Published: December 05, 2008 11:11 pm         

EPS superintendent, team doing research on block scheduling method

In the early 1990s, schools around the nation entered into the block scheduling craze, a scheduling system that allowed students longer class periods by having fewer classes per day.

Less than 10 years later many of those schools started to abandon block scheduling.

Enid Public Schools Superintendent Shawn Hime is asking why.

So is a team of Enid parents and teachers who have been doing research on the block method of scheduling.

“They’re still looking at it,” Hime said, “looking at different options of schedules.”

While many high schoolers and parents may cringe at the thought of losing the current block scheduling method, Hime wants to assure everyone involved this decision is not limited to “block versus traditional.”

“It’s not about is the seven-period day of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s better?” Hime said. “It’s about what’s best for educating students.”

A study by the College Board showed students educated in the block scheduling method do not score as well as students who are in a schedule that allows them to attend each class daily. Another advantage of a daily class schedule is students actually will have more class time with the teachers. For example, each class is held every other day for 90 minutes in block scheduling. In a schedule with each class held daily, students receive 52 to 60 minutes of daily instruction in a class.

The current block schedule at EHS also creates a problem of balancing re-quired classes and electives, Hime said.

“One thing that is hard to justify with the block is one-fourth of the (students’) time is spent in band or athletics, while one-eighth of the time is spent in algebra or English,” Hime said.

Oklahoma State School Board Association Execu-tive Director Jeff Mills has been through the process when a school transitioned away from block scheduling. Mills was superintendent in El Reno when the switch was made.

“It was a little tough for me because I was a proponent for the block,” Mills said, “but I had to look at not only what our students needed but what teachers needed.”

El Reno made the transition to a schedule that allows the students to be in each class daily and allows each teacher a planning period and a “teaming” period, which is used to meet with other teachers and discuss the best way to teach certain students.

“That has proven to be successful,” Mills said. “After the first semester we didn’t have any complaints.”

Mills said the transition, like any major change, was not necessarily easy, but it wasn’t all that tough either.

“There were some (parents) that really liked the block and some that were ready to transition away from it,” he said.

One of the things parents worried about in leaving the block schedule was an in-crease in homework.

“The block schedule is definitely not scheduled to do homework in class,” Hime said.

While many think the 90-minute class period allows time for instruction and then homework, Hime said, the entirety of the 90-minute period is designed for instruction in order to receive the full advantage of the 45 minutes a day it averages out to be.

A heavy load of homework each evening is not something that is expected to be a problem with a daily class schedule.

“The thing that we have to do as schools is to recognize that homework is practice,” Mills said.

Norman Public Schools Superintendent Joseph Siano said Norman made the transition away from the block schedule for financial reasons.

“Our circumstances were a little different,” he said. “We made the transition during the last time we had a major economic down cycle.”

Siano said the school decided to change the schedule approximately five years ago to reduce budget expenditures.

While the primary reason for the change was financial, Siano said, faculty members found it had educational advantages as well.

“With high school kids, daily interaction seems to have a positive effect,” Siano said.

Norman now is on what is called a “seven-period flex” schedule. The schedule is flexible for those students who work or are concurrently enrolled in college courses or CareerTech, Siano said. There also is a “zero hour,” a voluntary period of the day students can use to take extra courses or for remediation and credit recovery.

According to Hime, if Enid decides to transition away from the block schedule, school officials will build a new schedule from scratch, based on scheduling systems that have proven to be successful in enhancing the education of students.

A decision on scheduling should be reached in Jan-uary at the regular school board meeting.

The schedule will not be created by January, but the board may vote to approve or disapprove the creation of a new scheduling system. Any new scheduling system will not take away from current programs offered by the school, such as electives, concurrent enrollment or graduating early, Hime said.

“Anything we offer on a block schedule we will offer on any other schedule,” Hime said.

Out of 15 6A peer schools in Oklahoma, Enid is one of only three still on block scheduling, and the majority of schools in the nation are not on a block schedule.

“It never was the predominate schedule nationally,” Hime said.

To give school officials feedback on the scheduling issue go to www.enid publicschools.org. A link on the homepage allows for feedback.