ClassZone: The Language of Literature

Block Scheduling

Title: How an Alternating-Day Schedule Empowers Teachers

Author: Mark D. DiRocco

Source: Educational Leadership,December 1998 - January 1999

This article presents an argument in favor of block scheduling. According to the authors, block scheduling "not only improves school climate, but it also increases opportunities for learning and levels of achievement." The authors support their conclusions using a 1997 Virginia Department of Education survey of administrators and teachers in schools that use block scheduling. They also offer an analysis of standardized test scores to recommend block scheduling.

Title: Block Scheduling Can Enhance School Climate

Authors: Thomas L. Shortt, Yvonne V. Thayer

Source: Educational Leadership, December 1998 - January 1999

Seventh grade teachers at Lewisburg Area Middle School in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, experimented with an alternating-day block schedule for an interdisciplinary unit in English and social studies. The success of the schedule prompted the 8th grade teachers to use it the next year. After two years of using the schedule, a study of student achievement showed that test scores and grade averages had improved. According to the author, the success of the schedule is due in part to teachers' eagerness to improve instructional opportunities for their students. He also suggests that the new schedule worked well for teachers because the decision to adopt it "was made by teams of teachers, not by administrators, schools board members or committees."