Albemarle defends use of block scheduling

Albemarle County school officials say a new system for class schedules will allow students to focus on fewer classes at once and take more electives, but some students fear unintended consequences.
The new structure was approved by the School Board last week, but it came with little notice or opportunities for public feedback, which led parents to flood school leaders’ e-mail boxes, and about 1,000 people joined a social media Facebook group: “Students against Albemarle County’s 4 Block Scheduling.”
“The schedule, I don’t think, will be as flexible,” said James O’Leary, a sophomore at Western Albemarle High School.

O’Leary said the new system, coupled with teacher reductions, could leave students with fewer choices for elective courses, could create scheduling problems for students who have an odd number of year-long classes and might leave students who miss school on consecutive days far behind on school work.
However, school administrators argue the new schedule will actually grant students more flexibility, additional opportunities to take electives and college courses, and give them more opportunities to participate in internships or graduate from high school early.
Students will be able to take as few as four semester-long classes at a time under the new system, which will go into effect this fall, as opposed to as many as seven year-long classes under the current system.
“I think the biggest negative is we don’t like to make these decisions quickly ... without thorough investigation and thorough buy-in. That’s the big negative,” School Board member Steve Koleszar said. “I’m confident that if we go with this that we’ll make it work, and once people see how it works they’ll say, ‘Why weren’t we always doing that?’”

No going back

For students and parents with concerns about the system, it’s all but too late to reverse the School Board’s action, considering the new system was unanimously approved, incorporated into the proposed schools budget and administrators have already started designing the new system. However, administrators say it’s not too late for residents to provide input in creating the schedule structures.
“It’s going to take some real explaining to the parents. I think a lot of the parents — and this is where they’re justified to some extent — they’re concerned that we didn’t involve them in the decision-making process or really communicate that we’re seriously considering this,” said School Board member Eric Strucko. “I think that’s something that we deserve criticism for, and we’re going to try and compensate for it.”

Fact sheets are being sent to parents, informational meetings have been held for students and town hall meetings are being organized.
Initially, school administrators considered adopting the new system for the 2011-12 school year, as opposed to next school year, so that details could be worked out methodically and the public could opine. However, it has become apparent to the School Board in recent weeks that Albemarle could receive several million dollars less in state education funding, which prompted board members to fast-track the schedule adjustment.
The new class structure is estimated to save the school division more than $820,000, which comes at a time when the division is reducing more than 40 staff positions, including teachers, as well as program funding.
The School Board’s $145.2 million fiscal 2011 budget request approved Thursday is nearly $4 million less than the budget approved for the current fiscal year, yet is unbalanced to revenues by an estimated $8.8 million. The Board of Supervisors will have the final say on the budget.

The new schedule calls for elimination of about 13 teaching positions without increasing class sizes, because many teachers will be required to teach six of eight periods per year — three out of four per semester — as opposed to five out of seven under the current system.
Thirty-two classes will be booked for students over the course of four years, as opposed to 28 under the current system, largely by administrators shaving several minutes from each class and reducing school hours to the state minimum.
Though the details haven’t been finalized and the structure might vary slightly at different high schools, most standard courses will convene for about 80 to 85 minutes (exact duration has not been determined yet) every day for half of a year, and there will be still be some year-long courses that will convene every other day, also for about 80 to 85 minutes.

Though several school administrators and School Board members say they believe the new class scheduling system will be better for students, Mark Crockett, who had taught at Western Albemarle High School for 20 years, says the move is more about money than anything else.
“The main reason the county is moving to this schedule is to [increase] ‘productivity,’” Crockett wrote in an e-mail statement. “Instead of the typical high school teacher teaching five courses/classes in a year, she’ll teach six (a 20 percent boost in ‘efficiency’).”
One of the greatest concerns about a traditional four-by-four block schedule is that some classes are better suited to last a full school year, such as band, newspaper and many Advanced Placement courses. However, under the new system — which is actually a “modified” four-by-four schedule — those courses would still be offered as year-long classes, administrators say.
“When you read the research about AP scores going down in the four-by-four, absolutely they do, if you teach them as semester courses,” said Billy Haun, the county’s assistant superintendent for student learning. “But we are not planning on doing that.”
To accommodate students who would otherwise have an odd number of year-long classes, schools will offer some courses that will be taught both year-long and semester-long.
The opportunity to take 32 classes in one’s high school career, four more than under the current system, is one of the biggest advantages of the new system, Haun said. Students will be required to pass 26 courses to earn an advanced diploma in Virginia next year.
Albemarle’s current system only allows students to take as many as five electives in their careers. The new system will allow students to take as many as nine.
The new system could help at-risk students who need math or reading intervention courses, because those extra courses count as students’ electives and limit their opportunities to take general interest courses.

Shifting scenarios

At the same time, students would ideally be able to complete courses that are challenging to them — perhaps, Algebra I and Algebra II — in consecutive semesters, Haun said, adding that learning the material every day with limited time lapse between the two courses could make it more likely that the information soaks in.
O’Leary, however, argued that the new system could actually have a negative effect because students could have scheduling challenges and a sophomore might actually take a course during first semester but not be able to take the sequel until as a second-semester junior.
Crockett echoed: “Scheduling math courses into a seamless sequence in the four-by-four is very hard to do.”
Haun said administrators won’t be able to promise every student can take supplementary courses consecutively. However, he said schools will be given flexibility to make the system work for individual students and schedules can be more personalized for at-risk students.

On the other hand, high-achieving students trying to get into top-notch universities usually try to build a portfolio of AP and honors courses, Haun noted. The new system would allow students to do so without losing opportunities to take electives.
The new structure also makes it far easier for students to take courses at college campuses, because the new schedule will be more like college schedules, Haun said, unlike the current system in which class days are alternated and a class that meets Tuesday one week could convene Wednesday the next week.
In addition, Haun said that because far more classes are scheduled into students’ careers than required, he hopes there will be more opportunities for students to leave school earlier in the day in order to do internships.
For teachers, the new schedule will mean they’ll have more students per year but fewer per semester. School days will last the same amount of time, but because an extra class is squeezed in each year, instruction hours will be on the brim of minimum state requirements and the school division might have to tack extra school days onto the end of the year or during holidays when school is canceled because of snow.
School Board member Brian Wheeler noted that guidance counselors have recently been building students’ schedules for next year, which means their work will practically be scrapped. However, Wheeler said the board had to act quickly because of the unexpectedly bad budget situation.

The school division is already set to increase class sizes by at least one student for grades four through 12 by cutting teacher positions. And the 13 additional teacher reductions called for would have increased class sizes even more had the school division not changed the schedule structure to have teachers instructing more classes.
The new class structure will not affect elementary schools and will have little effect on middle schools, considering most of the middle schools already have a scheduling system similar to the one being proposed.