Public Education Foundation - Partners for Strong Schools

Block scheduling may go on school chopping block

9/15/2009  | Chattanooga Times Free Press

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By Kelli Gauthier kgauthier@timesfreepress.com

The county’s public school system wants to pinch pennies wherever possible, so officials are examining whether a change in schedules would save money.

Hamilton County high schools now operate on a “block schedule” — four 90-minute classes every day with a new batch in the second semester, for a total of eight classes each year.

But after the topic of schedules came up at a recent system Finance Committee meeting, Tommy Kranz, chief financial officer for the schools, is crunching numbers to determine whether a traditional schedule — seven 45-minute classes that meet for an entire school year — will cost less money.

“(With a block schedule) you have extra classes. As a result, you’ll have the need for more staff,” he said.

But Mr. Kranz, who plans to do a cost-savings analysis this week for an upcoming Finance Committee meeting, cautioned that a move to a traditional schedule would have to consider more than money.

Block scheduling often makes it easier for students who have fallen behind to make up classes, Mr. Kranz said. If they cannot recover credit, they are more likely to drop out. If they drop out, the district’s graduation rate suffers and Hamilton County could face state-mandated consequences for failing to meet federal benchmarks.

“You could have a significant savings, but this is one that’s beyond dollars and cents,” he said. “In the short term you might save money, but because you may not get the same academic opportunities, then we as a district could get into a situation in No Child Left Behind (the federal benchmarks law) that our expenses are expanding because the state is demanding that we institute programs.”

Ooltewah High School principal Mark Bean said he was a high school science teacher when his school made the transition to block scheduling, and he’s never wanted to go back.

“I thought it was fabulous because I had 90 minutes where I could do instruction, groups and a lab all in one day,” he said. “People didn’t have to work real hard at convincing me as a science teacher.”

Red Bank principal Gail Chuy pointed out the danger of students’ attention spans not lasting a full 90 minutes, but she said that is why teachers must be trained on how to teach a block schedule.

“If teachers are trained how to transition several times during a block, (the class) is just as engaging,” she said. “(Students) shouldn’t be expected to sit still; that’s why it’s so important that teachers be trained appropriately.”

Ooltewah senior Kelsey Dill, 17, said she appreciates that block scheduling gives her more time with her teachers.

“It’s a lot easier. You only have four classes a day, so it’s less homework,” she said.

But Hamilton County Board of Education member Rhonda Thurman said she has been against block scheduling since it started showing up in Hamilton County about 10 years ago. If you take a math class in the first semester one year, and then don’t take another until second semester the following year, you’ve had an entire year to forget what you learned, she said.

“The arguments for it just don’t hold water for me,” she said. “Your brain can only absorb what your behind can endure. It’s a long time to sit in class.”

BLOCK SCHEDULE

When the Public Education Foundation’s Bill Kennedy was principal of Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences in the mid-1990s, he heard about the concept of block scheduling at a national conference for secondary school principals. After exploring the alternative schedule, Mr. Kennedy and then-East Ridge High principal Ed Foster decided to implement it at their schools. The concept appealed to Mr. Kennedy because teachers had contact with fewer students every day and better could get to know their individual needs. The extended time also gave teachers an opportunity to do more than just review the previous day’s homework, he said. Since the 1997 merger of the county and city school systems, most of the district’s high schools have converted to a block schedule.