Changing the schedule is one thing, but teachers must also personally adapt in the following ways. PD may be required for that kind of learning and mindset shift to occur.
"…..schools considering alternative schedules should be aware that the schedule is not an end in itself, but should instead, be developed as part of an overall plan to address a school’s identified goals” (Pickell, 2017)
Change in general perception of the model and the student’s success in (Bourassa, 2015; Inayat & Ali, 2020; Salvaterra & Adams, 1995). All parties need to be positively committed to it for it to actually work (The Division of Planning Research and Evaluation, 1971). Teachers that could not adapt or saw it as temporary ended up more frustrated (Pickell, 2017)
Planning, instruction style and assessment quantity must be adapted for true effectiveness (McCreary & Hausman, 2001; Pickell, 2017; Showell & Brown, 2019)
More consultation / viewings of schools who have had the quarter system for a longer period of time
Activity based and hands on learning over rote memorization to improve retention (Carroll, 1989; Inayat & Ali, 2020;Pickell, 2017)
Cannot lecture the whole time, need to chunk lectures and incorporate multiple transitions in a class (Pickell, 2017; Wikenheiser, 2020). Providing less lectures but more homework time may also not be the most effective, as an interactive component still must be incorporated (McCreary & Hausman, 2001). It is usually best if students are working (Mombourquette, 2020), therefore work time should be increased in class, but the kind of work time must be considered. One option is to provide a short video for them to view at home about the content, and utilize the class time for questions, activities and practice time in class (Mombourquette, 2020)
Incorporating more group work so that students have an opportunity to move around, and help each other learn
Using a variety of media and teaching strategies, in particular ones where student have to get out of their desk for a bit
Science
Emphasize vocabulary development
Consciously use key science vocab in context (Mombourquette, 2020)
Individual word placemats or class word wall
Make models out of food or clay for science (BruisedHead, 2020)
Explicit teaching of different study strategies
Writing
Focus on one key aspect of writing at a time (Mombourquette, 2020)
Incorporate interests of the students
Cannot just wing lessons, need to plan, as it is a long block of time that needs to be well organized (Wikenheiser, 2020)
#1 improvement idea by far from in-school survey was longer or more breaks, one way to potentially do this is have set breaks on a bell schedule. If not this route, then teachers need to consciously build in breaks.
One other thing that came from the student survey was more tutorial time outside of class, so that struggling students are able to touch base with their teachers. This could be incorporated by having set tutorial times or encouraging students to make an appointment when they need it.
Tie more outcomes together so that marking can be alleviated. And repeat that a few times, so that if students miss a few days, the next project overlaps some of the outcomes that thy would have missed.
Assessment and feedback needs to be timely so that student can personally assess where they need to clarify their understanding
Decrease the number of summative assessments in general, aim for quality over quantity (Desrochers, 2020; Mombourquette, 2020). Incorporation of more formative assessment can be used instead, this can still be tracked in the LMS or in an excel.
More project based assessments where the teacher can do individual check ins throughout (Mombourquette, 2020)
Open book quizzes based only on their notes/past assignments, so that it is in their best interest to do formative work and review the feedback (BruisedHead, 2020)
Tests should be more anecdotal / application based to show understanding better, rather than just multiple choice (Mombourquette, 2020). Then students could bring in cheat sheets for tests, where the students can bring in a paper with information that they can use for the test. In this scenario testing would need to be more application based, so that it's more of an application of notes, rather than just copying notes (Wikenheiser, 2020). This method is more representative of what happens in real life.
Oral retests instead of written (BruisedHead, 2020)
Team tests so that you can hear students discuss how they came to a conclusion (Wikenheiser, 2020)
Decrease weighting of exams (Wikenheiser, 2020)
Lots of short and mini assessments that can be clumped together over time, rather than one long one at once (Wikenheiser, 2020)
Those that shared ideas adapted better to a quarter system (Salvaterra & Adams, 1995)
PLC’s (professional learning committees) for teachers to collaborate and share ideas about strategies that provided success
Allow teachers that are teaching similar subjects to have the same break to allow for that collaboration time (Showell & Brown, 2019)
Student engagement should be intentionally created (Inayat & Ali, 2020) by doing some of the following
Relationship with students (which is actually easier to do in a quarter system) and fellow peers to share ideas
More likely to come to class, behave well, and try harder
Autonomy in work
Goal planning
Explain the purpose of what you are doing (BruisedHead, 2020)
Stay on top of it! With parents and students
Keep the learning management system updated (i.e.- D2L)
Faster intervention for struggling students (Bourassa, 2015; Matuszek, 1976). This would also be key if a student has to miss school for some reason (Mombourquette, 2020). This may be even more critical in the -2 or -3 streams, as they may need prodding to stay on top of their work.
Communication to admin via teacher survey and feedback. If the quarter system was used for the first time, a survey after Q1 may not be as accurate, because it would be more emotionally based. A teacher survey after Q3 may be better, when the teachers are more settled in and can provide more rational answers (Desrochers, 2020)
Characteristic of instruction based on behavioural psychology (Carroll, 1989):
Limited material at a time
Response to each piece
Immediate feedback
Respond at own pace
Characteristics of instruction from cognitive psychology (Carroll, 1989):
Organized chunks
Start with concrete examples
Complicated material is learned over time and by being seen a variety of ways