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Advisory could be great if it were run as pure study hall and supported as such. As is, nobody takes it seriously, very few students use it to catch up on work—it has become unsustainable.

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Wednesdays are exhausting with having every period every day. I do not want that every day.

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It's nice to have a time/place where business can be taken care of (grade level meetings, etc.) without taking away from class time. But so many kids don't care and just skip, and so many adults complain about it all the time, so it seems really forced.

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Block schedule allows us to spend more focused time on content. With shorter periods, the opening and closing to the lesson take away lots of the content time.

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Less transitions (ie block) allows for less transitions and less need to readjust for students and staff.

Setting up for multiple preps is much easier with block schedule.

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6 period days are exhausting, but students aren't rising to the challenge or benefit of block schedules. They don’t do work between class meetings, they don’t use advisory to complete homework at school—it would be better to see them every day.

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Pros: community building.

Cons: Poor attendance

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Pros: time for things like registration, grade checks, making up work, clubs, social/community building. Having one teacher as an “advisor” through 4 years is incredibly valuable.

Con’s: Sometimes is feels too long. It would be better if there was one advisory to make clubs and 1:1 work easier (I don’t like using my lunch to support students who have a different advisory).

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I love having an advisory community and a place to do circles, study hall, and do fun activities and projects. What is provided is not sufficient, however, and it's like an extra prep to make all of the stuff that I do.

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I love a 6-period day. I love having the same schedule every day, and the predictability and routine. Also the block periods are so long and they drag on and the kids complain about it so much.

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The district might suggest longer blocks without advisory.

At first this scared me, but the more I thought about it though the more I realized that we could use the extra time.

Imagine being able to hold a circle in content classes. Or having a 30 minute break in the middle to play a game, do grade checks, or have study hall.

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Block schedule gives more time to dive deeper into content. It also allows for longer in-class reading and writing.

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Pros: Because of advisory, I have had relationships that have helped me in the general classroom. I would not have had the relationship with particular students without advisory. Granted, these relationships only paid off till the year I had my advisory students

Cons: trying to get student by in with having ...that doesn't really matter? It really just turns into extra lunch for those who dare to take it and baby sitting club for those who don't.

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Student survey (one teacher) suggested block for different reasons: for example, takes time for students to process. Some classes could use daily instruction (math). Some students don't want every class every day. Not having prep every day can be rough. Need a 10 min break between each period.

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Block is pretty nice for part time people

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6 periods in one day does not match brain science—it’s too much for growing brains.

Block schedule will better prepare students for college and career (and life).

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Blocks work well for labs, baking cookies as example. Can use the whole time easily. If we don't have block, limits what can be done. Gives time to do work in class vs. take home.

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Advisory is great for building community, allowing students time to get help, make up or retake tests, etc.

The problem is, most students are skipping and take an extremely long lunch and still showing up late to 5th/6th period.

Is it possible to move Advisory to a different time of day? Not back up against lunch could help attendance and actually give them specified time to build community and work on school.

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Pro - a 6-period class schedule makes classes shorter and may help students sustain attention and work stamina.

Con - a 6-period class schedule is tiring and so many students to engage with in one day. 6 period day doesn't offer enough time with students who need more 1:1 or small group support.

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As a part-time employee, makes my schedule easier. Only 3 days / week vs. 5 days per week.

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Con: skills center and running start - not aligned with our schedule. Traveling across city. Creates barriers to accessibility and limits options.

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Advisory does not work when attached to lunch. Students will always take long lunches.

This is also difficult though for those who are part time because I don’t know where advisory would go.

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I've gotten used to the block schedule and really like it. I'd really like to keep it but only if our block periods do not get any longer.

Like if we eliminate Advisory and our classes get even longer that would not be good...

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Pros of block: Science classes can do a lab

Cons of block: Most classes finish a lesson early and there is a lot of dead time

Pros of 6-period: Days feel shorter and fits the students attention span.

Cons of 6-period: Difficult for teachers to transition.

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Advisory study hall is super important, and I would like to be able to call kids in to work every time we do advisory, not just Tuesday/Thursday. This could be done, with days reserved for school-wide events such as filling out the forms at the beginning of the year and registration.

