Talk to me about block scheduling for high school, please

[Innisfree]

Any experiences you want to share?

 

Dd14 has just had her orientation for 9th grade at public school. We apparently didn't fully understand what they meant by block scheduling when we registered her last spring.

 

They do four courses per semester, each meeting for ninety minutes each day, Monday through Friday. But this means that, once gym and electives are added into the mix, core subjects like math and English aren't taught to each student each semester. Even with foreign languages, there seems to be no guarantee that a student will receive two consecutive semesters of instruction, though the teacher said they try to do that.

 

So dd has no English in her schedule. Second semester courses won't be assigned until much later, so she can't tell if she'll be able to have math all year, or just the first semester. She also can't tell if she'll be able to have any science, or if she'll be able to continue her foreign language.

 

I know college courses only run for a semester, so maybe this will be fine. But I'm worried that, in this model, skills like writing and math end up only being taught for one semester out of the entire year. Is this adequate? I mean, obviously, some students will do fine and others will really need year-round instruction. But it seems inadequate to me. I think, in high school, those skills are still being learned, and the needs are fundamentally different from college students' needs.

 

How do they have enough time to cover a year's worth of material, and enough practice to really cement skills? Can one really cover, say, as much English lit in one semester as one can in a year? Can one really write as many papers? Or retain as much math if they only have math from September through December, and then not any more until next September?

 

Please tell me this is really going to work. :-(

(Actually, please just tell me what you think and have experienced.)

[Sneezyone]

My daughter has a block schedule for middle school but it is not done that way. I've never heard of it done that way. At DD's school they have A/B days with four 85 minute class periods each day. That sounds strange...and intense...more like college pacing than high school.

[CanadianAlison+3boys]

So instead of 8 courses per day for a year they do 4 courses per day and switch to 4 different ones every semester? If so it's the same number of hours per course per year just averaged out two different ways, so yes all subject matter could be covered.

 

For what it is worth I'm in Canada and every high school I've ever encountered here does it 4 and then 4. The idea of 8 subjects for a whole year is something I didn't even realize schools did until I started posting here and so I think comfort level is based mostly on what you've been used to.

[Innisfree]

So instead of 8 courses per day for a year they do 4 courses per day and switch to 4 different ones every semester? If so it's the same number of hours per course per year just averaged out two different ways, so yes all subject matter could be covered.

 

For what it is worth I'm in Canada and every high school I've ever encountered here does it 4 and then 4. The idea of 8 subjects for a whole year is something I didn't even realize schools did until I started posting here and so I think comfort level is based mostly on what you've been used to.

Okay, thanks, I'm glad to hear that.

 

My biggest concern is just skills not being taught for, essentially, 2/3 of the year. I can see handling content subjects this way more easily, somehow.

 

But I'm glad this can work well.

[Innisfree]

I don't think we'd typically have eight subjects per year in the traditional system, though. I remember it as pretty much four years of English, math, history, science, and a foreign language: 4 x 5. Though some kids would only take three years of math, or two or three of a foreign language, and those "spaces" left room for electives.

[TrulySusan]

My dd's PS is on block scheduling like you describe. It isn't perfect, but not nearly as bad as I feared. Although English is only half the year, the history classes also require reading and writing papers so the skills are practiced both semesters. I don't like it for math, but dd has done fine with it. For science, it affords enough time for better lab work. The worst subject for her is foreign language. She has French 2 this semester but hasn't seen the language since last Christmas. There has been almost no review in class, so she is having to work hard to regain lost ground. Her favorite thing about the block schedule is only having unpleasant teachers for 90 days.🙄

Edited August 31, 2016 by TrulySusan

[TrulySusan]

One other thought about the math-If a student wants to accelerate or move up to an advanced level of math after 9th grade, the block schedule can make it possible by allowing a student to do 2 maths in a single school year.

[Innisfree]

Yes, she's hoping to do that with math.

[Innisfree]

For AP subjects, this semester block schedule can become problematic because the exams are only given in May. So, for kids who take the class in the fall semester, there's is a gap of several months before the test. Kids who take the class in the spring are disadvantaged, too, because they haven't covered as much material as kids in year-long classes. There has been some discussion of the AP program offering exams twice a year for schools on semester schedules, but so far it hasn't happened. Just something to keep in mind if your daughter is planning to take AP courses in the future.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

Ouch-- hadn't thought of APs. She definitely wants them.

