Evaluation of Educational Scheduling Model

Evaluation of Educational Scheduling Model

In the early nineteenth century teachers had limited education, but were required to teach a variety of subjects at any given time of the day. In the early 1950s the Carnegie model of instruction was introduced reflecting the needs of an industrial era rather than the needs of the students of today’s world. In the late 1950s schools began to experiment with upgrading instruction by allowing students to participate in independent studies and by implementing larger class sizes. These scheduling initiatives along with other experiments failed to add improvement to the achievement of students. In the early 1960s, an idea surfaced that a flexible scheduling model would benefit both the teachers and students. As a result of this idea, in the 1960s, schools began to modify the traditional seven-period school day. In the early 1970s as flexibility in scheduling continued to be a top priority for educators, the fluid block scheduling model became popular and successful. The model allocated a block of two to three hours to teams of teachers from various content areas to schedule instruction based on the needs of students. Another alternative flexible scheduling model emerged in the 1980s that allowed some courses to start an hour earlier than the regular classes. The model gave students the opportunity to leave school early or to enroll in an extra class. The evolution of educational scheduling models have led educators to focus on models that are flexible, meet the needs of students, and provide the opportunity for teachers to work cooperatively. According to Dexter, Tai, and Sadler (2006), educators, administrators, and students strive to find a schedule that allow for greater retention, ade...

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