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    #247381 07/25/20 01:11 PM
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    Wren Offline OP
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    School has a 10 subjects over 2 day schedule.
    Their proposed idea for covid is that half the kids in a class are at home half at school. Simple.
    But they want trimesters. First 2 are 15 weeks, the last one 6 weeks.
    Put all AP courses in the first two.
    Now. You go to school two days a week for only one class.
    A day class, there is a class of 15. B day class there is a class of 15. Wed everyone stays home. then A and B day again. Same class, same cohort. It doesn't change until the second week, when the half that was at home goes to school, and then back again.
    Now they want 4 courses per 15 week trimester. So every 3 weeks, they switch to 2 different courses. then back again after 3 weeks. Is it only me, but it is hard enough to learn in a 6 hour class, especially if you are home at your computer, but to do a switch every three weeks between subjects? Has anyone heard of such a thing?

    Last edited by Wren; 07/25/20 01:13 PM.
    Wren #247383 07/25/20 02:16 PM
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    So if I'm understanding this correctly, this is sort of an extreme version of block scheduling, or something like medical school modules. Some university classes are also run this way, usually late afternoon/evening classes aimed at students with daytime jobs, compressed courses during mini-terms, or high school students making up credits in night school. (Some colleges around here offer two-week, daily, four-hour, three-credit courses during the winter interterm.) I can understand why they might choose this structure, as it is about as close to true cohorting as one can get at the high school level, but I'd agree that some students will be challenged to focus on, let alone absorb, instruction in three hour blocks, even with mask breaks (I would assume it's not really a six-hour class, since presumably they get to eat lunch).

    I will also offer that this is more-or-less how we homeschooled one of ours a bit ago. In your case, it will also undoubtedly be easier to do in person than online.

    It's not a model I would dismiss out of hand, since it has a reasonably functional track record in certain populations, but where those are usually self-selected populations, it's difficult to project how it will play out across an entire high school.


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    Wren #247384 07/25/20 02:30 PM
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    No, it is 6 hour blocks. But after 3 weeks of 2 subjects. They switch to another 2 subjects for 3 weeks. Then switch back to the original 2 subjects. And then back again. So back and forth between 2 sets of 2 subjects. 6 hour classes, one subject per day. Except Wed where everyone is online and they get both subjects. So that would be 3 hour block. M, T, Th and Fr are 6 hour classes. This goes on for a 15 week term. Then another term starts with 4 more subjects. Then a 6 week term at the end with 2 subjects.

    Wren #247385 07/25/20 02:32 PM
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    sorry, I didn't read your whole post. Yes, they do break for lunch. But it is still 6 hours of math or english or economics for 7th to 12th grade, so that is some 12 year olds.

    Wren #247386 07/25/20 04:07 PM
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    FWIW, I just did a quick scan of school scheduling models, and apparently variations of this have been tried over the past 50 years or so, with stakeholder feedback running across the whole spectrum. I expect success depends a great deal on implementation. It appears to be a synthesis of a few models: the 75/75/30 plan (hence two long trimesters and one short semester, with core courses loaded in early trimesters), and a full-day-class rotating or alternating schedule.

    So it's all been done before somewhere. The research I could find on the effect of schedules on achievement pretty much finds -- big surprise -- that it depends more on the teachers and what they do with the time than on the structure of the schedule itself. IOW, it seems likely that your school will be as effective with this schedule as would be predicted from how this set of faculty was under the old schedule. The good teachers will use the opportunity to go deep and use a variety of interactive and creative teaching methods, and probably enjoy having more latitude. The mediocre teachers will adjust their plans to do five or six lightly-modified lessons a day. The weak teachers will be just as ineffective, which will probably make two days a week particularly painful for their students...but they won't have to see them the rest of the time.


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    Wren #247387 07/25/20 04:14 PM
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    Thanks. alternating I understand but a 3 week rotation schedule I don't get and have not found one thing online that has a history of doing 2 subjects for 3 weeks, then 2 subjects and then going back to the initial 2 subjects for 3 weeks, and back to the 2nd pair of subjects. Nowhere. If you have links, I would appreciate it.

    Wren #247388 07/25/20 05:11 PM
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    Hm...What school district are you talking about?


    YanaZ.
    Wren #247389 07/25/20 05:28 PM
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    private academic

    Wren #247390 07/25/20 05:32 PM
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    I have found stuff on block learning, but nothing about taking 3 weeks of 2 subjects, then starting with another 2 subjects for 3 weeks, then going back to the original 2 subjects.

    So math and english for 3 weeks, then chem and geography for 3 weeks, then math and english for 3 weeks, then chem and geograhy for 3 weeks, then there are 3 more weeks until the trimester ends.

    Wren #247391 07/25/20 05:50 PM
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    This research report on school schedules commissioned by a high-performing district includes a number the aspects of your school's fall plans: five-week modules, block schedules, rotating schedules. It does not include six-hour classes.

    https://www.lwsd.org/uploaded/Websi...novative-Approaches-for-HS-Schedules.pdf

    This report from the same consulting group describes the 4x4 (two terms, four courses each), 3x5 (three terms, five courses each) and 75/75/30 schedules:

    https://www.mansfieldisd.org/upload...Research-OptimalScheduling_Secondary.pdf

    A high school in Massachusetts apparently used a plan (the Copernican plan) similar to your schools, referenced in this article:
    http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/mar93/vol35/num03/Are-Longer-Classes-Better%C2%A2.aspx

    and described further in this ERIC citation:
    https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED313812

    The superintendent at that time (early 1990s) instituted a schedule of six-week modules, where one four-hour class was taught each day for 30 days, for a total of six courses per year. The district appears to be employing a slightly less dramatic version of block scheduling these days, but with some element remaining.

    I don't have a citation for this one (although I expect I could find one), but my own school used to run a year-long cycle-based schedule that consisted of two weeks A cycle (four courses), and two weeks B cycle, alternating cycles.

    And note that quite a few schools essentially used a schedule of one or two classes per day during remote learning. (My DC's school had synchronous class time for each class only once per cycle, which came to once every two weeks, with the remaining work asynchronous.)


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