The school enforces a block schedule and people wonder if it’s actually needed. The University of Connecticut (UConn), a university known for their high rank research, conducted a study on the impact of block schedules on student’s fulfillment. The results found that schools from districts all over the country have also tried out block schedule for their schools and have found inconsistent results with its benefits. As the necessity of block schedule remains a hot topic for discussion, there have been mixed opinions from students and teachers.
Block schedule begins after the first two weeks of school. There are two block days in the week, one on Wednesday for odd periods (one through five) and one on Thursday for even periods (two through six). This is a cycle that intends to allow students to thoroughly learn what they are being taught by their teachers in two hour classes rather than in six 50 minute class periods each day.
These two hour classes provide many benefits to both teachers and students. With longer class time, teachers are able to fit more into their daily lesson plans and students get more time to learn new concepts. They also allow for a deeper understanding of the subject and more significant learning techniques such as longer class time to complete assignments that help the students. They also have the benefit of reducing stress in some cases as students only have to worry about taking three classes instead of six in one day.
“I like- I see the appropriateness of it so, you know if you want to have a longer lesson where it’s a little bit more interactive, it allows for us teachers to actually provide that,” said math teacher and Link Crew Advisor Rosalyn Reyes.
However, according to research from the UConn study, block schedules have little to no recorded improvement on the success of students. They impose issues for students that include a struggle to maintain focus in class, boredom from sitting in one class for a long period of time, and the difficulty of missing out on a large amount of work if they are absent on any of those days. It also affects teachers as they have class periods with much more work that needs to be done and less time for breaks.
Junior Makenzie Xie says that block schedule is beneficial to her academics as it provides a break in between classes from the assignments that would be assigned if all six classes were attended every day but also adds that it interferes with communicating with her teachers.
“I do think block schedule is necessary… because it gives us a break in the middle of the week so that we don’t have, like, an overload of school work… I have to, like, email the teachers and, like, sometimes teachers don’t, like, email on time– like, I don’t have that time to go, like, talk to them in person… I get like a little break, kind of in between ,” said Xie.
Though, Xie proposed that having more shorter days of school included throughout the year would be a great alternative to the weekly schedule.
“Minimum day- having shorter days maybe or like- I also have a zero period so like maybe like something that helps with that, it would feel different just because I would think it’s like very overwhelming and it’s like- nothing’s changing… it’s just like repetitive each day,” added Xie.
However, the stress of worrying about classwork and homework for six different classes arises with that idea of no block schedule.
“It would be more stressful because everyday there would be a new assignment and that would just be more work put on you,” said freshman Alexandra Alvarado.
Administration has not mentioned altering the weekly schedule.
“Block scheduling is something that our school has chosen to do based on, you know, teachers, um, instructional needs and the needs of students… for now block scheduling is here. I think if teachers felt that there was a different way for us to, um, utilize our bell schedule, then there could be a possibility of change,” said Assistant Principal Melanie Wong.
There was recently a change made to the schedule as before, students would begin school earlier at 8 a.m. After a new law in California known as the Senate Bill 328 was carried out in 2022, high schools were required to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Following the effect of the law, the school altered its schedule and changed the starting time for students to 8:30 a.m. Due to the mixed opinions, they could now have an effect on the schedule in the future and prompt for a change to be made if teachers or students request it for the benefit of their academics and education.
Ultimately while many students find the extra time in the week beneficial to their education, others find it to be more stressful in their daily schedule.
