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Click download to save your copy. Once all data is input, the spreadsheets for each content area will need to be sorted.

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Student Program Template 6-8.xlsx | Powered by Box

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https://region4store.com/product/master-scheduling-board-for-inclusionary-practices-elementary/

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Product ID: 741-1823

This laminated scheduling board for elementary campuses (30" x 90") provides campuses with a structured visual format to manually schedule students with special needs into the campus master schedule. The use of dry-erase markers ensures the board can be reused from year to year.

Item ID: 741-1823

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Master Scheduling Board for Inclusionary Practices (Elementary)

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Product ID: 741-1823 This laminated scheduling board for elementary campuses (30" x 90") provides campuses with a structured visual format to manually schedule students with special needs into the campus master schedule. The use of dry-erase markers ensures the board can be reused from year to year. Item ID: 741-1823

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2025 Quality Indicators for Effective Master Scheduling

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https://region4store.com/product/master-scheduling-board-for-inclusionary-practices-secondary/

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Master Scheduling Board for Inclusionary Practices (Secondary) – Region 4 Store

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This scheduling board for secondary campuses (40” x 60”) provides campuses with a structured visual format to manually schedule students with special needs into the campus master schedule. The use of sticky notes to identify class sections ensures the board can be reused from year to year.

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https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/46456/why-a-schools-master-schedule-is-a-powerful-enabler-of-change

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There are plenty of charter networks and magnet programs gaining acclaim for their innovative teaching models, but most school-age children go to existing public schools. Laufenberg compares the situation to city building. A city can't modernize by constructing new buildings but ignoring the underlying infrastructure. When a road is rutted, it doesn't work to just build a new road. The original road must be fixed. In the educational context, existing schools need system-level change if the system as a whole is going to shift.

"When you are trying to do a transformation, if you don't have some kind of major lever, you have varying levels of success of your program," Laufenberg said. Changing the master schedule, while difficult, is a major signal to everyone connected to the school that pedagogy is shifting. "If we don't match our minutes to our mission, [teachers are] not going to shift."
LUELLA'S SHIFT
At Luella High, three teachers of the same subject, sophomore English, for example, all teach during the same period. The students in those three sections can then rotate between teachers, depending on their individual needs. For example, one teacher might lead a literature discussion with a larger group of students while another teacher helps a smaller group with their writing and a third is working with students applying their knowledge in a project.

"What's different for us is that we've designed a model that is basically a rotational model, but it doesn't look the same in math as it does in foreign language, as it does in English," Smith said. It's like the "station rotation model" in elementary school, but it changes depending on the grade level, content, discipline and the needs of the students in that cohort.

"What we're not going to do is say we're a personalized learning school and say one model works for everyone," Smith said. "That's crazy." He has designated personal learning coaches moving between cohorts to help teachers identify student needs and to think through how the professional learning community of teachers working together might improve the model.

'Society has taught children to be spoon-fed and if it doesn't work out someone is going to rescue you. Well, we're not doing that.' Jerry Smith, Principal Luella High School

"The rotational model is meant to give kids some choice and to let them be in different settings, because we all know we perform differently in different settings," Smith said. The other big part of the model is constant formative assessment to determine how well students are picking up knowledge and skills. And every four weeks students take a summative assessment designed by teachers and tied to the standards. That assessment gives the instructional team a snapshot of where each student stands at that moment in time and where students need more work. The rotation and groups can be adjusted accordingly.

"It's sloppy, but hell, life is sloppy," Smith said. His team is slowly changing the instructional approach grade by grade. They started with ninth grade and are now working to modify 11th grade. Smith says this model requires that students take ownership of their own learning, and that transition has been one of the hardest to make at Luella.

"That's probably the most difficult and weakest area we have because society has taught children to be spoon-fed and if it doesn't work out someone is going to rescue you," Smith said. "Well, we're not doing that."

In addition to a schedule that allows for the rotation model, Smith also wanted to create opportunities for interdisciplinary work and was trying to be mindful of how many exams students would be taking at the same time. He also wanted to keep all of the 19 AP courses Luella offers, including the section of BC Calculus that only had eight students enrolled.

