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Descriptors:
Suburban Schools; High Schools; Block Scheduling; School Schedules; Discipline; Achievement Tests; Program Effectiveness; Academic Achievement; Attendance Patterns; Student Behavior; Comparative Analysis; Reading Tests; Mathematics Tests; Scores; Referral; Standardized Tests; Student Attitudes; Teacher Attitudes; Administrator Attitudes

Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine the impact block scheduling has on (a) student academic achievement, discipline, and attendance, and (b) administrator, teacher, and student perceptions. The study compared 2005-2010 data from a high school utilizing the A/B block schedule and a high school under a traditional schedule, in one suburban school district. The study used mixed methods. The quantitative data described, analyzed, and interpreted reading and math FCAT [Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test] scores, attendance rates, and discipline referrals from 2005-2010. A total of seven repeated ANOVAs were conducted to analyze the difference between the two schedule designs with respect to two achievement indicators; reading and math FCAT scores. The qualitative data offered a voice to administrators, teachers, and students, and was gathered through individual face-to-face, email, or phone interviews. The quantitative findings for the study yielded the following conclusions: (1) students experienced higher FCAT reading scores on the A/B block schedule than the traditional schedule; (2) students experienced higher FCAT math scores under the traditional schedule than the A/B block schedule; (3) attendance rates decreased for students under the A/B block schedule and increased for students under the traditional schedule; and (4) discipline referrals decreased at a higher rate for students under the traditional schedule than students under the A/B block schedule. The administrator, teacher, and student perceptions contributed to the following qualitative findings for the study: (1) block scheduling fosters extended learning sessions when properly planned; (2) with fewer transitions discipline issues decreased; (3) attendance was not affected by the block schedule; (4) block schedule allows for the implementation of various instructional strategies; and (5) transitioning from a traditional to a block schedule was thought to be difficult at first, but attainable, and would alleviate any feelings of being rushed. Four appendixes present: (1) Florida High School Report Card; (2) Interview Questions; (3) Participant Consent Form; and (4) Parental Permission Form. (Contains 22 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Tenure; Community Colleges; Educational Change; College Students; Remedial Instruction; Comprehensive Programs; Educational Innovation; Educational Improvement; Educational Quality; Student Responsibility; Student Needs; Homework; Student Employment; School Schedules; Teaching Methods

Abstract:
In the United States, people think of elementary and secondary education as fundamentally different from higher education. The first two levels are where students are expected to learn the building blocks for lifelong learning, while college is meant to confer higher-order thinking and more-specialized skills. How students are treated flows directly from the difference in these sets of expectations. Before college, students generally are provided with schedules for prescribed classes, where they end up doing more learning inside than outside the classroom. College students, by contrast, are expected to be far more independent, to figure out which classes to take and then do most of their course-related work outside the classroom. For most of the roughly seven million students seeking degrees at community colleges, though, this construct makes little sense. They have often not mastered the building blocks: Up to two-thirds of community-college students need remedial education. Even though they are often the first in their families to go to college, community-college students receive scant support or advice for navigating course choices. And most of them have jobs, leaving less time for homework. The result: Fewer than 40 percent of those who attend full time go on to graduate or transfer within three years. But what if community colleges were organized to achieve success for the students they have, not for students like those who attend four-year residential colleges? First, such a re-envisioned community college would offer far greater numbers of block-scheduled programs. Rather than selecting courses, most students would be directed to enter comprehensive programs built around specific degree goals and schedules. A second important change would affect what happens in the classroom. A central operating theory in elementary and secondary reform is that the most important variable that schools can directly influence to improve learning is the quality of teaching in the classroom. There is every reason to believe the same is true in community colleges. Re-envisioned, community colleges would focus their hiring, professional development, and tenure systems on a single goal: improved teaching and learning. These innovations--structured programs and rigorous systems of tenure and support for improved teaching--are already happening at some excellent community colleges in the United States as well. Now more community colleges must follow suit if they are to meet the vital goal of significantly increasing the success of their diverse student bodies. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Resource Allocation; Block Scheduling; School Schedules; School Districts; Cost Effectiveness; Goal Orientation; Flexible Scheduling; Teaching Load; Costs; Values

