It’s the start of December, which can mean only one thing. No, it's not the season’s candy canes or snow, it’s discussions about policy for the next school year! The hot topic this year? The class schedule. Administration, teachers, and the school board are in hot talks regarding Central’s current 4x4 schedule, and whether it should be used for next year.
For the past three years, Central has used variations of a 4x4 schedule, meaning each semester, students take four ninety-minute classes that cover a full year's material, enabling them to take up to eight courses per year. Central has not had a true 4x4 schedule however, instead including so-called ‘skinnies’ last year (45-minute full-year classes), and this year including ninety-minute classes that last the entire school year for Band, Leadership, and a few other classes (i.e. two credit classes).
With the 4x4 schedule, teachers only have to focus on three classes per day, instead of their former six, and have an entire prep period to plan and get caught up on work. This meant they could do much more for each class and have more built-in time to grade and do other important work. Likewise, students only have to focus on four classes at a time, meaning they don’t have to juggle homework and tests as much as before.
The 4x4 schedule had a rocky start. The early ‘skinny’ classes, which needed a complement for the other half of their 45-minute, year-long period, created quite a lot of study halls for students, and initially, the long class periods proved difficult for both students and teachers. There were concerns for language and math classes, and whether students could remember what they learned from the year before with a half-year hiatus, and for the AP classes, the block schedule meant finishing over two months before the AP exams.
Yet despite those concerns, the block schedule went ahead and has begun to smooth out. Skinnies were phased out this year, replaced by back-to-back classes for the classes that needed to be the full year. Teachers have gotten better about filling the whole period, and students are more used to the ninety-minute classes.
The 4x4 schedule was put into place the year after COVID-19 to help students regain credits and get back on track for graduation, mainly due to the pandemic, ensuing lockdown, and online schooling’s impact on student grades and achievement. It has allowed students to gain extra credit each year by taking an extra class, but is it time to take a second look at it?
All incoming freshmen from this year and onward will have never been impacted by Covid and online schooling during high school, and thus won’t have any need of the extra credits given by the block schedule. Now, that’s not to say it’s no longer the standard. Most of the schools in the 5A Willamette district district use a block schedule, but many utilize a variation called the A/B day schedule. This allows students to still have only four classes a day for a total of eight credits, still with the longer class periods. But, by having an ‘A’ day on Monday and a ‘B’ day on Tuesday, the classes last for the full year.
With three years of the block schedule, it’s time to revisit the direction of the schedule. The current front-running proposals are to keep the schedule the way it is currently, to switch to an A/B day block schedule, and in a distant third place, to switch to the typical seven-period day.
It’s a contested issue, and we wanted to hear from students and teachers what they thought.
Mr. Hindman (Teacher)
What do you like about the current schedule? It’s nice only having to prep for four classes and getting to spend ninety minutes each day with students.
What don’t you like about it? One thing I dislike is that I teach a lot of quarter classes, so I only get about nine weeks with students, and then I get brand-new students in all my classes. It makes it hard to build relationships with students.
What do you think of an A/B day schedule? I’ve never been a part of an A/B day schedule, so I’m not sure how I’d feel about it, but I do know a lot of schools use it.
What would your ideal schedule be? Personally, I’d prefer a trimester schedule, which I think aligns better for students who are dual-enrolled with college classes. Additionally, the breaks are more organic because they align with winter, spring, and summer.
Students:
Ty Cirino (Sophomore):
What do you like about the current schedule? To start, even though there’s more work, I like not having to deal with seven or more classes. That's the only real upside.
What don’t you like about it? Classes get very repetitive and boring because it's an hour and a half every single day and there's no change in schedule. It feels like one long class until the end of the semester when they switch.
What do you think of an A/B day schedule? I think it would be good to give a better variety and not be as repetitive on a day-to-day basis.
What would your ideal schedule be: Both have upsides and downsides. I don’t have a major preference, either way, there will be drawbacks.
Aviella Martinez (Junior):
I like consistency and I like the routine. I think the A/B day schedule would change the routine every single day, and I would struggle with it
What do you like about the current schedule? I like the consistency. I like that it’s an hour and a half. It gives me a lot of time to focus on my classes, and really put my thought process into this class then this class, versus the seven periods a-day schedule.
What do you think of an A/B day schedule? I think it'd be super irregular.
What would your ideal schedule be? I think it is the current block schedule. I don’t like how overwhelming APs are because of it, and I know some folks with more, so it could be overwhelming, but it allows you to get all the hard stuff out in the first semester.
Matt Quinn (Senior)
What do you like about the current schedule? I like how I have time to do work in class, and I don’t have a lot of homework. I don’t know- the extended class periods aren’t that bad, and it makes the day feel fast with only four periods.
What don’t you like about it? I don’t really have any complaints, except for how it impacts AP tests because it makes it harder when the classes finish before them.
What do you think of an A/B day schedule? I think that would work better. You would have all your classes for the full year which would be better for some of the AP tests.
What would your ideal schedule be? There’s probably not a perfect one but It’ll work and if it’s bad enough they’ll complain and change it again.
Brielle Lowry (SENIOR)
What do you like about the current schedule? It's nice not having skinnies anymore. I hated skinnies. And overall, I think it's nice to have an opportunity to take a lot of classes in a school year, especially for AP classes if you want to take a lot. It’d be bad, but you still have the option.
What don’t you like about it? AP classes end really early to the test. I feel like there’s not enough variety of classes to fill the whole schedule, because you can take all the courses but there’s not a huge variety of classes that you’ll want to take. It’s also hard to schedule classes.
What do you think of an A/B day schedule? I had an A/B schedule when I was in the Clackamas school district, and I really liked it. At first, it was hard to remember the schedule, but once you got into the rhythm it clicked. I will say the workload was a lot, but teachers were good about working around your schedule. It was also really nice for homework.
What would your ideal schedule be? An A/B schedule. I think any schedule has its pros and cons, and really student voices should be heard in the matter because it impacts them, so students should speak up as to which one they want.
What do you think- our tried and tested block schedule or the promising and possible A/B Block Schedule?