Bella Vista Seeks to Reach the New Century with a New Class Scheduling System

With the conclusion of the November 5 election, two more votes remain to be taken in Fair Oaks. On Tuesday, November 12, the parents of Bella Vista High School students will decide whether to approve a new scheduling system proposed for implementation in 1997. Bella Vista students will vote Tuesday, November 19. Balloting takes place at the high school, and runs from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. both days.

The balloting is in response to a new way to schedule classes-called the block system-proposed at Bella Vista High School. Opinion about the merits of "block scheduling" is divided, which is the reason why the issue must go up before a vote of Bella Vista administrators, teachers, staff, parents and the students. The school faculty and staff have already voted, and now the final decision rests in the hands of the parents and students.

The controversy surrounding the block schedule has become an international issue, due in part because several Canadian schools implemented the change in class scheduling and reported drastic drops in academic quality. Parent groups across the United States latched onto a study done by Dr. David J. Bateson of the University of British Columbia, and began a crusade across the country against the implementation of block scheduling in U.S. high schools. Bateson's study, and a few others, report that block scheduling at the high school level results with adverse effects to education, or with no effect.

Studies done at Roy J. Wasson High School, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, report different findings, however. Wasson High School, one of the pioneers of block scheduling, has prepared an instruction program to help other schools implement the scheduling system, hosts workshops for teachers from around the country, and even flies representatives to U.S. schools to help school districts that wish to install the block schedule as their academic structure.

But while new studies appear weekly, one touting the benefits of block scheduling and another reporting critical downfalls in the new scheduling method, none are as yet scientific, and all are based primarily on anecdotal evidence. Both sides of the controversy have not agreed on the specific criteria with which to judge and analyze the new system. While some groups call for the use of standardized testing, other groups suggest that standardized testing is not a true measure of a student's learning. Both sides of the debate admit that there is not yet a standard test to scientifically prove or disprove the effects of block scheduling on high school academics. Not all schools use the familiar SAT and ACT tests, and some schools even suggest that SAT and ACT scores are no longer "the best indicator" of a student's academic achievement. The reason, they say, is because "we now live in a rapidly changing world, much different from ten or fifteen years ago." The administration and teachers of Bella Vista have already voted in favor of the block schedule.

So... the decision now rests in the votes of the parents and students of Bella Vista to determine whether to implement the block schedule. Unfortunately, not all parents and students, and not all of the teachers at Bella Vista, are clear about the block schedule. At a public meeting held in the school cafeteria, emotions were stirred too high by a candidate running for the San Juan School Board, and the original intention of information exchange was tossed aside for emotional soliloquies from the audience. Some parents who attended the meeting had their minds made up against the implementation of the block schedule before they arrived at the meeting. Many of the parents, however, left not knowing much more than when they walked into the Bella Vista Cafeteria.

While the difference in the findings of the studies seem to confuse the issue, the concept of block scheduling is relatively easy to understand. High school students now take six classes over the course of a year. The block schedule, often called the 4-by-4 block, divides the school year into two semesters (or terms), in which students take four classes a day during one semester and four classes a day the next semester, for a total of eight classes over the course of the school year. Instead of 50 or 55 minutes, classes last 90 minutes. The intent is to intensify learning by compressing a year's worth of study into a single semester.

For example, first-year Spanish would be compressed into the first half of the school year, and the student would then take second-year Spanish during the second semester, or perhaps the following year, if the student decided instead to take an extra elective during the second term.

Opponents of the block system believe that allowing such gaps between consecutive classes-as illustrated in the above example-is detrimental to a student's ability to retain what they learned. Opponents to the system also suggest that high school students are unable to focus their attention upon one subject for such a long time.

Proponents of the block system disagree, stating that diversified teaching methods will keep students interested in and occupied with learning, and that by increasing the length of the classes students will be able to study subjects in more depth.

While both sides of the issue seem locked at the horns, one thing is clear: the block is not going to disappear easily. Many schools are adopting the new scheduling method.

Del Campo High School (Fair Oaks) was the first school in Sacramento County to adopt the experimental scheduling method. During Spring Break, 1993, two teachers from Del Campo went to Wasson High School, in Colorado, to investigate the block schedule, and came back very excited about implementing the scheduling system at Del Campo.

According to Del Campo Principal Lois Franchimone, "In 1994 we began talking about the block, but we hadn't made a decision. We brought the Wasson team here to introduce it to us. We were looking to find a way to better provide more opportunities to our kids."

Being a SITE-based school, Del Campo was required to put the issue up for a vote. To investigate the new system, Del Campo set up a booth during back-to-school night, and then held a huge information night in October. An entire section of the PTA newspaper distributed monthly to the parents of Del Campo students was devoted to an analysis of the block. Once a month, throughout the 1994-1995 school year, Del Campo High School hosted regular meetings for parents, students, and faculty.

"We had parents on the committee," says Franchimone. "So we had parents presenting to parents. Our parents were so wonderful."

Casa Roble High School (Orangevale) is also on the block schedule, implementing the change with the 1995-1996 school year. Like Bella Vista, Casa Roble is a SITE-based school, and the decision to adopt the 4-by-4 block required an affirmative vote from the five categories designated by the SITE program-administrators, teachers, students, parents and staff.

Roger Riley, principal of Casa Roble, is also an advocate of the block schedule. "At the end of the year last year we surveyed a number of students on the block, to get a thumbnail sketch as to their input, and they had five categories, strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, strongly disagree. One question was `Overall I like the block schedule,' and 76.7% of the students answered `strongly agree' or `agree.' The parents' response was 75.7%.

For both schools, Del Campo and Casa Roble, the decision to move to the block schedule was based on an increasing need to find a better way to educate high school students in a rapidly changing society filled with an abundance of information.

Bella Vista administrators and teachers want to move to the block for the same reason. "Bella Vista does very well with the college bound student," says Jim Reidt, Bella Vista principal. "There's no doubt about that. But in our last accreditation process, two of our twelve major recommendations were that we needed to develop programs to meet the needs of all students here, not just the academically talented and those going on to college. Our thinking is the block is the one way to address those needs without diluting the high standards and the high quality that we currently have for the college bound student."

Reidt cites an example. "Two years ago, we had seventy kids accepted at UC schools, and thirty-four of them went to UC schools. Thirty-four out of a student body, a graduating class of 350, is a good number, but there are still a lot of kids out there to whom we need to attend to their needs, also. We are looking for delivery of instruction that improves the learning for all students without compromising anything."

The votes of the parents and the students of Bella Vista will determine whether the school adopts the block schedule. If the vote is against the 4-by-4 block schedule program, Wright says that the school will remain dedicated to finding better ways to teach students.

"If this schedule doesn't go," confides Reidt, "we want to know what the parents are thinking. Should we be looking at a schedule? Should we not be? Is there something out there that would be acceptable for everyone? Unfortunately, the meeting on information night did not go in those directions."

Teachers and school administrators, for the most part, like the block schedule. On November 12 and 19, Bella Vista will find out whether parents and students feel the same way.