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As freshman year has just begun, students had to make the transition from middle school to high school, which is a change in the amount of homework, projects, and tests - while also dealing with activities directly after school. 

“A lot more work compared to middle school. I have had more work this month than my first trimester of middle school,” Brenna Higden, a BHS freshman said.

The adjustment from middle school to high school can have a significant change in not only the complex building, but the amount of homework and tests assigned daily. 

“Having homework is definitely a factor when going to extracurriculars,” Vanessa Morris, a BHS freshman, said. “Not as bad in high school so far, but in middle school it was overwhelming. I constantly devote time and be late to after school activities to fit homework in.” 

Homework can affect extracurriculars, and middle school work was harder to fit activities in than high school, according to some freshman. As the high school ends later than the middle school, students do not have as much time to prepare for sports, and might not make it to games and practices on time. 

“The workload has not increased too much, but there is not as much time to complete things as students were able to in middle school,” Alana Shirley, BHS freshman, said. 

For some freshmen, it seems more homework is assigned with little time, which means students have to work more efficiently to complete it, along with different after school plans varying daily. 

“How I help with stress is to take a break from what is causing stress, listen to music, read books, and scroll on social media, or just something to take my mind off it.” Morris expresses. 

Morris finds many different types of ways to cope with stress, and there are many different ways which can vary from student to student based on their preferences.

Stress and being overwhelmed can commonly come hand in hand with homework and upcoming tests. Thankfully, there are many ways to ease stress, as Morris explained. . 

“I had a team party, a practice, a meet, and two tests all in the same day,” Higden said “I felt stressed but going to practice helped ease it.”

Assisting with stress can be challenging, but focusing your mind on something that you love can help ease it. 

“Homework does not affect after school activities too much, but it depends on the workload that day so if there are a lot of assignments due the next day,” Shirley said. “It can be challenging to do it before practice and then make it to practice on time. Otherwise, if there is a normal amount of homework, there is no issue.”  

For Shirley, she has to go to dance directly after school, which can be difficult to complete some days where workload is higher, and when coming home, eating dinner, and just simply relaxing can be challenging. Also, when it comes time to sleep, it results in late nights awake finishing work. 

In conclusion, students’ perspectives on the work with extracurriculars in high school compared to middle school can vary depending on the student.

This year, for the first time, freshmen and sophomores took the ELA and Math i-Ready diagnostic. This has never been done before as it is part of a pilot program the school is testing out. This pilot program is part of the district's effort to align the curriculum and to monitor the progress of students in their transition from middle school to high school. 

The i-Ready may be a test new to the high school, but it is not new to Burlington.

The diagnostic is something taken by all elementary schoolers in Burlington. The test also was implemented in the middle school after COVID to monitor students' progress in reading and math. 

The hope for the i-Ready in the high school is that teachers will be able to use the data from the test to help better teach students. A good and useful thing about the i-Ready is that the results and data from the test come back a lot quicker than most other tests. This allows teachers to use this data sooner. 

“We're hopeful that once all the students are finished testing and we have the results that we can use it to help guide our practice,” Mrs. Whitcomb, math department head, said.

Even though the diagnostic is taken in other Burlington schools, there were some differences in the way the high school conducted the testing.

One difference is the time provided to complete the test. In middle school, students have somewhere between about two or two and a half hours to take the test plus additional time for those who need it. In elementary school, about the same time is given but they spread this time out over multiple days. About half an hour is given each day in class for about a week to complete the test. The schools also provide extra time for students if needed. At the high school only about one and a half hours were given to take the test. This time was given in one sitting like the middle school. Teachers then had to give students who did not finish time in class work to finish or put them into flex blocks to finish.

“I feel like in middle school we have a longer time to finish i-Ready, but in high school it's less time, and you have to find time to finish it in school,” Amelia John, BHS freshman, said. 

Many other students also did not finish the i-Ready in the given amount of time. There were many people who had to finish during additional class time or during a flex block.

Another difference in the way the high school conducted the test was that the i-Ready was taken this year on the third and fourth day of school. At other schools in the district the diagnostic is usually taken a few weeks later into the school year. This testing was part of the cause of a lot of commotion and chaos at the beginning of the year, including the special schedules we had the first week of school.  

“Yeah, it definitely made the first few days a little bit chaotic, so I hope that we look at ways to improve that in the future,” Mrs. Whitcomb said.

