thanks for the info jdarg...about the block scheduling: some people have said the block schedule is preferable for the students who are in the AP program; without it, their college classes are difficult to fit in.....do you have any insight into this?
We have seen that block is not good for AP (Advanced Placement) classes, since the AP tests are given in early May, there is not enough time to cover the material if the course is taken in the spring, or the AP class was taken several semesters earlier, and the retention goes down. Traditional schedule allows for 17% more instructional time. Our AP scores aren't great- we hope going back to the traditional schedule will help that. The students in the AP classes make good grades for those classes, but a disappointing number score a 4 or 5, which is required to get the college credit for that course. The AP calculus class is already taught fall to spring because that teacher recognizes that there is no way to cram it into one semester ( and this class has a good number getting the AP credit).
I think you are calling "advanced Program" AP, and the college classes I think you are referring to would be dual enrollment. I am not sure how it all will work out, but OW has said they will work with our schools in coordinating the dual enrollment kids.
We have Florida DOE stats of FCAT, SAT, and ACT, comparing FL schools on traditional vs. block, and the block schools perform dismally in comparison to traditional. Niceville, the school everyone loves to use for comparison, dropped the block a few years ago.
It is a myth that block prepares our kids for college. You don't take 4 classes that last 90 minutes everyday- on block the kids take 4 classes per semester, each class meets 90 minutes every day. In college, you take a 90 minute class 2 x a week, juggling 5 or 6 subjects at once. I think this idea was promoted to "sell" the block schedule.
Making this change is challenging for admin, teachers, and students, but we really don't need to reinvent the wheel. Many many schools have managed to make this change, and I am confident we can too. Or school is too small to make block work- there aren't enough sections of each class for the kids to make a good schedule, and they are often left with "filler" classes that they don't want or need, but could not fit anything else in that "slot".