Because educators aren’t allowed to make their own decisions anymore. The state/ county mandates what they can and can’t do.

Not exactly the issue. Teachers can go odd the rails and they still do because management focuses on one thing leaving another to go unchecked. It's more that management is constantly trying to do something other than teach children. If they would just focus on their core reason for being they wouldn't fall into all of these traps.

Anonymous wrote:Why are kids doing so poorly now? It isn’t block scheduling, it is a lack of discipline, time management, catering to the educational fad of the day, and getting away from core curriculum that all contribute to the challenges faced today.

Going back to all classes everyday will eventually cycle back to the next trend and FCPS will adopt it and claim that block schedule was a bad idea all along.