Periodic shifts to remote learning because of the coronavirus pandemic might not be the only schedule changes Toledo Public Schools student encounter as district officials once again ponder returning to a block-schedule format.
Jim Gault, TPS executive transformational leader of curriculum, said during a committee meeting Thursday there had been renewed interest in returning district high schools to a schedule format of four, roughly 90-minute classes a day instead of the traditional seven daily 45-minute class periods.
There are different ways to use block scheduling, as some districts have students take four classes for half the year, then switch to different ones after winter break. Some TPS high schools have had alternating-block schedules, with four subjects scheduled on one day and four others the next on students’ schedules.
Benefits for students under block scheduling include allowing them to fit in at least one more course a year compared to the traditional seven-course school schedule, Mr. Gault said. Students, as well as teachers, also have more time to cover class topics.
But budget woes caused TPS officials to end block scheduling in 2010, as offering an additional course slot meant spending for more teachers. Mr. Gault said the district saved roughly $100 million over two years by switching back to a traditional schedule.
Toledo Board of Education member Chris Varwig, the curriculum committee’s co-chairman, said block scheduling has interested her for roughly eight years and noted her own daughter had block scheduling until her senior year, when TPS reverted to a traditional schedule.
“I will tell you, it was a night-and-day difference of what she experienced and what I saw her experience,” Ms. Varwig said. “And so I’m very interested in the idea — whether it’s the same block scheduling of what we had, or maybe we get creative and think outside the box and come up with a new type of block scheduling.”
Block scheduling’s other benefits, she said, include more time for students and teachers to build relationships and less time spent crowding hallways to change classrooms. Polly Taylor-Gerken, the committee’s other co-chairman, added she would like to explore how block scheduling might provide further opportunities for students to take advantage of specialty schools, programs, and electives.
Andrew Frank, a Toledo Federation of Teachers representative, recalled teaching science under TPS’ block schedule and said it was preferable to the traditional schedule, as it allowed students to complete laboratory exercises in one class period rather than spread them out over the course of a week.
But he cautioned that teachers would need training on how to best use that additional classroom time.
“If you’ve never been trained how to use that 90 minutes, that’s tough because that’s a long time if you’re only used to 47,” he said.
Curriculum, Instruction, and Academic Excellence Committee members eventually agreed to have Mr. Gault form a subcommittee to collect feedback from stakeholders and provide monthly updates to the full group.
First Published January 14, 2022, 7:51 p.m.