To achieve a schedule that accommodates all these competing priorities, Smith has had to give up some things, and he's planning to hand schedule the entire building next year. Existing scheduling software isn't designed to handle the priorities Smith wanted and would "break the pedagogical model" if relied upon to do the scheduling.
WHAT IT TAKES
Leading a school transformation like this one is hard work and requires constantly pushing toward the vision. When Luella started this work Smith said he got reactions from across the spectrum. Some parents were distrustful of the changes, while others thought they sounded like a good idea. Some teachers left because they didn't agree with the new pedagogical focus, but others have thrived and led the changes. Smith said he tries to be as transparent as possible with the community about why decisions are being made, while always holding firm to his central principle -- the school should be serving all its students better.

'I see a lot of people really turning into everything that's new is better and everything that's old is bad, which it's not.' Diana Laufenberg

"The systems of schools are so habitual, shifting practice has to be as concerted as quitting smoking," Laufenberg said. "You need to have a plan for your bad day." She said there are days when even the teachers most committed to inquiry-based teaching are going to want to lecture. And that's the equivalent of sneaking out for a cigarette. Changing is hard and when people get tired they will want to return to the status quo. She's worked with teachers at Luella to develop inquiry-based lessons to keep in their back pockets when it gets tough.

Laufenberg has watched many schools start a school transformation project with energy and vigor, but when leaders run into outside pressures from the district or can't pick their way through the complex system they run out of momentum. It's a common story, so common that many teachers expect new programs and approaches to fail in a few years, or to die out when the superintendent takes a new job. And, since change is uncomfortable, many just wait it out. That's why it's important not to toss away good teaching practices just because they've been around for years.

"I see a lot of people really turning into everything that's new is better and everything that's old is bad, which it's not," Laufenberg said. For example, inquiry is currently in the spotlight, but it's not a new idea. Similarly, advisory is an old idea that works. It's always a good idea to provide a care structure for kids as they move through school. "We don't need to get rid of that just because it's old," Laufenberg said.

For his part, Smith doesn't expect this work to ever become easy because it revolves around people, and people are messy. "What we see as order is really chaos and what we see as chaos is really order," Smith said. He doesn't want it to become orderly because that's not the natural state of human systems.

Individual success stories of students are what help keep him going. One boy with severe autism had been educated on his own in a rubber room in seventh grade. His mom didn't think he could handle a big high school, but Smith wanted to give him a shot. The student turned out to be incredibly gifted at math and loved playing in the band. A clear moment demonstrating his growth came when he asked to direct the band at the last home football game, a step outside his comfort zone that was uncharacteristic.

"When he walked across the stage [at graduation], we had taken a child who was in a rubber room in seventh grade and had given him a shot at life," Smith said. Many adults worked hard to get that student to graduation and they all felt a victory when he was successful.

On the other end of the spectrum, Smith will always remember a young woman who seemed to be perfect from the outside: good grades, cheerleader, the class valedictorian. But unbeknown to many of her friends and teachers, she had a very difficult home life. For her valedictorian speech she decided to talk publicly about her depression and bulimia in hopes of changing someone else's reality.

"We've got a long way to go in this work, but we are making progress and people are seeing that we're making progress," Smith said. He's seen an uptick in ACT and SAT scores, attendance is better and discipline referrals are down. Those are all traditional markers of school improvement, but Smith isn't kidding himself that those things necessarily mean students are leaving school prepared for college, career and a good life. Every year he surveys seniors about how prepared they feel for those three things as they leave his care.

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Why A School's Master Schedule Is A Powerful Enabler of Change | KQED

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There are plenty of charter networks and magnet programs gaining acclaim for their innovative teaching models, but most school-age children go to existing public schools. Laufenberg compares the situation to city building. A city can't modernize by constructing new buildings but ignoring the underlying infrastructure.

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Master schedule supports on pp. 6-7

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Guidelines for Co-Teaching in Texas: Administrators

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The purpose of this document is to provide non-regulatory guidance to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) regarding effective co-teaching models.

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Unlocking Time: Schedule Library and Bell Schedule

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Unlocking Time: Schedule Library and Bell Schedule

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Explore a Library of Common Bell Schedules in Schools | Unlocking Time | Unlocking Time

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A practical guide to common bell schedules. Including: sample schedules, case studies and free resources to help school leaders explore alternative schedule possibilities for their school.