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Con for 6 period schedule. 5-10 minutes becomes about 10 -20 percent of class. If student missed 10 minutes of 50 minute class, then that's a much bigger chunk than 10 minutes from 100 minute class

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Pro-block from a teaching standpoint, like having one prep on one day and another on another day. Makes it easy to plan / organize. Con: don't see students every day. Sometimes when they're gone on a specific day every week for something, miss them for a LOT of time every week. Harder for students to make up work.

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Overall pro-block, but the length of time can be hard for some students. Long day! Built-in breaks would be helpful. Hallways are chaotic throughout long period. Also, if we don't do advisory, does block get longer? We shouldn't do longer than we currently have.

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Block days allow more time to check in and help students in class. However, block days are hard for students to sit in class for so long.

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Block schedules provide enough time for full lessons. Block schedules also allow students who have a hard time getting started/getting focused enough time to get engaged in the content.

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Block periods work if they are taught correctly. They are very important for going deeper into content, and they provide fewer transitions in the day. I also build better relationships with my students when I have time to talk about things with them in depth.

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Modified block (some block days / some not) as an option?

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I don't see how you have a block period w/o an advisory. CLasses would be back to 110+ minutes which would be awful.

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At previous district, 3 types of schedules - 6-period day, 6-period early release, 2 "advisory days"

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The sixth period schedule helps with students who need help focusing. If a kid misses a day on block they lose an hour and a half of teaching rather than around 50 minutes. It seems that everyone in the generation coming up struggles with some form of ADD it's just the world we live in. During advisory a lot of students either skip or choose not to do any of the work they need help with.

When I was in high school our advisory was 30 minutes after the first of 6 periods and it was used to go and talk to teachers to get help. I like meeting every day because it helps with consistency across all classes.

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Block periods whether we have advisory or not. But, the advisory study hall is super important also.

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Advisory is way too long, too much time out of the teaching day. And I am tired of receiving phone calls that my child did not make it to advisory.

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Modified block as a good option - better distributes preps and seeing students.

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Not really. I really want a block schedule. Having longer blocks (if we don’t have advisory) would be hard at first, but I think I would come to really like having the extra time.

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6 period day - lots of time prepping/getting started, less time for content or projects.

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Pros: I love "Growing up" with students and having a group who we're just an adult to be on their side. We can help them navigate Franklin, get their SEL and counseling required stuff distributed evenly (not just ELA classes). It provides a chance for levity and games. Students can see their advisory students as people first, so if you eventually have them as a student in a content area, there's already buy in.

Cons: it is an additional group of students that teachers are expected to invest in ON TOP of our contract max. Convincing students to buy in to advisory is a decent amount of work--that is emotional energy and time teachers could be spending prepping for their content areas, grading, contacting home. Students don't necessarily care about the credit, so attendance can be spotty.

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9th grade students do not like or want Advisory as a space to do grade checks or catch up on work. In my experience, they just use the time to socialize and spend more time on their phones. They also use it as an extension to lunch because they don't want the cafeteria food and end up going off campus to buy food and bring it back to eat in Advisory. Most of my students don't show up or show up halfway through.

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Block gives enough time to talk to every student, even quieter students or ones who fly under the radar.

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Schoolwide break necessary for long blocks.

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A block schedule helps students in distinct who have a higher transition times to be able to actually get time in class. Shorter class periods would be significantly more difficult to support students who need this extra time

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Transitions in 6 period day can be hard.

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Jeffreys says:

PROS: Community-building, goal-setting, circles and continuity with one staff-member for four years are super-invaluable

CONS: One hour per day was too long, 45 minutes is better. It's good to have touchpoints but when there is not structured activities provided it is more of a struggle.

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Pros- time for students to re-assess, turn in late work, get help with content within the school day (so I and they don't have to stay after school). I also like the circles

Cons- giving students credit for this class, low attendance

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Consistency is really important. Especially with new students.

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Pros: students only have to intellectually transition between three new subject areas a day. We have more time to do longer activities like labs in science or seminars where you can prep/discuss/reflect in the same period.

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6 period day = more homework? Could result in more equity issues

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Advisory can be such a great opportunity to build community. It can also be a bit exhausting at times.

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6 period day is tighter, things have gotten loose here. Attention spans are shorter than ever, long classes don't match the attention spans!

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Frequent movement during 6 period day can help w/attention span.

