Block Schedule Advantages

Over 83 percent of teenagers report school to be a major stressor in their lives due to the amount of information that they need to cram into their brains every day (Shapiro). Many schools have tried to understand the stress school gives to the teenagers and offer some sort of temporary solution by offering late start days or homework passes to overall reduce the workload that they receive, but these solutions do not point to any sort of resolution to the teenagers stress. All of these solutions fall in comparison to the benefits of having a block schedule for the students. A block schedule is when students split up their 7 to 8 classes into two separate days, but double the time of the classes every day. They go through the week with A and

Having a block schedule overall is very beneficial to students because although they receive a couple extra assignments they have an overall less workload for their homework which leads to less stress, the students perform better even with the extended class periods, the teachers and students have more time which leads to better lesson plans, individual time to reflect on information that they learned rather than cramming in new information, and it helps to form a better relationship between student and teacher.

First and foremost, block scheduling overall decreases the stress levels that the students have. In a traditional schedule students have 7 to 8 classes a day which leads to more work for them to do. In a block schedule, however, the students only have up to 4 classes and in those classes since they have increased time they are able to get more work done. Schoolwork

The main purpose of school is to educate students as well as they can and with block scheduling it is possible to increase the effect of the education that they receive. In a study named “Effects of a High School Block Scheduling Program on Students: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Block Scheduling on Student Outcome Variables” it reports a 60% decrease in failure rates and an increase in the rates of a’s and b’s. (Trenta and Newman 55). Many students drop out in high school or don’t perform well overall. According to this study, block scheduling can help fix this problem. In another study called “Block Scheduling in Large, Urban High Schools: Effects on Academic Achievement, Student Behavior, and Staff Perceptions” it was reported that their was a +7 increase in percentage of a’s, +2 increase in percentage of b’s, and a -3 percentage for lower grades such as c’s,d’s, and f’s. (Deaul 21) This information was gathered by taking the grades of many different schools. This larger sample size is important because it indicates that their were less outside variables affecting the results. The change shown by the block scheduling is big and will help schools maximize learning. One reason this might happen is because a block schedule allows students more time to reflect on what they are learning rather than cram in more information. Being able to reflect in a day makes it easier to understand