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Principal’s Playbook - Scheduling Intervention Blocks

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Scheduling Intervention/RTI Blocks within the master schedule

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"Flexible time in our bell schedule sounds great...but I don't know where to start."
There's no denying it: school schedules are busy.

Between classes, passing periods, lunches, activities, pep rallies, and drills...every minute at school is precious.

Given this, administrators, teachers, and parents want to know:

"How can we increase student achievement?"

"Where can we find time to support struggling students?"

This is where an intervention period comes in.

An intervention or flex period can maximize student choice, build school-wide relationships, and increase learner engagement.

Best practices for how to run an intervention period include determining a purpose, establishing norms, drafting a new schedule, and getting buy-in from the community.

What is an intervention period?

An intervention period is a time during the school day when students receive supplementary instruction without interrupting the core curriculum. These interventions address gaps in student achievement.

Flex time works outside of the typical classroom structure. These periods last anywhere from 20-50 minutes. They can occur daily, once a week, or in a block schedule.

Other "intervention period" names include WIN (What I Need) Time, homeroom, activity period, tutorials period, advisory time, enrichment time, SMART Lunch, or flex time.

What happens during an intervention period?

Schools can run a variety of programs during an intervention period. Common interventions include:

RTI (Response to Intervention)

Small group tutoring, reteaching, reviewing, or retesting

Academic advisory meetings

Time to do homework or makeup assignments

Extracurricular or special events

Social-emotional, life skills, or enrichment lessons

College and career readiness activities

Other data-driven strategies like MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports)

There is no one-size-fits-all intervention period curriculum plan.

Overall, the best intervention periods are adaptable, timely, and implement best practices for curriculum and instruction. An effective intervention period meets the unique needs of your students, campus, and district. For example:

School A is a small alternative school with a highly at-risk population.

This school uses its intervention period for social-emotional lessons with advisory teachers and counselors once a week.

School B is a large middle school where most students do at least one after-school activity.

This campus provides students with choices during their daily flex time. Students can work on missing assignments, get tutoring from available teachers, or join a club.

The benefits of intervention periods

There is a cost-benefit analysis for running an intervention period. Intervention time removes minutes from other periods or activities but provides unique benefits such as:

Provides targeted support for students

Helps teachers identify students to refer for 504 or SPED accommodations

Builds rapport between teachers and students

Promotes student voice and choice

Assists with student progress monitoring

Helps students improve skills in a low-stakes environment

Gives teachers extra time to fill learning gaps

How to run an intervention period (step-by-step)

1. Determine your goal and purpose
2. Name the intervention period
3. Establish roles for administrators, teachers, and students
4. Draft a new master bell schedule
5. Plan a flexible scheduling system
6. Communicate plans with stakeholders
7. Analyze data and adjust

If you're interested in starting a flex time at your campus but need to know where to begin, we've gathered the steps to get you started.

1. Determine your goal and purpose

Goal setting is the key to transforming your intervention period from "just another program" into an effective instructional practice. Your unique goal and purpose will guide every step of the planning process.

To set your goal and purpose, identify what your campus needs the most. Typically, you will target academic, social-emotional, or behavioral improvement.

While targeting multiple goals and purposes would be great, consider starting small and expanding slowly. Starting small will minimize wasted time and allow you to track progress efficiently.

For example: Your school's average standardized math and English scores are well below proficiency levels. Due to this, you decide that your intervention will target academic improvement in these subject areas.

You can use the following sentence stems to establish your goal and purpose:

At [school name], students will benefit most from a(n) [academic, social-emotional, or behavioral] intervention to improve [explain what outcomes you are targeting].

Students at [school name] struggle the most with [insert what they are struggling with]. An intervention period targeting [insert purpose] will [insert student outcomes].

Remember to make your goal SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely), so you can monitor and adjust your progress.

2. Name the intervention period

One of the biggest challenges you'll face when implementing an intervention is getting buy-in from students. Students may view flex time as "free time" or a punishment.

That's why the name of your intervention period is a vital part of marketing or "selling" the plan to your campus. A good name establishes positive expectations for student performance and behavior.

Note: Avoid labeling the intervention based on achievement levels. For example, "Flex Time Tier 1" or "Flex Time Tier 3" and so on. Doing this can make students feel ashamed of what placement they receive or promote comparison.

