Aiken County’s high schools will join other high performing districts in the state with a transition to Block Scheduling beginning in the 2023-2024 school year. The shift follows several years of research, numerous requests from principals, and a number of recent presentations made by high school faculty and administration to the Board of Education.
With Block Scheduling, the District’s high school classes will transition from the traditional 50-minute period to 90 minutes, a shift many teachers like Dr. Anne Poplin are convinced allow the time for authentic teaching and learning. While once opposed to Block Scheduling when it was first discussed years ago at South Aiken, Poplin teaches on a Block Schedule now at Aiken Scholars Academy, the District’s highly-rigorous high school program on USC Aiken’s campus, and was one of several teachers who advocated for the shift.
Benefits of the Block for students and educators, with just four courses per semester versus seven in a traditional schedule, seemed to far outweigh any challenges which were discussed in several open session School Board Meetings.
Traditional seven-period day schedules allow for 28 credits over four years. With the 4x4 Block, ACPSD students will have an opportunity to earn 32 high school credits over their four years in high school, a shift which should make earning the 24 high school credits required for graduation much more attainable.
The transition will also allow for an additional elective choice each year, a benefit Career and Technical Education instructors believe is big for the Block. “This lets the kids try something like welding. It’s just a semester; they don’t have to commit to it for a whole year,” Mr. Richie Bailey, Welding Instructor at Wagener-Salley, explained to the Board during their Saturday, February 25, work study.
With more electives, students will no longer have to choose one pathway such as JROTC or Band over another, and they’ll also be able to complete a Career & Technical Education pathway in one or two years, while pursuing other academic interests, such as Advanced Placement (AP) courses or dual enrollment. The Block Schedule itself aligns well for dual enrollment and prepares college-bound students for their future schedule.
The mental health of students has been at the forefront of these discussions. A fresh start each semester and enrollment in four courses at a time (down from seven) are expected to decrease stress among students and positively impact their emotional wellbeing.
Teacher proponents of the 90-minute Block appreciate the extended period which allows time to fully implement the Instructional Framework. This teaching strategy, summed up as “I do, we do, you do,” gradually releases students to independent practice and is sometimes rushed in shorter class periods.
Other educator advantages of the Block are a reduced caseload; 75 to 90 students, compared to 125 to 150 with a traditional schedule. A longer 90-minute planning period, instead of the two 45-minute planning periods of a traditional day, were also positives for Block teacher advocates.
Transitions in the school day account for the majority of student behavioral referrals on high school campuses, and tardiness is a top three referral reason. Principals estimate the potential of a more than 40% reduction in student referrals with a four-block schedule which eliminates several class change transitions each day. “Less time teachers spend writing referrals is more time teaching and supporting student learning,” Mr. John Murphy, North Augusta High School Principal, explained to the Board.
Greenville County Schools recently transitioned to Block Scheduling and is helping the district plan its implementation, especially with sequential scheduling to minimize gaps between courses which build on foundational learning such as mathematics and world language classes. Committees of high school teachers and administrators are collaborating on a plan to educate school stakeholders on what to expect with the transition to a Block Schedule, and Content Interventionists are working with groups of teachers on training and on the Advanced Placement course structure.
“This is a structure we’ve been looking at for years,” Mr. Berkeley Postell, Assistant Superintendent for High Schools commented. “We believe it will give students more opportunities for success, exploration, and to pursue higher academic challenge or remediation.”
LINK TO DISTRICT PRESS RELEASE: PR NEW TO THE BLOCK: AIKEN COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLS