FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
N.R. #864, 6/3/2010
Contact: Irene Cromer
Supervisor, Community Relations
703.791.8720
More Middle Schools Transition to Block Scheduling
Several middle schools in Prince William County Public Schools plan to implement a block schedule for class time in the 2010-11 school year. Graham Park, Lake Ridge, Marsteller, and Parkside Middle Schools; and Pennington Traditional School will join seven other schools that use the block schedule for all grade levels. Bull Run and Benton Middle Schools will implement block scheduling for the eighth grade only in the coming school year, joining Potomac, Rippon, and Saunders Middle Schools, which currently use block scheduling only in the eighth grade.
Block scheduling is a concept that began in the mid-1990s. A regular school day is 7 periods of 45 minutes each. Block schedules provide several blocks of 90 minutes of instructional time in one content area.
In a presentation to the School Board on Wednesday, June 2, Associate Superintendent for Middle Schools Pat Puttre said that block scheduling increases the quality of learning and facilitates in-depth learning, giving students time to make connections from one Standard of Learning (SOL) objective, or strand, to another.
“The goal,” said Puttre, “is to have children ready at the end of the eighth grade to access the advanced classes in high school.” This is possible, she said, because the time block has different elements and there is more usable time. Students will be active learners, with opportunity for hands-on experiences, group work, computer lab instruction or research, and follow-up discussion of what they have learned. In a regular schedule, teachers may take two or three days to cover the same amount of material, and need to spend time the second and third day to review – a less efficient use of class time, according to Puttre.
Puttre said five middle schools that have been on block scheduling will offer geometry in the eighth grade next year because their students did so well in algebra in the seventh grade.
“Block scheduling presents a far better opportunity to develop those skills that will be needed for the 21st-century workforce – a real responsibility of today’s schools,” Puttre said.
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