Essay On Block Scheduling

Why would we change the way something is done, if it has been like that for many years? Because, in some cases, change can be beneficial. I choose to talk about changing our schedule to an A/B rotating block because I believe it would help raise many students grades and boost students’ motivation to succeed. I have researched this compared to a normal seven period schedule, and I believe that the benefits outweigh the concerns.

Block schedules allow for extra time, a total of 90 minutes per class, so students and teachers alike have time to finish projects and take time to comprehend the given material. According to an article on Educationworld.com, one substantial benefit of a block schedule is that teachers have longer planning periods. This allows for more varied instruction. At a high school that switched to block scheduling, student SAT scores raised from an average of 978 to 1029. This shows that longer class periods give students more time to understand the given material and process it. At the same school, students’ advanced placement exam scores of three or higher rose from 70 percent of students to 81 percent. Therefore, block scheduling has longer class periods that accommodate for students who learn at a different pace, or

On the website for the American Association of School Administrators, an article stated that in more than 100 studies of schools with block scheduling discipline referrals dropped between 25 and 50 percent. This shows that students are more focused, so don’t feel the need to act out. The same article said that the number of tardy students and in-school suspensions were reduced, and attendance improved. I believe that this is because in the longer class periods, more can be accomplished, so missing class would affect grades at a greater scale. This works as an incentive for students to arrive on time, and would therefore improve students’ focus on school work and their