It’s been six months since the schedule changed from block to the standard seven periods and teachers and students say they have mixed feelings about it.
The A/B block schedule is a type of schedule where every day, students rotate between two sets of four, one-and-a-half-hour classes. Currently, each class is 48 minutes.
District officials cited cost savings and student achievement among the reasons for moving away from block scheduling. According to PCS, the block schedule at four schools cost the district an additional $3.6 million each year.
The change away from block schedule has had a unique impact on gifted magnet teacher Leslie Hale as she now only sees students once a week.
Not only does this new schedule affect scholars’ learning time in the gifted program, but it also causes students to miss one period a week of another elective.
“I felt rushed when we had 86 minutes,” she said. “So now, [with] 48 minutes only once a week I feel like I’m just throwing content at them and rushing them out the door.”
However, in subjects like math, the daily repetition of the standard schedule benefits students.
“I think that math is unique and that you learn so many new things in a year,” math teacher Diana Wolff said. “So having it every day is easier for the students to learn because they can concentrate on just one thing every period.”
Seventh-grader Scarlett Costanza said the schedule change has pros and cons.
“I think the students could learn in a shorter period, but I think that personally I learn more in the hour-long period we used to have,” she said.
Other students, like seventh-grader Matilda Carson, say shorter periods are more enriching.
“I feel like I’m learning a little bit better, because I’m zoning out less in class,”
Carson said. “I only have a short amount of time to learn what I have to learn.”
The PCS website states that the schedule change is still subject to change and will be impacted by “projected student enrollment, staffing, student schedule requests, and unique program needs.”