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Block periods are much more productive and allow for individual meetings with students who need support. A 6 period day is far too rushed and chaotic. Students don't have enough time to get settled and engaged with content, especially for the students who are habitually late. Block periods allow for a more flexible and organic experience that benefits teachers and students.

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Pros: From what I've seen, many students use Advisory to complete work in other classes, specifically when they travel to that class during Advisory. Advisory also gives students the time they need to complete tasks that are not connected to a specific academic class (student-led conferences, college and beyond plans, etc.). It is a great time for social-emotional learning, clubs, and giving students time to socialize with friends in different Advisories.

Cons: Some students who often skip Advisory are the ones who would benefit most from catching up on classwork during Advisory.

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Advisory lends to community building among teachers/students. However, attendance is lower than ever to Advisory, so it makes it difficult to build community with those who don't attend.

Pro- time to make up work, retake quizzes or just meet for 10-15 minutes to review a topic/concept.

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Advisory should:

1. happen at the same time for everyone so that students across grade levels can participate in clubs and activities together.

2. be separated from lunch.

3. be a time when groups meet so student are not pulled from classes.

4. Offer a variety of options (social, academic, circles, quiet time, clubs, games, etc.) so that students have choices and can find something that suits them.

5. Prioritize academic support for students who are struggling or behind.

6. Have a system that makes students accountable for being in an acceptable location during Advisory time.

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Jeffreys says:

More students are in the halls during the block period days than I ever remember seeing at FHS in the pre-pandemic 6 period day ever. I don't know if that is a function of students struggling to manage the long-blocks or other perceived lack of consequences for non-attendance. With either schedule option, we need to figure how to get students to be invested in being in class.

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Cons of blocks: classes are too long, if students miss a day they miss too much class content

Pros of blocks: more time to engage with content deeply, less transitions

Cons of 6th period day: really rushed! hard on kids and teachers to make so many transitions

Pros of 6th period day: daily contact with kids and engagement with content

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Not really 6 vs block pro or con but I think we should push our start time to 8:30 so that students who are in sports are not missing as much class and we can end around 3:20ish

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Pros: Moving from class to class allows a little bit of getting energy out--more transitions means more chances to use the bathroom and not miss class period. You see all your students every day, so a student missing one day of school means they only fall behind a little bit (but con in all classes vs only three)

Cons: mental transitions is difficult for staff and students (and physical transitions with furniture for staff).

Pro/Con: Sports early dismissal impacts 2 classes in the afternoon vs one

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Jeffreys really is perplexed on this one:

Block periods seems like it should be better due to fewer transitions, but students seem exhausted, so I'm not sure which supports students better

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I think we should look at data from a school with similar student demographics that does a 6 period day (if there is one) and compare data on grades, attendance, graduation rates, and discipline and use that to decide what is the better option for students.

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I say this as someone who has LOVED advisory the last 7 years. I think advisory should only be 1-2 a week, for less than 45 minutes. If having a block schedule REQUIRED advisory every day, I would be a lot more inclined to go with 6 period day, where I get longer with each student in my content area as opposed to half-assing with a group of students who likely skip it a lot

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Con: Class length, Attendance, timing, students who skip, are the ones who are further behind, and follow thorough of advisory passes. Keep Tuesday / Thursday as travel days , split grade levels, student experiences are varied

Pro: Used to HSBP, focus on what needs to get done for graduation requirements, used for retakes, have to schedule around that, club meeting during the school day increase equity, academic supports, such as grade checks, Advisory FOR a club, increase supports, Same advisory as students you teach, Targeted interventions to get supports, push in to a non-academic class, cleanest, and most students registered this year

Questions:

If we have to have 2 lunches, how does that work for block schedule, and NO advisory

What are the guidelines for one lunch vs 2?

One advisory for all?

SEL break?

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If we do not have Advisory I would not want to have block periods because they will be too long.

I'd most like to have a 6 period day with a short study hall/Advisory time attached to one of our periods

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We have pretty high absences with our student population, and it is hard to support with block periods because students have so much to make up when they come back to class/ we only see them 3 times a week to follow up about what they missed

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I'd rather have a block schedule if there are no advisory classes because it would allow students to receive more support and have more time to complete work in class. I don't like to stay after school to help students or give make-up/retake assessments. I'd rather give up my lunch to help students rather than come in early or stay late after school. If 1-6 periods are held each day, we should not have Advisory.

