Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503230071
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Yes, it's a significant change in the way the school day is structured. Yes, it may take some getting used to.
But the potential advantages are considerable - and, indeed, are being experienced in nearly every public high school in the state and nation that has made the switch. In North Carolina, block scheduling will be mandatory next year in all high schools.
A few Montgomery parents have expressed concern that the concept has not undergone enough study and planning. Actually, Montgomery's school administrators have been quietly studying it for nearly three years, and their planning has been aided by the experience of the nearly 30 other Virginia high schools - including ones in Roanoke and in Pulaski, Floyd and Franklin counties - that already use block scheduling.
Sure, problems and glitches have arisen on occasion. But for the most part, they've been solved without much difficulty. Doubtless, glitches will arise at Christiansburg and Shawsville, too. But once past the early hurdles - the largest is apt to be human nature's resistance to whatever's ``not the way we've always done it'' - the schools likely will find that:
Students are much better able to master difficult subjects. Voila! They make better grades, and are better prepared for college and careers.
Graduation and attendance rates go up.
Failure and dropout rates go down.
Outbursts of hallway fighting, pushing, shoving and shouting are fewer - because students will be spending less time in the halls, and more in the classroom where their minds will be otherwise occupied.
Use of classrooms and classroom equipment - including computers, science-lab paraphernalia and textbooks - is more cost-efficient.
No wonder the National Education Commission on Time and Learning has strongly endorsed block scheduling.
It isn't a one-size-fits-all reform. The point, rather, is to introduce site-specific scheduling flexibility, as opposed to the rigid system - stemming from the outdated factory model of an earlier era - of six or seven short class periods a day. Different schools, under site-based management policies, determine what's best for them; the trend is toward a day of three or four longer class periods.
For the two Montgomery high schools, there'd be the "four-by-four" schedule. Instead of seven 45-minute class periods a day for the entire school year, for which students receive one credit per class, there would be four, 90-minute class periods per day per semester, for which students could earn eight credits for the year.
Sitting in one classroom for an hour and a half? Won't students fall asleep? Not if teachers make classes interesting, by getting out of the lecture mode and using innovative teaching methods that more actively engage students and involve them in the learning process. Greater student interest has been a positive result of block scheduling in most schools that have tried it. Another result has been the enabling of teachers, because they deal with fewer students per semester, to give each student more attention.
In Montgomery, teachers and students seem rarin' to go four-by-four. The majority of parents who've turned out for public hearings have been supportive. Now let the School Board recognize a change whose time has come.
by CNB