A STUDY OF THE CURRENT STATUS OF SCHEDULING PROCEDURES IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE MICRO-COMPUTER ON SCHEDULING

The study examined the historical evolution and development of scheduling practices in secondary schools, 1920-1980. The study ascertained the current status of scheduling practices and the accesibility of the micro-computer in selected Nebraska secondary schools. The study also examined whether micro-computers in secondary school scheduling produced results equal to or better than those achieved by a large computer. Survey results from 81 secondary schools with over 300 students included: (1) 88 percent of the schools operated with six, seven, or eight-period days; (2) three schools utilized ten or more periods; (3) 40 percent utilized the hand scheduling method, 28 percent the arena method, and 41 percent the computer method; (4) 61 percent utilized computers in the scheduling process; (5) 72 percent had a microcomputer; (6) 76 percent of those with micro-computers owned an Apple II computer and 21 percent owned TRS-80 computers; and (7) 86 percent said they would have micro-computers by 1983. The comparison of the large computer and micro-computer scheduling at Valley View Junior High School produced these results: (1) five percent of the students had scheduling conflicts with the large computer process, while 16 percent had conflicts with the micro-computer; (2) class balance produced by the large computer was equal to or closer to the optimum class size than that produced by the micro-computer; (3) 16 multi-section courses had a 40 percent or greater class size discrepancy between the smallest and largest sections of the course utilizing the micro-computer, while two multi-section courses had that same percentage discrepancy when utilizing the large computer; (4) the scheduling cost utilizing the large computer was $761.32, while the cost utilizing the micro-computer was $367.70 when one-time start-up costs were exluded; and (5) 10 percent of the teachers preferred the micro-computer results, 55 percent the large computer results, and 35 percent thought there was no difference