I’m late to this thread, but it’s been a topic of some discussion at our house this year. D22 attends a BS with a block schedule, and is comparing some college acceptances with different term formats.
In a normal year, students at her BS take 3 classes per semester. When a student spends 1.5 hours in class, then another hour or two on homework, the next day very little time is needed for review - the material tends to stick, even after the class is over. Last year, D’s school modified to a trimester format with 2 classes per trimester (trying to de-densify). D absolutely hated it. The classes were shorter and there were fewer of them, but no additional homework was assigned. They missed important info or just couldn’t dive deeply enough. Her one AP test was not great - and it wasn’t from lack of commitment or lack of studying.
This year, her BS is back to the normal block schedule, and the students - and teachers - are happy about it! And now, D is comparing college schedules that include semesters, trimesters, and quarters, so we did a little research. Interestingly, at the college level, the prevailing advice is “don’t worry about it.” The professors know how much material they need to cover and they handle it fine.
So what happened at D’s school last year? My guess is that the BS teachers did NOT know how to pace their classes differently - or just didn’t have time to rewrite all their lesson plans while navigating the new Zoom format and dealing with the much higher expectations for one-on-one time with their advisees or parential communications. Last year was a learning year (for the teachers) and presumably they would have paced things better had the trimesters continued this year.
I would recommend new BS students and families not get too hung up on this - a modular or block system can and does work when the teachers are experienced working on that schedule. And such a schedule offers a lot of perks for motivated students. For example, D has 5 math credits and 6 science credits, and it was easy to make that happen within the normal schedule (no overscheduling, has normal credits for other subjects). D is not ruling out the colleges on a trimester schedule, despite her poor opinion of her junior year experience.
I would recommend that prospective students ask schools about why they chose the schedules they did, what kind of learner does well or poorly with it, how it works with year end tests like AP/IB, etc.
Most schools that use this modular (not block) format do it very intentionally and very well.
It is a generic concern I would have about ANY modular scheduling school.
I think these are reasonable questions to ask yourself before you make a decision ‘What happens if my kid does not like the school or we have to move etc.? ’ How is the modular scheduling going to affect subjects that require continuity such as foreign language or math? "How is the modular scheduling going to affect future college applications?’
Modular scheduling gets the classes completed by the end of the year - just in an on again off again way. Very few BS students move anywhere mid-year. This seems pretty far down the list for reasons to struggle with this schedule.
Madeira does modular so that students can experience it’s cocurricular program in one of the 5-week blocks. Each girl spends 5 weeks at a nonprofit, government office, and career-related internship during 3 years at the school.
Sure, it’s an interruption of academics. It’s really for the kid, school and family to decide if it’s a benefit.
What I wish I knew….So my kid is now experiencing their 4th schedule in 4 years. Yet another new one this year. Currently, the students have longer class periods with specific courses on different days.
Our experience has been that the efficacy and stress of it will depend on the teacher/course. Frankly, I would prefer that my student has foreign language every day. The other problem is that some teachers have piled on homework for 2 days instead of one. They don’t realize that on the “off day” when students are not in their class, they actually have other classes! So it must be that teachers think, “Oh - you have two whole days to read and annotate 40 pages of Walt Whitman and prepare for an in-class essay.” Many students are getting slammed with this new schedule. Not to worry, however, chances are the administration will think of another one by the time you arrive next September!
My kiddo loves the schedule that Golfgr8 described. But then she is a repeat Jr. with a comparatively light schedule. She prefers it to her public school with 8 classes every day. Will be interesting to see if it changes bext year.
Hmm. My school has used a similar schedule for who-knows-how-long, but they have certain limits; homework is assigned “per class session,” so even if you don’t have a class between Tuesday and Friday (for example), you’re still only allowed 55 minutes of homework.
Very few BS have a true modular schedule. I have heard that it involves a lot of work on the part of faculty to devise courses that are delivered this way.
But that also is consistent with all the pain everyone has felt as schools have made their way through covid. Teachers, often with next to no notice and definitely without additional professional development, have had to change everything from how delivered, frequency, etc. And while it’s been a TON of work for them, students have also felt the impact of getting material in itts maybe not quite ready for prime time format.
My kid does too. Same school. Different experience.
My kid is a freshman though. Perhaps that’s the difference.
The volume of work due does seem to ebb and flow but I don’t get the feeling that kiddos teachers are assigning two lots of 50 minute of homework every time. History and English seem to be more time consuming than math, foreign language or science, or at least for my kid.
@MacJackAttack - History & English involves more time-consuming homework and papers. It also very much depends on who your kid gets. Luckily “Mr 89” has moved from the classroom to another position, so your kid will never have him - unless he returns.
As mentioned in another thread - one of our biggest complaints has been the amount of time it takes to get assignments returned in all classes - this has been worse since the block schedule last year. This has been most noticeable in English and History classes, but sometimes Math tests. This really is unfair to the students because they have no opportunity to see what they did wrong, learn from the errors, or make progress. My kiddo has assignments since early December that have not been returned and mid-term grades come out next week. Nice.
Is it that they are so overwhelmed because they gave too much homework out with the new modular schedule? LOL!
The modular schedule at MPS was a disaster for our daughter. Way too much free time and not enough academic rigor. We removed her from the school partly because of it. How on earth do you adequately teach BC calculus in a 12 week trimester class? Answer–you can’t. Tim Quinn, MPS’s academic dean, is an idiot.
LOL!