The general consensus that most people seem to agree on from this pilot program is that if it is going to be continued it needs to be improved.

“My honest opinion of i-Ready being used in high school is I think it's kinda useless, but at the same time teachers can know what level you are at,” John said.

Even though the testing may need some improvements, people are hopeful that these improvements will happen and it will become a useful tool for the school.

“I think that it's important to realize that one of the reasons we did this is to help align the high school with the middle school and other schools in our district as they already give i-Ready testing,” Mrs. Whitcomb said. “So the hope is that we can use it not only to help inform decisions about our current students but to continue to allow the teachers and staff and our entire district to work together to give students the best experience possible.” 

Approximately every month, school starts 30 minutes later. This is called a common planning day.  enjoy these days, because they can come to school later than usual. While the students’ schedules on this day hardly change, how does the schedule of teachers change on a common planning day?

Mrs. Brumby, a BHS history teacher, stated that 75% of the time, teachers that teach the same subject meet up to discuss the details about what they are teaching, and the other 25% are different departments meeting up to discuss their teaching if the other department is connected to their teaching plan.

Common planning days are used by teachers in the history department to discuss their teaching plans with teachers in their own department and teachers in other departments. 

“A common planning day doesn’t affect teaching necessarily, but it does affect what is being taught for the future,” Mrs. Brumby said.

A common planning day only affects the future of a teacher’s plans, but doesn’t quite affect the teaching plans for the day. 

“We prepare by pulling out tests,” Mrs. Potters said.

 out tests during  days to discuss with other teachers as to whether grading is similar, and to fix any mistakes made on tests. Meeting up during a common planning day with another teacher is a way to discuss a way to improve in the subject, and to do things they don’t commonly do.

“Teachers make sure that  know what is being taught,” Mrs. Potters said.

A part of the common planning day for teachers is to make sure that their material that is being taught is understandable to students. For the science department, “trying out labs” is a part of such a day to see if it is suitable for students.

For the English department, the least favorite thing about a common planning day is not being able to go to every event planned. Not having “solo time” is also a disadvantage, since teachers are scheduled to work with other teachers during this time.

“Sometimes I wish I could be in two places at once,” Ms. Smetana said ”time to collaborate with other teachers makes us better teachers.”

When students arrived at BHS after their summer vacation, they faced a five-day-long special schedule. Instead of the rotating five classes a day, students had seven shorter classes. 

According to the administrators, this was meant to ease the transition for freshmen. As everyone is navigating new schedules, classroom environments, and expectations, a seven period day can add unnecessary stress, making it more challenging for people to adjust to the changes.

“We wanted to create a seven period schedule so that all the teachers actually had a chance to see the kids,” Mr. Sheehan, the assistant principal at BHS, said. 

Mr. Sheehan also said that the reasoning behind the 7 period schedules was due to the i-Ready testing at the start of the year. The Burlington school district administration implemented i-Ready testing for incoming freshmen and sophomore students, therefore the schedule had to be rearranged and tampered with. Some students also reported that it was easier at the start of the year to adjust to a new schedule and a new school to navigate. 

“I thought it was helpful to have it those first couple of weeks as a freshman to see all of my teachers and who I’m going to be in class with,” Keira Egan, BHS freshman, said.

However with shorter periods and more classes, maintaining focus became a battle. It was hard to fully absorb materials when classes became rushed. Students were expected to learn a lesson in forty minutes, rather than the normal sixty minutes. 

“I didn’t have enough focus to switch my mindset from class to class and it made me bored,” Elise Szentpaly, BHS freshman, said.

So instead of feeling energized and ready to learn, students found themselves counting down the seconds and watching the clock, eagerly awaiting the ringing of the bell.

Additionally, class work that was not finished was often left as homework each night. Students left class with a sense of confusion and homework everyday. 

“I hated the first two weeks of school, because I was so tired everyday, and then I had practice and games after school,” Anya Gandhi, a freshman at BHS, said.

In conclusion, starting the year with a demanding schedule can increase anxiety levels, especially for people who may already be feeling nervous about returning to school or starting at a new school. But, it was also considered helpful to people in getting used to the new year. On paper, having seven period days may seem like a good opportunity for students, and to some it might be. However, appearances can be deceiving. It looks simple enough, but for many students it makes the school day much less manageable. In the following year, we hope that we will have a lighter load on our first weeks of school.