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Jeffreys says:

I'm pro-Advisory for either schedule option. I'm not sure if Advisory needs to be daily. If there was a modified block, Advisory could be on 1-2 days a week.

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Questions:

If Block: Have an extended nutrition., advisory, SEL break,

If 1-6 no advisory

If Advisory was not included

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Time built into the day for students to get help feels invaluable.

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When I have surveyed my students in the past, they are overwhelmingly pro-Advisory. Last year I surveyed all my classes and this year I surveyed just my Advisory students. Both times, students were overwhelmingly in favor of keeping Advisory. I think student voice matters even if we don't always agree with what they voice.

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Pros:

Every day (except Wednesdays and when we do circle on some Fridays) I have students either coming to my Advisory to work on their assignments or going to another Advisory to make up work/retake tests/receive academic support.

Every day in my Advisory there are at least a handful of students who are on my Advisory roster doing work for other classes during Advisory.

Clubs have time to meet during Advisory.

Advisory has been a useful time to do grade checks or make announcements about school events or cool opportunities like career or service stuff.

Whether we have Advisory or not next year, I want a schedule that retains the ability to do these things within the school day.

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Pros: I'm having a lot of success as a club advisor during advisory supporting students who've been benefitting from the opportunity to create and maintain supportive intentional community in a meaningful way. Some of these students may not otherwise participate in clubs if the only option to do them were to be after school due to after school obligations (babysit sibblings, work). Having access to clubs during the school day makes clubs more equitable. I agree with folks saying that a better time to have advisory would be not a time next to lunch (between first and second classes of the day)

Cons: sparse attendance during actual advisory times

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Block periods allow time for students that struggle or need more more processing time to engage in the learning to do so. 6 period days move so fast, these students will overwhelmed with having to finish all work without support on their own

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PROs: community building, a time for students with social needs to "rest their brains." Students have a difficult time continuing to focus all day and I think advisory gives them a moment to step back and build community.

CONs: timing. I agree with others that it would be beneficial to schedule advisory earlier in the day, likely after 1st period. I think that if it were the first class of the day, many students would not come to school until 1st period began.

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PROs: time to work on larger projects, allows students to take a substantial mental break between lessons and assignments. This also allows extended time for support for students who struggle with academic tasks and allows special education teachers to support students with work in other classes after they have completed work from their own class. It also allows part time teachers to only come on specific days of the week rather than finding childcare every day.

CONs: none. I love block periods!

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Advisory is a must, imo. But I'm not sure it needs to be 4 days a week. In looking at other school schedules, I like the idea of having advisory M-W-F or one long advisory on Wednesday.

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I love teaching block periods, but I worry that we're not delivering in the dream and that it is not what is best for students.

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Can admin and security handle a block schedule? Would our hallways look less congested with students if we had a 6 period day?

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ASB specifically is formatted into an advisory period. If we moved away from Advisory, and ensured ASB was a class it would allow for better accountability. Even with our student leaders, many of them miss advisory. However, without the opportunity to include every elected student into a class period and no advisory we face some challenges with getting planning time as a full team

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We need to know what we're doing in advisory BEFORE we vote on it. This year felt like a real bait-and-switch. It becomes a space for unfunded mandates and extra work. We need to know what exactly we are doing in advisory before we vote.

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In an ideal world, we can have three 6-period days at the beginning of the week and then Thursday and Friday block scheduling with advisory and club time on those days. There can still be that 100 minutes of time to plan projects, labs, and reteaching to struggling students but the first three days can be direct instruction and guided practice leading us to that 100 minute period where we put it all together and let students cement learning through independent practice. High schools like Cleveland and Rainier Beach here on the south end have appealed for a schedule that works for them even after the district releases what’s “available.” We should build a case for this schedule and don’t give them a reason to say no.

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Advisory is a great time for clubs to meet and increases club participation.

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I just do not think that students could possibly handle longer block periods. I think there is a lot of evidence that they are not handling the current block schedule well (not that that necessarily means we should switch to a 6 period day) but I think all of the problems we face with block would be badly exacerbated with a longer block and that it would make the block schedule untenable.

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Block is better for Project based learning and allowing students to have time to work on their assignments in class or get support with their work.

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when we have block then its good to have some kind of break in the middler, like and SEL break or advisory.

