Different Types of Flexible Schedules

Are you considering adding a flex block, activity period, or WIN Time to your school schedule? If so, how can you make it work? The idea of adding an extra block to an already busy schedule might seem like it’s going to be a lot of extra work for staff. But it really doesn’t have to be. By making minor adjustments, many schools have successfully implemented a flexible block. There are a variety of different options as well. Depending on a school’s vision and goals, how they schedule flexible time may differ. Really, this is a model that can work in any school. Check out the different schedule types commonly found in Middle and High Schools below!

The traditional four block schedule is used in many high schools. When adding a flex block, some schools have just shaved about 8 minutes (pictured as the orange bars in the bell schedule on the left), give or take, off of each block. This way, students are missing minimal class time, and still have a substantial amount of time for a flex block.

Another option is to schedule two different lengths of time for your flex block. Some schools call these ‘A/B’ days — a similar approach to a rotating schedule, but maybe a little simpler. In this type of schedule, one day the flex block might be shorter, the next a longer amount of time. This can work with any schedule, whether a four block, eight period, etc. Time is taken from each block to form the flexible block.

Some schools split their flex block into multiple periods. This could be two, three, or even more multiple periods. Often, one of these periods are used for lunch, and the others are used as flex blocks, either for enrichment or intervention activities.

A rotating schedule might be more complicated to get started, but gives students so many options and increased flexibility. A flex block may be held on different days, alternating with advisory or another block with a specified purpose. This can be especially useful for schools that have a lot of students.

A rotating drop schedule usually involves a 7 or 8 period class rotation. In this way it’s similar to the rotating schedule mentioned above. Each day the rotation of classes differs. But with a rotating drop schedule, students typically only attend 5 or 6 of the 8 total available classes each day. For example, students meet for 6 periods out of 8 each day. On ‘Day 1’ they meet for Periods 1-6. Periods 7 and 8 are ‘dropped’ from the rotation, and then added to the beginning of ‘Day 2.’ On day two, periods 5 and 6 are dropped from the rotation. This cycle continues as the week progresses, so students are meeting for all 8 classes in the rotation.

A Flex Period could occur at the same time every day within this rotation, as shown in the example. Or, some schools may choose to rotate the flex period as well. In addition, some schools drop a period from the morning, and one or two from the afternoon each day. For example, in an 8 period rotation they may drop Period 3 and Period 8 on day one, then add those back to day two and drop Period 2 and Period 6 on day two.

Even if your current schedule model isn’t listed here, you can probably find a way to incorporate a flexible block into your current schedule, with minimal impact on the rest of your schedule. To learn more about how to create a flex block, watch our video How Can You Create a Flex Block?.