Consider naming the intervention after your school mascot, like "Panther Time" or something positive like "WIN Period." The name you choose should align with your goal and purpose.

You can shortlist name ideas, then request feedback through a survey from staff and (optionally) parents and students. Involving your campus in the naming process will establish buy-in from the beginning stages.

You can get in-depth naming ideas here: Names for Intervention Time.

3. Establish roles for administrators, teachers, and students

Your Content Goes HereFor an intervention period to run smoothly and effectively, every person on campus should be engaged and have a clearly defined role.

Here are some suggestions for role expectations:

Administration. Administrators are responsible for building the schedule, developing program goals, and analyzing data about student progress. When the flex period begins, administrators might assist with monitoring the halls and troubleshooting problems as they arise.

Teachers. During the planning phase, teachers should spend time developing lessons. When the intervention begins, teachers will lead classes, clubs, study halls, and more in the classroom. Consider teaming teachers across different grade levels or subject matters to promote an interdisciplinary approach.

Students. Students will be responsible for attending the assigned flex period and engaging in class. Some schools may give students a choice of where they want to go. If this is the case, students must sign up with a teacher or fill out a form to attend a preferred flex period.

4. Draft a new master bell schedule

Next, you will need to start planning logistics.

First, decide how often the intervention period will happen and how long the period will be. Will it occur every day, once a week, every other day, or at another frequency? There is no golden rule for this decision. However, you should consider your purpose and align the frequency and length to match.

For example: A school with academic goals may benefit from a shorter (25 minutes) intervention period every day for reviewing and reteaching purposes. Another school with social-emotional and advisory goals might schedule a longer (50 minutes) flex time once a week.

Next, you must fit the flex time into the master bell schedule. You can consider:

Shortening passing periods or class times by a few minutes

Extending your school start or end time

Splitting students into two groups for lunch (while group A is at lunch, group B will be in an intervention period, and vice versa)

Remove one period altogether and substitute an intervention class time in its place

View example schedule ideas here: Flex Time in Schools.

Finally, decide on a timeline for the intervention roll-out. Will you wait until a new year or semester? Or, will you begin as soon as possible? Establish a deadline to guide your preparations.

5. Plan a flexible scheduling system

Flex time will be more fluid than a traditional period. However, teachers will still need a way to know how many students will be in their class. They will also need a method to take attendance. Consider using software to help schedule students flexibly.

Note: It's a good idea to have capacity limits to avoid unbalanced classes (one teacher with 45 students and another with 5). Using a tool like Enriching Students, you can set a seat count for teachers during flex time.

If you are working with an RTI or MTSS model, begin categorizing students into intervention levels and assigning them to teachers. Finally, decide where students will go once they demonstrate tier mastery.

6. Communicate plans with stakeholders

Now that you have defined your purpose, know how logistics will operate, and understand campus roles, you can begin announcing your plans.

Consider writing out your proposed intervention plan on a document. This document will outline procedures, schedule changes, campus norms, and more. Writing an FAQ section to help anticipate questions from your stakeholders would be useful.

If you are concerned about buy-in from teachers, you can involve them in the planning process. For example, you can ask teachers to vote on a name or choose between multiple schedule options.

Once you have finalized everything, announce your plans through your website, social media, email, and anywhere else you communicate with the community. Give everyone time to prepare for the schedule adjustment to boost community excitement.

7. Analyze data and adjust

In education, we know that plans do not always work perfectly the first time we try. You might hit a few bumps in the road when implementing a brand-new intervention program.

Don't worry: Developing a functional program that meets your school's goals and purposes might take some time and a few adjustments.

Regularly revisit your goal(s) to monitor progress and stay on track. Data-driven decisions will help you decide if you should continue with the same plan, change your actions, or remove the program altogether.

Since school time is precious, it's vital to utilize it carefully. Monitoring your data will help guarantee effective time usage.

Practices to avoid when planning an intervention period

Although it will take time to develop an effective intervention, it is worth it. Avoid these practices when planning to increase your chances of success:

1. Don't rush the process. Your program might fail if you rush, don't get buy-in from stakeholders, or take on too much too fast.

2. Don't give up. If everything doesn't go right the first time, don't give up immediately. It might take a few semesters or years to perfect your process.

