5x5 Block Schedule

Sample Schedules

Criteria for Evaluating Bell Schedules

Priority 1: Provides focus and rigor

• Maximizes instruction time. Provides depth over breadth.
• Provides a significant chunk of time to engage students.
• Provides intentional teaching time, lessons, and daily contact.
• Supports ability of the teacher to provide just-in-time feedback.
• Requires minimal transition times across days and year.

Priority 2: Is sustainable

• Is realistic, given resources.
• Reduces the number of students a teacher has at any given time.
• Manages workload for teachers and students as we transition to a new schedule and beyond.
• Provides appropriate and workable number of teacher preps and classes.

Priority 3: Fosters relationships

• Fosters relationships between teachers and students over the year, during the teaching periods and over four years.
• Provides for a class size that promotes student-teacher relationships.
• Fosters community among students.
• Provides opportunities for advocacy.

Priority 4: Is flexible and engages students

• Provides ability for students to advance at own rate.
• Provides choices to support student engagement.
• Provides access to classes.
• Makes available core classes required for graduation as well as others, such as AP and dual enrollment.
• Provides equity of offerings.
• Allows student to be fully scheduled.
• Provides flexibility of scheduling for choice.

Priority 5: Provides for consistency

• Makes fragmentation (gaps in learning) minimal.
• Allows a student to have sustained learning over time.
• Minimizes learning interruptions.

Priority 6: Meet the needs of each student to be college and career ready

• Allows for a rigorous course of study that all students can fully access.
• Is flexible to provide acceleration and remediation to meet college and career readiness standards.
• Allows for embedded time for college and career information, awareness activities, goal setting, and decision-making.
• Creates a carefully crafted pathway of learning that can be articulated to students, monitored and supported all four years.

Priority 7: Builds collaboration in order to:

• Use data meaningfully to determine how to adjust curriculum and instruction.
• Provide time to identify skills needed by students.
• Provide time to discuss curriculum.
• Provide time for professional development.

Priority 8: Maximize other classes on college campuses

• Allows for alignment and collaboration with higher education to allow students into courses on college campuses.

Survey and Feedback Results

Student Feedback:

• Majority of students felt fewer classes per day were more manageable.
• Students really liked having a fresh start in January

Teacher Feedback:

• The majority of teachers felt they could be most effective by teaching 5 or fewer classes per day.
• Teachers preferred fewer classes per day with more time rather than more classes per day with shorter time.

Parent Feedback:

• The majority of parents felt as though fewer classes per day is easier for their child to manage.
• Parents liked having a fresh start to classes in January.

Advantages to the 5x5 Block Schedule

• All secondary schools will begin and end at the same time.
• The 5x5 block schedule gives our students consistency when learning to manage expectations in secondary schools.
• Teachers at secondary schools have the same planning time.
• Teachers split between schools are able to follow the same schedule.