[NikiSC]

My high school began block scheduling my freshman year. It worked very well. Of course, the classes were sooo long😄. The reasoning was more focus and less time transitioning as well as fewer classes and homework to juggle. I actually thought of doing so with DS, 13, this year but I knew it wouldn't be a good fit for him right now.

It is fast paced and there is very little margin for getting behind with reading and assignments.

[MinivanMom]

We have the 4x4 block scheduling here. It is problematic (especially AP classes), but a lot of problems can be worked around if you plan carefully.

 

Math: Here you have the option of doubling up if you are on the slower math track (for example, Alg 1a in fall, then Alg 1b in the spring), but students already starting hs in Geo or Alg II will run out of math classes if they do that. What many parents do is encourage their kid to study for ACT/SAT math during their semester off from math. Our hs also requires Calc students to take both AP Calc AB in the fall & AP Calc BC in the spring so that they have an entire year of instruction leading up to the AP exam (students take the BC test).

 

Foreign Lang: Our school discourages students from taking a lang in 9th, so that they can take it every semester from 10th-12th without interruptions. Our school only offers FL levels 1, 3, & 5 in the fall and levels 2, 4, & AP in the spring. Students who started in middle school usually take FL every semester until they max out the classes. Then they can start a 2nd FL or take extra AP classes in 12th. Taking FL every semester eats up your available class spots though. I honestly think we have fewer students taking FL all the way through AP, because of the 4x4 system. 

 

Science: This is the one area where 4x4 scheduling is great. You have longer class periods for labs, and STEM students can take a science every single semester and easily complete all the AP science classes. Our hs also does funny things like requiring AP Chem students to take Honors Chem 2 in the fall followed by AP Chem in the spring so that the students are really taking the class for the entire year leading up the AP test (even though it looks like a single spring semester on paper).

 

Does your school have their course guide online or have any information about AP sequencing on their website? Do you know anyone with recently graduated kids or older kids at the school who you could talk to? You really need to be asking questions of someone who understands how the block scheduling works at your individual school (& the counselor is probably too swamped to meet with you at the very beginning of the year). There can be a lot of little tricks and rules to how individual schools deal with the 4x4 block, and it can really help with planning if you get this information now rather than trying to figure it out as you go along.

[Innisfree]

We have the 4x4 block scheduling here. It is problematic (especially AP classes), but a lot of problems can be worked around if you plan carefully.

 

Math: Here you have the option of doubling up if you are on the slower math track (for example, Alg 1a in fall, then Alg 1b in the spring), but students already starting hs in Geo or Alg II will run out of math classes if they do that. What many parents do is encourage their kid to study for ACT/SAT math during their semester off from math. Our hs also requires Calc students to take both AP Calc AB in the fall & AP Calc BC in the spring so that they have an entire year of instruction leading up to the AP exam (students take the BC test).

 

Foreign Lang: Our school discourages students from taking a lang in 9th, so that they can take it every semester from 10th-12th without interruptions. Our school only offers FL levels 1, 3, & 5 in the fall and levels 2, 4, & AP in the spring. Students who started in middle school usually take FL every semester until they max out the classes. Then they can start a 2nd FL or take extra AP classes in 12th. Taking FL every semester eats up your available class spots though. I honestly think we have fewer students taking FL all the way through AP, because of the 4x4 system.

 

Science: This is the one area where 4x4 scheduling is great. You have longer class periods for labs, and STEM students can take a science every single semester and easily complete all the AP science classes. Our hs also does funny things like requiring AP Chem students to take Honors Chem 2 in the fall followed by AP Chem in the spring so that the students are really taking the class for the entire year leading up the AP test (even though it looks like a single spring semester on paper).

 

Does your school have their course guide online or have any information about AP sequencing on their website? Do you know anyone with recently graduated kids or older kids at the school who you could talk to? You really need to be asking questions of someone who understands how the block scheduling works at your individual school (& the counselor is probably too swamped to meet with you at the very beginning of the year). There can be a lot of little tricks and rules to how individual schools deal with the 4x4 block, and it can really help with planning if you get this information now rather than trying to figure it out as you go along.

 

 

Thank you, that's very helpful. I guess I'll need to find someone who knows the system.