My daughter is currently applying to high school programs in our school district and we’ve discovered that most of the schools in our area are changing to a 4x4 block schedule where they only take four classes per semester (so, fitting in an entire year of content into one semester, and then moving on to four new classes the following semester).
It looks like one of the schools is not switching to the 4x4 format and instead will stick with eight classes at a time on an AB block rotation the entire year. This is the schedule she currently has, so it feels familiar and we feel we have a good idea of the benefits of this schedule already.
I’m struggling to see the benefits of the 4x4 block schedule and hoping to hear from others with more direct experience of this type of schedule. If my daughter chooses the school with the AB block rotation, she will still take eight classes per year, but just have them all at once. I can understand the argument that the 4x4 schedule allows them to focus more intensely on just four classes at a time, but when it comes to math and language courses, I am truly baffled at the idea of finishing a course in December and then not having another course in that subject until the following year in August (or to finish in May but not have another until January). Math and language both seem like something you need to use regularly throughout high school. And while it may be possible to do two math and language courses in one year with the 4x4 schedule, eventually students would run out of courses to take and then may not have that subject on their schedule for some years on their transcript (i.e. if only four levels of a language are offered, you’re either taking them one semester per year over four years or taking all four in just two years and then have two whole years of high school with no language classes at all).
Another question I have is how do AP exams work with the 4x4 block schedule. I may be incorrect on this, but I think they only give AP exams in May, so if students take an AP course in the fall semester, they have to wait until May to take the exam. While I’m sure it’s possible for students to self-study and retain the knowledge, it seems like it wouldn’t be as beneficial to have that large gap.
Has anyone had students on this 4x4 schedule and how did they fare, especially in math and language coursework? Would you recommend it? Are there any benefits we aren’t seeing? How do colleges look at transcripts with this type of schedule?
The 4,4 block schedule is somewhat more college like.
However, in college, course selection is more varied, and there is less of a question about gap semesters in math and foreign language sequencing, since students taking such courses tend to take them continuously without gaps but only to the level needed.
I think you’ve hit on the big problems of the 4x4 schedule: the issues with math & 2nd language gaps and the (potential) problems with APs. Here’s how my kids’ school handled these:
math & languages: with the new block schedule, students could now double up and take more than one math or language class in a year. This worked well for my two for math; not so much language classes which they wanted to do the bare minimum. That break was rough. This year we had a tutor to help bridge the foreign language gap.
APs: the school chose to still make some APs a full year (AP Calc B/C was one; AP Bio was another for some reason); other APs were 3/4 of a year (AP Physics Mechanics); the rest were half-year, scheduled for the first semester only. As AP tests approach, the AP teachers from the fall semester use their “flex block” to help refresh students on key skills. It’s seemed to work so far for my two, but that’s hardly a decent sample size.
Also: some kids hate the 4x4 and can’t focus for that long.
The pros:
For my oldest, the switch to a 4x4 probably saved his high school GPA and sanity. He could not handle the overload of so many classes at once and just could not get organized and keep up. Really, it was a developmental thing for him - he’s now a sophomore in mechanical engineering at Penn State and doing great. But as a 9th grader, not so much. Truly a case of YMMV.
4x4 gave my youngest the opportunity to take DE classes during the school day at a local highly ranked LAC - it would have been much more difficult if they’d still been doing the 7 or 8 classes per day at the high school, as the 4x4 schedule matches up nicely with the DE classes plus a short drive, park, and walk to the DE class. The college semesters match up so much better to the high school’s 4x4 semester.
So, we’re huge fans of the 4x4, but understand that others may not be for very good reasons.
My son loved taking two math classses per year, and as a science teacher, the long lab periods are great. I do think there is learning loss in 2nd language, and we considered extra tutoring but ultimately he didn’t have time.
I did hire a tutor ahead of two APs that I thought could be fading, and the school arranged some review for the largest APs like calculus.
There are advantages to both schedules, so I would recommend choosing based on other aspects.
If I’m recalling properly my family member who was on a block schedule had supplementary materials for her foreign language to bridge the gap. She got all the way through AP level of her language without any difficulty. She really liked the block schedule. No issues for AP tests either.
My son was in a 4x4 school, and he needed a lot of adjustments to keep up with the fast pace. However, I think it helped prepare him for the pace at university. The 4x4 system allows students to double up on courses, with common combinations including Calc AB/BC, Chem Honors/AP Chem, and AP Physics 1/2.
Another issue with the 4x4 system is scheduling, as AP exams normally happen in the first half of May, leaving little time to cover all the material. On the other hand, the last couple of weeks after the AP exams were quite slow and uneventful compared to the hectic pace earlier in the semester.
Agree that if the school understands how to adapt, 4x4 can work. Our kids’ school tried it for two years and didn’t adapt at all. Predictably, the result was bad, and they went back to an 8-class, year-round, A/B day schedule.
The issues were most of the ones you covered:
AP tests months after the class ended (1st semester)…or without having covered all of the material (2nd semester)
Long, intense classes meeting every day; it really wore down the kids
Language and math learning gaps, with no ability to take classes in both semesters
Our school district imposed 4x4 for one reason: to improve graduation rates by giving kids a second bite at the apple in the same year if they failed a class. I support this rationale, but the only way it works is if you adapt the model to meet the above challenges. Our district didn’t, so our school petitioned to get an exception. Fortunately it was granted.
So, OP, my best advice would be to talk with the 4x4 schools and ask them how they address these issues. If their answers don’t give you confidence, I would stay away.
Thank you! This is helpful to hear some of the positives about this schedule, especially in terms of organization and not having as many courses to keep up with at one time. You’ve made me consider whether this could be a good fit for my youngest when the time comes.
I hadn’t even thought about the potential issues with taking an AP course in the spring and losing some of the time to get through the material because of the test date. Our school district can easily lose a week or two due to weather in the second semester, as well.
Thank you! I suspect our district may be going this direction for the same reason and hasn’t truly thought through how this will work. It does feel like a bit of a gamble since it will be the first year they have tried it. We will definitely reach out to learn more about how the school she is considering will be handling it.
Not the same as HS, but my son is in a college program that has seven week terms, where you take three classes per term. So similarly, he’s getting in the right amount of classes per year (12, which is actually kind of high, most semester length schools do 10 per year) but they go fast and you have to delve into the subject matter a lot deeper every day.
We were worried about being able to keep up the pace to cover as much work in half the time and that is a challenge, but one that the extra time they get in class seems to compensate for. What I hadn’t thought about, and that would be, I think, transferrable to your situation, is that mental load that is eased when you are balancing fewer classes. There’s less challenge of trying to prioritize which homework to do and what class needs attention now. It’s easier to only manage three classes at once rather than five. And at finals time, it was so much easier to only have to study for three classes than five. He’s got some significant ADHD, and I was worried that the shorter terms with faster moving classes would be really hard for him, but I actually think it’s been a significant bonus because there are fewer moving parts and it’s easier to focus on what needs to be done.