THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 7, 1994 TAG: 9411070032
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: VIRGINIA
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER STROMANN, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
Several Hampton Roads high schools are reforming education by changing class schedules. The reason?
``Research, kids and teachers said they need more time to get into the heart of learning,'' said Marjorie L. Stealey, principal at Norview High in Norfolk.
Norview and Virginia Beach's Kempsville, Ocean Lakes and Princess Anne high schools have shifted to block scheduling this year.
``It's really kind of fun,'' said Gina Ginn, a Norview High junior. ``The classes are neat. For art, I have more time to think about what I'm going to do and how to carry it out.''
Virginia Beach's block-scheduling program divides each school day into three 90-minute classes. Students take a total of six courses that meet on alternate days. They also attend a 90-minute class each day called an ``action block.'' Half of the action block is for lunch and the other half is for a study hall or other activity, such as visiting the computer lab.
But the system can be confusing. Announcements made before first bell and posters remind Ocean Lakes students whether they are to follow an `A' or `B' schedule.
Norview's program is set up differently. For instance, Ginn attends a 10-minute homeroom before classes each day. Then, she attends three 95-minute classes, one 45-minute class and a 45-minute lunch.
Norview also alternates the weeks that classes meet. Some weeks classes meet twice, while other weeks they meet three times. Norview reminds students of the schedule with videotape announcements during homeroom and with color-coded calendars in each classroom.
According to Edward L. Jones Jr., coordinator of high school education in Virginia Beach, one of the advantages of block scheduling is that the ``longer instructional period requires teachers to rethink the way they currently teach to keep the students' attention.''
School officials also said that block scheduling allows students more time to get interested in their courses and to study for them.
``It's easier than a seven-bell day. The day goes by faster even though classes are 90 minutes,'' said Trevor Wright, a junior at Ocean Lakes High School.
Kenisha Wiggs, a senior at Kempsville High, at first hated the idea of block scheduling. ``I didn't like the fact that I'd have to sit in a class for 90 minutes. I thought it would be very boring. But now I like it.''
Ginn, Wright and Wiggs agree that block scheduling allows more group activities and encourages more classroom participation than in previous years.
Wright said his teachers do not just lecture; they ``let you do something.''
Because of the action block, Wright and Wiggs said they do not have as much homework as last year because they have fewer subjects each day. But in Norfolk, Ginn said, teachers assign extra homework because students have an extra day before it is due.
Ginn's friends all seem to like the new schedule, but Wiggs has heard complaints about the length of classes.
Students like the study hall and the possibility of leaving school earlier. Teachers have plenty of time to explain facts.
Other advantages of block scheduling touted in a brochure Kempsville sent to its students are ``increased academic achievement, more time for practice activities, lower drop-out rate, and stronger working relationships between teachers and students.''
But block scheduling isn't the only new arrangement being tried at the Beach. Another approach allows for more, but shorter, classes.
Last year, Virginia Beach schools Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette was looking for a high school to experiment with an eight-bell day with shorter classes. Salem principal Ramona B. Stenzhorn volunteered her school.
Stenzhorn said that one reason the new schedule was attractive was that it would allow band and chorus students to take a foreign language. In the past, scheduling conflicts made this impossible.
Under the schedule, school begins at Salem at 7:15 a.m., 20 minutes earlier than last year, and ends nine minutes later at 2:09 p.m. Seven class periods and lunch have been shortened from 50 to 48 minutes. Time between classes has been shortened by one minute.
``This bell schedule meets our students' needs,'' said Nancy H. Marslender, an assistant principal at Salem. She added that the schedule gives students ``an opportunity to pursue a more comprehensive elective program.''
It allows students to take a vigorous curriculum with six or seven advanced-placement classes or a slower-paced schedule with study halls. Officials think the schedule may improve student performance, Jones said.
But in a recent survey of 100 students conducted by Salem's ``Eclipse'' newspaper staff, only 36 percent of students said that they benefit from the added bell. In addition, 50 percent said their classrooms are more crowded, and 61 percent said they have more homework than last year.
If it is successful, other schools may adopt the schedule.
``After an assessment from students, teachers and parents, Salem could switch to block scheduling if it doesn't work,'' Jones said.
Other schools using forms of block scheduling include Western Branch High in Chesapeake and Manteo High School in Manteo, N.C.
At Manteo High, students finish what would normally be a yearlong course in a semester by attending four 90-minute classes each day. The following semester, they sign up for different classes.
Next year, Portsmouth's Churchland High will begin block scheduling. Meanwhile, Churchland will have a chance to assess what happens at Kempsville, Princess Anne, Ocean Lakes and Norview and to ``learn from their mistakes,'' said Churchland High principal Raymond A. Hale. MEMO: Jennifer Stromann is a junior at Salem High School.
ILLUSTRATION: BLOCK SCHEDULING
\ Ocean Lakes High junior Trevor Wright's schedule shows how
block classes work in Virginia Beach.
1st bell: Consumer Math
2nd bell: Life Management
3rd bell: U.S. History
4th bell: Action Block
On Tuesdays, Thursdays and alternating Fridays, his schedule looks
like this:
1st bell: Psychology
2nd bell: English
3rd bell: Journalism
4th bell: Action Block
Junior Gina Ginn has a slightly different block schedule at Norview
High in Norfolk. Depending on the week, Gina might attend the
following classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays:
Block 1: Art - 95 minutes.
3: Advanced Placement History - 95 minutes.
5: Lunch - 45 minutes.
5: Drama - 45 minutes.
7: Chemistry - 95 minutes.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, during a week ``A,'' she attends:
Block 2: English - 95 minutes.
4: Pre-Calculus - 95 minutes.
5: Lunch - 45 minutes.
5: Drama - 45 minutes.
6: Chemistry - 95 minutes.
by CNB