On September 26^th, Associate Superintendent of FCPS Ann Bonitatibus made a presentation to the Frederick County Board of Education about the possible consequences of reverting back to a traditional high school schedule, as opposed to the four block schedule currently in use.  The schedule change proposal is on the BOE schedule for decision in spring of 2012.

One reason the BOE may be looking at year-long classes is in response to the adoption of the Common Core Standards, a national curriculum for improving college readiness.  It makes sense that students lose some knowledge if they aren’t practicing every day. 

“I can see why taking a course all year might be one solution”, said Mrs. Natalie Rebetsky, English Department Chair.

With a traditional schedule, students usually have 6-8 year-long classes, with each class lasting about 45-50 minutes.  With a block schedule, students have four classes a day each semester, with each class lasting 85-90 minutes.

Frederick County Public Schools started the pilot for a block schedule for the 1992-93 school year at Governor Thomas Johnson High School.  Before 1992, all FCPS schools had a seven period day.  The following school year, four more high schools were using the block schedule.  By 1997, all county high schools were using the block schedule.

Benefits of using block scheduling for students include improved attendance, more focused students, expanded course options, and most importantly, better graduation rate.  Benefits for teachers are better relationships with students, longer planning, fewer classes per day, and in-depth instruction.

A traditional schedule, however, offers benefits to drama, music, and industrial arts courses.  The traditional schedule also benefits mathematics.  Students who take math all year are more likely to remember it the following year than a student who only took math the first semester of a year.  According to Tom Hawthorne, agriculture teacher at Linganore, a seven period schedule is better for agriculture courses because students have it the whole year and can be exposed to the entire agriculture program.  Hawthorne is a Linganore alumni, and says the school was on a six period schedule when he attended.

Problems arise when a student transfers from a traditional school to a school that uses block scheduling.  The student will miss material that was covered at a faster pace than their traditional class.  Inversely, if a student moves from a block school to a traditional school, they will be repeating material they already learned.  Also, an absence in a block scheduled class is equivalent to missing at least two days in a traditional class.  Students who have poor attendance will most likely have poor grades.