After months of deliberation, the Bordentown Regional School District decided on minimal changes to the high school’s current 4×4 block schedule.
A scheduling committee consisting of Bordentown Regional High School staff and administration, board of education members and parents ultimately decided to allow incoming freshmen who did not take Algebra I in middle school to take the class for a full block, or the entire year, rather than one semester.
BRHS currently operates on a 4×4 block schedule. Each semester, students typically take four classes. Each class is 80 minutes, and they meet for 90 school days. Final grades are issued at the end of each semester, similar to a traditional college schedule. Students have the option to forgo lunch or study hall to take a fifth class. They are also able to take courses like Spanish I and Spanish II in the same year, and BRHS principal Rob Walder said the schedule allows for more class sections, which gives students more opportunities to take different electives.
The schedule has been in place for nearly 25 years, and it has been successful for the school.
“Longer classes means fewer change of classes, which means the kids spend less time in the halls,” Walder said. “Teachers have a chance to delve deeply into content. PE classes have more time to get out to the fields, instruct and then play. Art can take more time, and wood shop, too. Science labs are the biggest proponents—they don’t have to rush through.”
Walder added that students only have to focus on four or five classes at once, as opposed to the traditional seven or eight, and they get to swap teachers once a year.
The high school has used the 4×4 block schedule since 1995. The goal of the scheduling committee was to determine whether or not a different schedule might be a better fit. The committee explored two options: the A/B block schedule and the rotate and drop schedule.
Under the A/B schedule, students would have an A day of classes and a B day of classes all year long. Each day would include four classes, for a total of eight classes throughout the year. Like the 4×4 schedule, the length of each class is 80 minutes, and each class ends up meeting for 90 school days. Final grades are issued at the end of the year.
Classes under the rotate and drop schedule run the entire school year. Each day, students would meet with six of their eight classes — three before lunch, and three after lunch. Start times of each class would rotate, and two classes are dropped each day.
Walder said the committee also focused on and is still considering a “One Lunch” plan.
“This is where all the students have lunch at the same time,” Walder said. “This would provide time for students to meet with their clubs, get extra help from teachers and ask teachers questions. It would also allow teachers common planning time with each other—math teachers can all get together on certain days, et cetera.”
The scheduling committee met several times over the last year and included separate staff, parent and student meetings. Committee members also met with representatives from other local schools, including Rancocas Valley, Burlington Township, New Egypt, Ewing, Burlington City, Cherokee, Shawnee and Lenape. This allowed them to get a feel for what worked and didn’t work for students outside of the district.
Overall, Walder said the process was successful.
“It allowed us to take a deep look at the things we do well and find some changes to create other ways to support more of our students and increase achievement,” he said. “The surveys we sent to students, staff and parents gave us tremendously helpful feedback. We also met with the BOE curriculum committee several times to listen to their ideas and questions.”
A slideshow presentation on the benefits and drawbacks of each scheduling option, plus links to additional research, can be found on the Bordentown Regional High School website at brhs.bordentown.k12.nj.us.
Bordentown High School. (Courtesy Wikipedia Commons.),
