What is happening is great, but we can do better. School officials have been studying the issue since the 1995-96 school year, conducting their own research and visiting schools with block scheduling. Now they are ready to present a potential plan to the public. School patrons are invited to hear the plan and make comments at a special school board meeting set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the middle school auditorium. A semester course would take only one quarter to complete.
Teachers teach three courses each semester.
Instead of classes meeting for 40 to 60 minutes a day, students in the alternate-day schedule meet every other day for extended time blocks of 80 to 120 minutes. It appeared in the September 1996 edition of School Administrator, a publication of American Association of School Administrators. Many high schools added a period or two to the school schedule without lengthening the school day to address that issue, the authors said. That measure shortened class periods in some schools to as little as 39 minutes. Based on one national 1994 survey and Rettig's survey in 1995, the authors estimate that more than 50 percent of high schools in the nation are either using or considering some form of block scheduling, according to the article.