Abstract:
Driven by stable or declining financial resources many school districts are considering the costs and benefits of a seven-period day. While there is limited evidence that any particular scheduling model has a greater impact on student learning than any other, it is clear that the school schedule is a tool that can significantly impact teacher instruction. It is also clear that the schedule and the allocation of resources (time, personnel) reflect a school community's values and priorities. It is important, therefore, to have a full and thorough discussion about school and district goals and priorities prior to adjusting the schedule. (Contains 14 online resources and 4 print resources.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Educational Strategies; Teaching Methods; Block Scheduling; Trimester System; School Schedules; Educational Environment; High Schools; Time Factors (Learning); Learner Engagement; Time Management; Program Evaluation

Abstract:
Why do a trimester schedule? With the advent of block scheduling, many high schools conducted research on utilizing that plan in a trimester format. There appeared to be three issues that most schools faced: (1) How to provide substantive instructional time that was not fragmented?; (2) How does the school climate contribute positively to students' learning?; and (3) How to provide the appropriate amount of instructional time so that each student can learn in the best ways for him/her? "Breaking Ranks" suggested that: (1) curriculum should offer essential knowledge that makes connections to real life; (2) instructional strategies should actively engage students in their learning; (3) the environment should be receptive to the learners and educators; (4) time and space be reexamined and utilized to best meet the needs of the students; and (5) all stakeholders should be accountable for assessment of the instructional program. (Contains 11 online resources.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
School Schedules; Educational Innovation; Colleges; Online Courses; Transfer Students; College Freshmen; Study Abroad; Educational Finance; College Admission; Internship Programs

Abstract:
Some students at University of Florida can take classes only during the spring and summer semesters for as long as they are enrolled. Each year they will get a four-month break--the fall semester--when they can take online courses, study abroad, or do internships. Some may opt to work. Despite their schedules, the students are full-fledged undergraduates--not second-class citizens--a point the university has emphasized on and off the campus. At a time when colleges are rethinking their offerings, Florida's move represents a reinvention of the academic calendar. The idea was inspired by growing demand and a dwindling supply of seats. A few years ago, deep cuts in state appropriations prompted the university's leaders to shrink undergraduate enrollment. Although they were wary of limiting access further, they knew the campus was at capacity--at least during the fall. Florida, like many other institutions, has long offered spots to "January admits," first-year applicants who must wait for a semester before enrolling. Over the past several years, the university has quadrupled the number of freshmen admitted in the spring, when it also welcomes about 1,000 transfer students. Officials decided that the spring-and-summer option must come with an enticement, something distinctive. So they developed the Innovation Academy, a mandatory series of courses, including a senior-year capstone project, for all spring-and-summer students. Each student takes six courses--on creativity and entrepreneurship, for instance--as part of a minor in "innovation." The program offers seminars, guest lectures, and service-learning opportunities, all to encourage students to develop solutions to problems in their chosen fields. Participating students also get hands-on experience at the university's new business incubator. Florida plans eventually to enroll 2,000 students on the spring-and-summer schedule. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Middle Schools; Urban Schools; School Effectiveness; School Administration; Educational Environment; School Culture; Block Scheduling; School Security; Discipline; Educational Change

Abstract:
In 2003, Dr. Freddie Thomas Middle School in Rochester, New York, was in serious trouble. In 2000, it had been labeled a "school under registration review" by the New York State Education Department and was under a directive to make significant progress or face serious consequences. Three years later in 2003, only 3% of eighth-grade students were meeting state standards in mathematics and only 9% in English language arts. The school climate was no better. There was little sense of order, and 911 calls were an everyday occurrence. The middle school had opened in 1995 with much fanfare. It was one of the new schools built with such hope in an area of extreme poverty in Rochester. After only a few years of this hopeful opening, however, the school was threatened to be closed. Within the first five years, three different principals were appointed to Thomas. The frequent changes in leadership did not allow for a consistent instructional vision or clear procedures for keeping order in the building. After only two years, three-fourths of the staff had to be replaced because of transfers out of the school and increasing enrollment. Many of the new hires were inexperienced first-year teachers. Within that environment of stress and disorder, there was confusion about roles and responsibilities and an inability to see beyond the immediate difficulties. Most painful was the lack of hope on students' faces as they entered each day. The few students who arrived on time coped by beginning each day with their heads down and hoodies up, making no eye contact with anyone. Today, Thomas is ranked in the top third of high schools in Rochester. Student achievement in mathematics and English language arts has risen substantially. Currently, no students have scored at the lowest level in these core areas. Thomas made adequate yearly progress in English language arts this year and, just as significant, has seen a considerable decrease in student suspensions during the last six years. This article describes how a focused and purposeful emphasis on connecting people, instructional practice, and a strong sense of community in three distinct areas--systems, culture, and instruction--turned a school without hope into an education dream. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Higher Education; Innovation; Best Practices; Educational Practices; Literature Reviews; Educational Innovation; Instructional Innovation; Synthesis; Performance Factors; Performance Technology; Predictor Variables; Educational Change; Educational Development; Change Strategies

