White Paper: The Effects of Block Scheduling and Traditional Scheduling on High School Student Achievement

Since the National Education Commission on Time and Learning published Prisoners of Time in 1994, which criticized the use of traditional schedules and asked readers to think differently about class scheduling in schools, the use of block scheduling in high schools has increased. However, there is still a lack of well-implemented and well-designed studies that explore the effects of block scheduling on high school student achievement. The purpose of this white paper is to investigate the effects of block and traditional scheduling on high school student achievement, as measured by grade-point averages and standardized test scores, by analyzing ten research studies. Although teachers and students have generally positive views of block scheduling, no consistent effects of block scheduling, as compared to traditional scheduling, on high school student achievement were found. Recommendations are made for future research