POINT/COUNTERPOINT: Block Scheduling— Saving Grace or Poorly-Timed?

Online school in the middle of a global pandemic has brought on a plethora of challenges, with one of the most prominent being education. Navigating new online tools, creating a new system, and finding a way to create support for all students, families, and staff has not been easy. But if there is anything positive that we can take away from this online education experience, it’s that Kamiak has our back.

The new block schedule this year, with three classes per term, has faced its fair share of skepticism. However, after talking with Mr. Shurtleff, our new principal, and Dr. Jensen, assistant principal and ASB activities administrator, I am confident that this schedule is the best possible one for all students and balances everyone’s needs.

The process to create the online model was laborious, comprising four committees that worked through the summer based on the following categories: learning management systems, educational delivery models, operational logistics, and instructional planning. The committees in charge of reopening schools in the fall started out by setting what their priorities, goals, and values were, which grounded their respective focuses. The core values that guided planning for the fall include: physically and emotionally safe environments for staff and students, decisions made in the best interest of students and families, equitable supports for students, support for students that are further from educational justice, consistent and meaningful conversations with each student, high quality instruction for in-person and remote learning, and strong family-school partnerships in support of student learning.

With these goals and values in mind, the district was able to create central questions vital to the creation of the new schedule. What is best for students? What is best for teachers to make the best for students? Every decision from then on became about those two facets. Then, what was the impact on families? The final piece was equity: how can we best serve all students, regardless of background, need, or strength?

To begin answering these questions, they looked at what didn't work in spring of 2020 when online school first started. Committee members contacted students from the spring, as well as students enrolled in the upcoming fall 2020 semester, and got their feedback. Each teacher and student represented the diverse programs in our district, including but not limited to special education, English language learners, and honors and AP classes. With this wealth of information, the committees began their decision making process. It soon became clear that the big question was time. While online school in the spring of 2020 was a great endeavor, especially considering that it was emergency teaching in the middle of a pandemic, families and students were overwhelmed. Teachers were overwhelmed. Everybody was overwhelmed trying to manage six classes in a six and a half-hour or seven-hour day. All of the online screen time was not working.

So, after months of identifying issues, researching online models used across the country, and weighing the pros and cons of various schedules, the decision was made to use a three-by-three schedule rather than a standard secondary school six-by-six schedule. After all, we are clearly not living in normal times. Do we want students having to deal with three teachers per term or six? Do we want teachers having to deal with only about 90 students per term, or 150? These questions answered themselves quickly. At a high school level, it was better for students to only have three teachers, and for teachers to only have to learn or intervene with up to 90 students.

This pandemic does provide schools with the opportunity to reevaluate their schedule and education models as well as see new possibilities for growth. One of the amazing things about Kamiak, and why it continues to be a state leader, is that we have teachers and staff who are always thinking about the next step. Their plan for the future is to continue to collect feedback from the community and students about what they prefer moving into the future.

So ask yourself the question: what do you like about distance learning that you would prefer to be the norm in the future? What should the new normal be, after a year of uncertainty and unprecedented events? With so much up in the air, consider this change to be an opportunity to reflect on how learning can evolve to meet your needs.

As we tweak our responsibilities to accommodate our own educational needs, the school’s swift transition away from a traditional schedule to a block schedule remains among one of the most notable changes in our routines. Although the change held good intentions, such a sudden shift could be doing more harm than good.

A quick rundown of each schedule for reference: previously, Kamiak High School ran under a traditional schedule—six courses taught both semesters of the school year, each class lasting 55 minutes per day. Our current schedule is a traditional block schedule—three courses taught over the course of one semester, each class lasts 90 minutes per day.

One of the main goals this new schedule planned to achieve was to create a more manageable routine, carrying the assumption that fewer classes equals less work, which equals less stress.

Yes, only concentrating on three classes per semester seems more manageable than juggling six. However, focusing for 90 minutes at a time on one subject can pose a challenge, creating a more stressful school experience. Many students aren’t accustomed to learning from home. Some may not have designated work spaces, and those who do usually work from their own bedrooms, AKA distraction central: a comforting bed, entertaining video games, and tasty snacks are all within reach. These distractions, while common faults to virtual learning in general, are heightened by the prolonged class schedules.

It is also crucial to account for students who are neurodivergent or have learning disabilities, for which these distractions can heavily hinder academic productivity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a 2016 parent survey presented 6.1 million children diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, better known as ADHD, a mental disorder most commonly associated with a short attention span. That number includes over three million children ages 12 to 17, students who already experience difficulty paying attention during in-person hour-long classes. These 90 minute class periods, in addition to the multitude of distractions, only further hinder students with ADHD and other learning disabilities.

Another common disadvantage is a greater loss of information if absent. One of the main reasons the block schedule is meant to work just as well as a traditional schedule is that the same amount of information is being taught, only block schedules present more information in a shorter period of time. However, this also means that absent students miss more information that they then must make up in a shorter timespan alongside on-pace coursework (UOPeople, The Education Revolution).

Our situation also presents an issue with pacing. Teachers and students inexperienced with the new schedule lead to the anxious struggle of packing an entire syllabus’s worth of information into half a school year, causing omission of portions in the curriculum and pushing out more school work faster. On the receiving end, students face more work at a faster pace, which, piled on top of all the previous disadvantages, is simply impractical and unrealistic.

Sticking with a traditional schedule, which we know how to work through, would solve issues with pacing and, in turn, relieve preexistent stress with the announcement of distance learning and our new schedule.

The issue of discontinuity often surfaces in the debate of block vs. traditional schedules as well. During an in-person traditional schedule school year, the only breaks were weekends and the occasional holiday. Now, students experience a break in their “normal” learning routine on Wednesdays as well as a gap between first semester AP courses and AP exams. Organizations including the American Library Association find that experiencing discontinuity and significant gaps between learning subjects or topics is especially concerning since students are less likely to retain information previously learned.

Addressing our Wednesdays: yes, they are still classified as educational days, only asynchronous. However, how many students actually study information at the level equivalent to a synchronous day? Yes, Zoom office hours are available, but how many students actually attend those hours? A survey was conducted on Kamiak students asking whether or not they regularly visit Wednesday Zoom office hours: 92% of students surveyed voted no.

Maintaining a traditional schedule would solve this issue. Active participation in all courses throughout the entire school year presents a more supportive environment to those who plan to take AP tests. While students still have the opportunity to enroll in the exams this year, it may be after a huge gap in scheduled, structured instruction time, leading to uncertainty when seeking credit. College in the High School is offered for many classes, but not all, and it is much more expensive than an AP exam ($200+ compared to a $90 exam fee). The new schedule pushes students who are perfectly capable of passing AP exams towards a more expensive option and hinders their ability to earn college credit.

It is important to remember that this change was made with the students’ and teachers’ best interest in mind. It was an effort to lower our workload and better everyone’s virtual learning experience. That being said, neither teachers nor students are used to this new routine, and this change on top of so many others only adds to the struggles individuals face trying to make it through the new academic landscape.