Having a study hall or other flexible period in which students can complete make-up work for a course can greatly improve student success. This can best be achieved by creating a clear structure for the operation of study halls and by ensuring that the established structure is present in [...]
Walk into a typical high school, and you see students hustling from class to class. With a traditional high school schedule, students may have seven classes at a time. That's sort of like having seven different bosses. High school is hard enough without the constant ringing of bells, causing [...]
Flex time is a flexible period of time in a school schedule where students can get what they need, when they need it. It empowers teachers to give students what they really need -- time, during the school day. Flex time usually lasts for 30-45 minutes. However, it can [...]
Is your school thinking of adding a flex period to its schedule, but struggling to get buy-in? And how do you find time in the school day for a flexible period when your schedule is already packed? When schools are looking to make changes to their schedule, these are often [...]
There’s this student that you’re worried about. They’ve barely shown up for class at all in the past week. And when they do, it’s hard for them to focus. You know there’s something going on at home, but you don’t know what. It’s clear that this student needs some [...]
Severe anxiety is on the increase for kids and teens in the U.S. as well as depression and substance abuse. According to an article from NPR ED, some 1 in 5 kids suffers from mental illness of some kind, and 80% will not get the needed treatment. This has [...]
-- Trent C, Grade 9 FLT is the name of a flexible block program at a high school in New Hampshire that allows students to have time in the school day for intervention and enrichment. This time gives students a voice and boosts academic achievement and overall social-emotional health. [...]
What Are the “Costs” of Intervention Blocks? In our last post, What Impact do Intervention Blocks Have on Teachers’ Time Pt. 1, we looked at how adding an Intervention Block to a teacher’s schedule is not at all like adding an additional class. But of course, there is additional work [...]
Have you ever come across words from another time that seem to agelessly correspond to a current issue? I recently read an article from ASCD, by Robert N. Bush, entitled: “The Problem of a Flexible Schedule in High School.” The article was from 1961. Despite the fact that it’s words were [...]
'Teachers have plenty of time! Why can’t they just add more to their workload?’, said no one ever. The truth is that teachers, especially in today’s society, are flooded with increasing and ever-changing stresses. If things weren’t bad enough before, an abundance of information, technology, new ideas and pending [...]