Alternative High School Schedules

Currently there are four scheduling models being used in Chesterfield County Public High Schools. Manchester, Midlothian, Thomas Dale and Meadowbrook High Schools use the traditional six period day which evenly divides the school day into six periods of approximately 51 minutes in length that meet for the full year. Matoaca High School uses a seven period schedule which divides the school day into seven periods of approximately 45 minutes in length that meet for the full year. Clover Hill and L.C. Bird High Schools use a seven period alternating block schedule which divides the school day into three periods of approximately 88 minutes which meet every other day (for a total of six alternating classes) for the full year and one period of 55 minutes that meets every day for the full year. Monacan and James River High Schools use a semester block schedule which divides the school day into four periods of approximately 90 minutes which meet every day for one semester. Students take a new set of four course in the second semester. As indicated in the Preface, the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium, (MERC) housed at Virginia Commonwealth University was engaged by the Chesterfield County School Division to provide a report that portrays how the perceptions of students, parents and teachers in six schools using different scheduling models are impacted by the schedule. The perceptions of interest in the present study include school processes and practices especially as they related to teaching and learning. The schedules are also described against results most commonly used to characterize school and student performance. As noted, the study\u27s finding should be considered as a status report as opposed to an evaluation of the scheduling models, since the schools that were studied have had limited experience with the new scheduling option (one year in most cases). The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the scheduling model utilized at each school on (1) the satisfaction levels of parents, students, and teachers, (2) teaching, (3) relationships among students, teachers, and parents, (4) student performance, and (5) the costs and benefits associated with each scheduling model