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College of Education and Human Development

University of Minnesota

CAREI > Current Projects > Block Scheduling

Minnesota Schools - Westbrook-Walnut Grove High School

William Richards,
Principal
344 8th St.
Westbrook, MN 56183
richards@mntm.org  

175 students, grades 9-12
Located in southwest Minnesota, 3.5 hours from Minneapolis.

Westbrook-Walnut Grove shares staff with their middle school and two elementary schools. They describe themselves as small but progressive, and aggressive when it comes to providing the best possible opportunities for their students.

They are the Magnet Arts school for their congressional district (2nd), have a new multi-age concept that was implemented this year in the middle school, and have a student-run business to teach students entrepreneurship--Prairie Smoke Bar-B-Que Sauce. They proudly mention the grant they received from the Center for School Change which supported their Arts Magnet and provided them valuable opportunities to meet with other professionals to discuss school change.

Process of change

2001-2002 is Westbrook-Walnut Grove High School's ninth year using an alternative schedule. They spent about six months in planning and thinking. They made visits to schools with alternative schedules and also talked to others via conference call. After much discussion, a unanimous decision was made by staff, administration, and school board to move to the four-period day. They say the response to this decision has been very positive. The move has been supported by students, parents, and staff.

Some teachers discussed how hard the first two semesters were; they were exhausted by Christmas of the first year.

To support the change they refer to a quote from Horace's Compromise by Theodore Sizer (1984): "Our school runs on periods of between 43 and 59 minutes. If you don't have six, you have seven, but if you are going to toughen up the program, you add an eighth. How much serious intellectual activity do you and I do in 47-minute snippets? Not much at all. Yet we ask kids to use their imagination and intellect in 47-minute snippets."

Their scheduling committee's guiding philosophy and goals included: (1) Provide more opportunities for students, (2) Improve learning conditions for students, and (3) Improve working conditions for staff.

Schedule of Hours

*Advisement days alternate AM and PM on Wednesdays. The goals of advisement are (1) increase student opportunities, (2) decrease class interruptions, and (3) develop advisor-advisee relationship.

Availability to give presentations and take visitors

They are available for a set fee to do presentations on the four-period day. Contact Principal William Richards at 507-274-6111 (or richards@mntm.org) if you are interested in a presentation or a visit to their school.

Presenters talk about how they got started, what they did, advantages, and disadvantages. They are enthusiastic and try to answer all questions.

Staff development

Staff development for preparation for the four-period day consisted of one day involving conference calls to other schools and staff discussions. Staff also read articles. Ongoing staff development is very individualized. In a small school like theirs, it is hard to plan staff development that fits everyone. If something comes across someone's desk that they would like to attend, they present their proposal to the school staff development committee. Recent focus has been on training for the inquiry standard for graduation.

Adjustments to curriculum (including electives)

More electives have been and tried and if they succeed after a 1 or 2 year period are added to the course rotation.  Other electives die out.

Through a unique Business Applications class, students started bottling "Prairie Smoke" Bar-B-Que Sauce in mid-April 1996. [Order through fax: (507) 274-6113, or phone: (507) 274-6111.] After several months of negotiations, phone calls, forms and applications, operations began. Students working for BOLT Enterprises (Business Opportunities through Learning & Technology) in Lynn Arndt's class have been bottling sauce, doing inventory, making brochures and labels, setting up accounts, delivering and mailing out orders, speaking on radio and TV. Presenting at Farm-Fest, the State Fair, Minnesota Business Educators Conference, Small Schools Conferences, and to individuals and other schools, the class has learned the efforts needed to start up a business. More concrete marketing plans and promotions are on the agenda for 1996-97 as are other business ideas.

One teacher said it was hard to give up some of what she had covered in "Introduction to Public Speaking" under the previous schedule. She said you have to streamline and pick what is most important, but you may still wish you could get through it all. She also said, "It's great for theater."

The High School Cadet program works much better under block scheduling. Cadets go into elementary classrooms to tutor and help elementary teachers. One teacher said that the cadets are able to work directly with more of the elementary students who want to get help from the high school student. It's another set of hands needed for some activities.

More students are able to take advanced math classes. The math teacher believes that the best students are getting higher scores on SAT and ACT tests. More students who have taken a vocational track jump back into algebra. They think they really need to do it. Classes can be moved around more easily.

Teachers have been able to propose new classes. Advanced biology and astronomy are new courses under this schedule. Calculus is offered every year. A Shakespeare class was successfully tried.

The business teacher was teaching word processing in a "skinny" though he preferred the longer period for this course. For accounting I and II, it is perfect because students get more work done, and it's easier to do work on paper and then go to the computers. They can cover as much as before even though they "weeded" out some details and less important concepts. The teacher said, "Students are almost better prepared because they can sit down and complete the whole problem. They finish it and retain it better."

Adjustments to teaching

One of the big advantages for teachers in a small school is that teachers will have only three different courses to teach at one time; under the old system, they would have five different courses, six if they had an overload.

It is more work for each class. One teacher said, "You have to have your gun loaded. It takes a lot of planning."

One problem is absenteeism. When a student is gone, there is more work to make up in each class. One teacher said that it had gotten better because they got tougher on attendance. The school tried hard to impress on students and parents (through the newspaper) how important it is for students to be in school.

One teacher said the biggest advantage was that students have no excuse for not getting their work done, and they come to class better prepared.

Another teacher said, "You have to change your style and keep constantly looking for things for students to do." He had taught for 17 years and found that he was looking for new activities more than he did under the old system.

Special education

Students with greater amounts of time in the resource room have several goals that are worked on. For example: 30 minutes toward Math, 30 minutes towards Reading/Writing, and 30 minutes towards Social Skills. Activities vary: group, computer, leisure skills, paper work, and skill games, etc.

Music program

The first block of the day is mostly for music. Out of the 175 students in the school, about 100 are in the choir and 95 are in the band. The first block is split into two "skinnies," half for choir and half for band. [Other skinnies are developed for the other 70-80 students; some study halls are available.] There are fewer conflicts with courses that students need under this schedule, though there was still concern that 4-5 students at a time may drop out of band for a term to pick up other conflicting courses. There was little concern about students dropping in and out of choir in this school.

There is a strong middle school program in instruments. Even before the four-period day was adopted, budget for staff time to provide band lessons at the high school was cut. Therefore, no lessons are provided outside the band period.

Yearbook and school newspaper

Yearbook is extra-curricular. They have a journalism class, but otherwise do not have a regular newspaper.

Teacher preparation time

Teacher load is three classes, 50 minutes prep and some study hall for the rest of the period. Two teachers are assigned to each 89 minute study hall and they work out with each other how the study hall will be supervised. Except during first hour, study halls are very small with 3-10 students.

Graduation requirements

They try to get the students to project at ninth grade what courses they will need to take. Requirements were 24 credits out of 28 possible under the old system. Now 30 out of 32 are required.

Post-Secondary Options Program (PSEO)

There is opportunity for students to enroll in post-secondary courses. They would drive about 45 miles for this opportunity or occasionally sign up for tele-media courses.  Only 2-4 students seem to take this opportunity at any one time.