Abstract:
Faced with the challenges of the changes in: higher education, educational developers' roles and the use of innovation to stimulate change, this study aimed to synthesise literature dealing with the diffusion of innovative learning and teaching practices in higher education to determine what lessons could be learnt. The findings suggest that the following need to be considered if innovations are to influence widespread change: senior management support, recognition of the time needed to change practices, appropriate skill development, contextualised innovation, supportive networks and a solid institutional infrastructure. The paper also considers the difficulties faced when trying to generalise guidance in an area wrought with the complexities of change and calls for further research that problematises the realities of innovation diffusion. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Adventure Education; Educational Change; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools; High Schools; Block Scheduling; Time Blocks; Models; Fused Curriculum; Integrated Curriculum; Field Studies; Experiential Learning; Hands on Science

Abstract:
About 20 years ago, a number of Yukon schools took a different approach to outdoor education and outdoor pursuits. During the 1970s and 1980s, most Yukon high schools and junior high schools offered a course called Outdoor Education. These courses fit into the conventional blocks in a school timetable. Outdoor activities longer than these blocks of time typically took time from other teachers. This created a constant source of school tension in which students often fell behind in the other subjects and were required to play "catch-up" on their own time. This approach did little to link the outdoor activity with other subjects or to gain support from the larger school staff. Including field studies with outdoor pursuits has proved to be a successful educational approach. The ability to fuse an outdoor activity with related field studies benefits the entire educational enterprise. The linking of field studies with an outdoor pursuit gives both the study and the activity additional meaning. In addition, field studies reinforce both labs and lectures in specific subjects. In this paper, the author discusses one such program, describes a number of field studies employed in this program, and highlights some of the long-term benefits of this program. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Teacher Student Relationship; War; Citizenship Education; Social Control; Citizenship; Peace; Social Change; Teaching Methods; Democracy; Case Studies; Discipline; Laws; Instructional Innovation; Teacher Attitudes; Prediction; Educational History; Curriculum

Abstract:
This article explores the tension between social control and democratic participation in the first American peace education curriculum, "A Course in Citizenship" (1914). Previously, this "Course" has been read as a case study of progressive era peace education, during which the call to teach democratically increased in volume. Building on this critical history, the "Course" can also offer historical perspective on the high value of discipline and obedience to law inscribed in some teachers' views of citizenship education. Read alongside archival transcripts from the American peace movement before World War I, the warrants for predicting future peace in the "Course in Citizenship" suggest that peace education requires innovative methods of constituting classroom authority on the basis of representation. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Mathematics Instruction; High Schools; Secondary Education; Comparative Education; Foreign Countries; School Schedules; Vacations; Textbooks; Selection; Access to Computers; Grouping (Instructional Purposes); Block Scheduling

Abstract:
The United States of America is a large and diverse country; nevertheless, high schools have a lot in common across the nation. In particular, mathematics teaching in American high schools, while not stereotyped, has some accepted norms which would be seen as unusual here in Australia. In order for the Australians to learn from the Americans, as well as to properly appreciate the curriculum and assessment materials they receive from them, it is important for them to understand the differences between the two countries in both schools and mathematics teaching. In this article, the author shares the differences he discovered while he sojourned in the United States to do some observations. He said that the first major difference he came across was that most schools break for nearly the whole summer; they do not resume until the start of September, which is the equivalent of March in the Australian context. High schools, in the main, cover the ninth to twelfth years of schooling; students in these years are referred to as freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. This ability to spread the students across the courses is the second difference, and is enabled by the third, which is the way in which timetables are managed. He added that textbooks in the United States are usually chosen by the education district rather than the individual teacher or the school and that computer access for mathematics classes was as much a problem in the United States as it is in Australia. (Contains 1 figure.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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