Home > School Issues Channel > Archives > Read About It Archives > Read About It

A block school schedule has three or four longer class periods per day, as opposed to the traditional seven or eight period day.

Two of the most common forms of block schedules are:

• The A/B schedule, during which classes meet every other day for an extended period, usually double the length of the class period in the traditional schedule. Each student takes between six and eight classes at one time, but goes to only three or four classes per day.
  
• The 4/4 schedule, in which students take four courses every day for an extended class period, but they do not alternate courses. Instead, they complete the curriculum in a semester. They take another set of courses in the second semester, earning eight Carnegie units per year instead of six or seven -- without the stress of taking eight courses at the same time.

• Around the Block: The Benefits and Challenges of Block Scheduling
• Block Scheduling: A Solution or a Problem?

OTHER RESOURCES:

• University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development: Block Scheduling
  Basic information about block scheduling, answers to frequently asked questions, and lists of U.S. schools using block schedules.
• Eric Digest 104 March 1996 - Block Scheduling
  An explanation of block scheduling and a look at the benefits and drawbacks of the system.
• Middle Web: School Change and Block Scheduling at Fritsche Middle School
  A look at the implementation of block scheduling at Fritsche Middle School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  

Article by Ellen R. Delisio
Education World®
Copyright © 2005 Education World