Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 16, 1995 TAG: 9503160047
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Called the four-by-four block schedule, the plan is gaining popularity across the state and nation as a way to make better use of time and keep students interested in their classes. After three years of research, Christiansburg and Shawsville high schools want to adopt the schedule. But first, the School Board must approve it.
"Block scheduling is not a change in curriculum," Nelson Simpkins, principal of Shawsville High and Middle School, said at a presentation to the School Board on Tuesday. "It is a change in the utilization of time in the teaching and learning process."
High school students currently take seven, 45-minute classes per day for the entire school year, receiving one credit per class. Under the block schedule, students would take four, 90-minute classes per semester, earning up to eight credits by the end of the year. Both schedules result in the same number of minutes per class by year's end. The difference, said Christiansburg High School Principal George Porterfield, is the quality of those minutes.
"You can start something and finish it in one period," he said. "And you save so much time by reducing the number of minutes spent changing classes each day."
After the presentation, which included the merits and possible disadvantages of block scheduling, School Board members had myriad questions for the principals.
"Why are we only discussing this at Christiansburg and Shawsville?" asked board member Dick Edwards.
Assistant Superintendent Jim Sellers said both Blacksburg and Auburn high schools considered block scheduling at their schools, but are not ready to commit until they do more research.
Typically, "school restructuring occurs one school at a time anyway," Porterfield said, because individual schools are allowed to choose what they believe is best for their students. "That's better than coming from the top down."
According to Superintendent Herman Bartlett, School Board policy would allow principals to implement the restructuring on their own, "but we felt it was necessary to clear it through the School Board ... that this was the kind of decision that should have discussion," he said.
Midway through the meeting, Edwards looked at the clock on the meeting room wall, and said: "If we were in block scheduling we'd still have 10 minutes left of class. An hour and a half is a long, long time." He asked Porterfield and Simpkins how teachers will plan classes that won't put the students to sleep.
The principals quoted numerous studies from schools using a block schedule which say students are actually more involved in their classrooms because teachers are using inventive and creative teaching techniques.
Other questions explored at the meeting included: How will buses adapt to the new schedule? How will cafeteria workers change their lunch-planning? How will policies change and how will students schedule their classes?
Board member Bob Goncz tried to bring closure to the meeting. "I think what we need to ask is 'What's the problem we're attempting to resolve?' and 'What is the benefit [of block scheduling] to that problem?'"
It's not that the current schedule is a problem, Porterfield said, "The issue is 'Can you do it better?' Block scheduling will make it better."
The School Board will vote on the block schedule at its April 4 meeting.
by CNB