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advisory lets students create a unit going thru senior year, cons are being around lunch they often skip.

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Weds are way to fast, never a moment to breathe. Sure classes are shorter, but are folks really finding Weds more productive than other days - or just a day to catch up?

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I would like to keep the block schedule. I would rather not have Advisory, but if we do I would support moving it to the beginning or end of the day. If we can keep the block without Advisory- we need to plan for all school 10 min breaks half way through each block. This will allow everyone to take a break and reduce the amount of students leaving class and hanging in the hallways (and students interrupting classes to find friends) during instruction.

As much as kids do not like the longer class, having 6 periods everyday will not allow for having time to really get to know the students and to build community.

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Truthfully, how many of us actually want to sit through 90 minutes of PD and staff meetings, even when it is broken up into chunks with breaks, when our brain is already tired from so much work? How can we expect our students to sit through the same thing that we as adults complain about every time we're forced to be "in class" learning for 90 minutes?

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Thoughts on advisory from a Special Education Case Manager:

1. I think Advisory could be more productive if it were smaller groups of students.

2. I would love to see resource and extended resource paras assigned to spaces where they can pull students they work with to get caught up on work, reteach content, etc., instead of being assigned to other teacher's advisories.

3. If possible, having interventionists lead advisories for students on their caseloads would be a great tier 2 support!

4. As the year has gone on, more and more students have come to my room for support or just a quieter place to study with a smaller group of students, I think having an open door, student-chosen space has been really great for students who have elected to come get support. I recognize this may not be able to be replicated on a large scale, but I do think this has been a successful outcome of advisory for me!

Some obvious cons, from my perspective, are lack of attendance and engagement. Students not feeling comfortable in their advisories (I think for my students this is related to size and sensory needs). Inconsistent grading practices, especially during the Student-Led Conferences-- I fault no one, I just observed a vast difference amongst my students' grades.

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Thoughts on Block Schedule:

1. It's really hard not having a prep every day. Teaching is an exhausting job, and this is compounded on the days where teachers have one 30 minute break without students in front of them.

2. I have a lot of students for whom one hundred and forty minutes is too long for their attention spans. That being said, I see the benefit for labs, presentations, etc. Perhaps a schedule were we have a couple block periods a week and several 6 period days could meet more people's needs?

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I echo a lot of the pros I see already listed on this thread. I will add that a major con for me is that if a student misses ONE DAY, they miss SO MUCH CONTENT, so getting caught up can become really difficult even if you just miss a couple days a week.

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Pro: gives teachers time to meet with students one-on-one, community building, time for clubs to meet, (Black Girl Magic club)- if we don't have advisory, Academic Interventionists would need to pull students from their regular classes to support them if we didn't have advisory... Counselors would also have to do a lot of the registration, HYBP / Naviance stuff during regular class time without Advisory.

Con: with many teachers refusing to engage in community building / academic advising / grade checks / family communication with their advisory students, students choose not to go, and so it turns into an extended lunch. The work for organizing advisory activities falls on just a couple passionate/willing folks who are not paid for this work, and then they are publicly shamed for their work by their colleagues - so I guess I would say the Con is that it emboldens folks doing little to contribute to our Advisory "issue" to criticize folks that are doing more contributing... so creating tension between colleagues is a major Con for me.

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I see really good points on both sides, and I can agree with both. But a lot of the reasoning (extra time, extra help, attendance/skipping, breaks) kind of stretches across both sets of schedules. Like... every single time we talk about ANY schedule, no matter what it is, there are so many comments about wanting more breaks, longer lunches, longer passing periods (from both students and teachers). But of course we don't want the school day to last like 12 hours. It's hard to do some kinds of activities in short timeframes, but so many kids have a 20-second attention span right now. One schedule or another might give more time for _________, but does it matter if students are not using the time for that? Does anybody think that the kids that take two hour lunches would stop doing that just because it's in a 6-period vs block schedule? It's not like they hurry to make it back before 5th/6th. Maybe this isn't helpful, because even as I'm typing it, it feels really hopeless but... if they don't care about coming on time, they don't care about missing lots of instruction, they don't care about "breaking rules" (are there really rules if there are no real consequences?), they complain when you try to do "touchy feely stuff" but then they also complain when you try to do content... is talking about the schedule really even the important question? Will the choice matter if we don't first get them to care about being here and learning?