The new schedule is hindering the student learning experience
September 14, 2018
For the past 15 years, Fenton Area Public School students and staff became accustomed to block scheduling. This year, however, block scheduling was eliminated in lieu of a more traditional school schedule modified to keep Student Resource Time (SRT). Despite its efforts to accommodate students’ needs, this schedule has been less than ideal for faculty and students alike.
In A/B block scheduling (which is the type that FHS had), students rotate between “A” and “B” days, each of which contain four different classes. This allows class periods to be nearly an hour and a half long, and it also creates more time between each class meeting. This setup is extremely beneficial to students as they have more time to complete homework assignments and more time in class for learning activities.
The new schedule that FHS follows is more traditional. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, students attend all six of their classes for roughly an hour each. On Tuesday and Thursday, the students attend the same six classes in the same order, but classes are only 48 minutes long, which allows time for SRT between third and fourth hour.
If it sounds complicated, it is.
The growing pains associated with this schedule change are exponential. Not only do students struggle to manage their time differently and settle into classes, but teachers haven’t adjusted, either. Teachers are assigning nearly the same amount of homework as in previous years, leaving students with less than half of the time to do it. Plus, shorter class periods mean less time for teachers to teach in a day, which means that students are confused when they sit down at home to complete homework.
Aside from the logistical issues, this schedule has many kinks in the overall classroom environment. Because classes are roughly an hour long (on a good day), and students are used to 90 minute classes, settling in to an activity is near impossible. Everything that teachers and students have become used to is being cut short, by close to half.
This negative view is extremely popular among students and staff. A Twitter poll by the Fenton InPrint showed that about 75 percent of students dislike the traditional schedule and would prefer to go back to AB block scheduling.