3. Don't forget your goals. An intervention period can quickly become an ineffective "chill time" without guidance and monitoring. Stay vigilant and let your program goal(s) guide your day-to-day operations.

Intervention planning resource

Use this document to help draft an initial intervention plan for your campus. View and print a pdf worksheet version of this resource to use with your teams.

1. Have we established a clear goal and purpose? What are they?

2. How long will the intervention time be? Will it occur every day or only on certain days?

3. What is the name of our intervention period? Does this match the stated goal and purpose?

4. How will we adapt our bell schedule?

5. How will we schedule students and monitor attendance?

6. Where will administrators, students, and staff be located? What is everyone's role?

7. How do we get buy-in from our stakeholders (students, teachers, and parents)?

8. How will we monitor progress toward our stated goal?

Final Considerations

You should now understand intervention periods, why they are essential, and how to plan one.

Planning an intervention period takes dedication and hard work. But...it is all worth it. Through an intervention period, you can improve your school culture and make a positive difference in students' lives.

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"An intervention period? There's no time for that." "Flexible time in our bell schedule sounds great...but I don't know where to start." There's no denying it: school schedules are busy. Between classes, passing periods, lunches, activities, pep rallies, and drills...every minute at school is precious.

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Click download to save your copy. Once all data is input, the spreadsheets for each content area will need to be sorted.

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22-23 Revised Secondary Excel Templates 9-12.xlsx | Powered by Box

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Introduction

The minutes and hours of the school day are critical to build knowledge, foster student motivation, and drive student outcomes. To make the most of precious instructional time, teachers must first develop engaging lessons that meet the various needs of students. This requires teachers to collaborate, plan, and reflect outside of instructional time. Effective school schedules maximize the time teachers spend with their students but also recognize teachers' additional responsibilities beyond instructional time. Unfortunately, not enough schools successfully balance these priorities.

Teachers in the United States spend far more time engaged in active instruction than teachers in other high-performing countries. Based on self-reported data, teachers in the United States spend 27 hours teaching out of 45 hours of work per week. Compare this with teachers in Singapore, who teach for only 17 hours per week, or teachers in Finland, who teach for a total of 21 hours per week. Schools in these countries prioritize time for planning and collaboration, recognizing that developing and executing lessons take time and preparation. According to a recent analysis of more than 140 school districts, the average length of a U.S. teacher's workday is 7.5 hours. In another analysis of more than 120 school districts, the most common length of time allotted for planning was 45 minutes per day. In this short time, teachers must grade student work, plan for future lessons, engage with families, and complete necessary paperwork. As a result, teachers have little time to plan or collaborate with peers.

The squeeze for time to plan lessons and complete other administrative tasks shapes a school's professional environment and, ultimately, affects the quality of instruction. In a recent survey from the American Federation of Teachers, one of teachers' two most cited "everyday stressors" was time pressure. As teachers are largely separate from other educators during instruction, lack of time for collaboration can be very isolating. More than half of lower secondary school teachers in the United States report that they do not teach jointly or observe other teachers. Such practices can improve teaching quality by granting teachers opportunities to receive feedback on their lesson execution and infuse new best practices into their repertoire.

In addition, providing teachers with more time to plan and attend to other responsibilities throughout the school day creates systematic opportunities to support new teachers and stretch more seasoned teachers-increasing the likelihood of teacher retention. During this structured planning time, new teachers should receive the coaching and personalized training they need to maximize their effectiveness and meet their professional goals. Meanwhile, experienced teachers can pursue leadership roles or coach new teachers.

Fortunately, schools can look to several promising models to change their typical schedules. The Center for American Progress compiled five of these innovative school schedules. Some of these schedules have already been implemented in schools across the country to improve instruction and ensure that teachers have ample time to teach, prepare, and develop their craft. CAP has also included teachers' ideas for alternatives to the traditional school day model.

While each example schedule varies, there were similarities in how school leaders and teachers at each school reimagined the use of time. These innovative schedules all included:

Additional time for planning and collaboration

Flexible instructional blocks to differentiate content to student need

Opportunities for small group instruction or student-directed learning

Innovative school schedules: Example schedules from schools across the country

Guilmette Elementary School, Lawrence, Massachusetts

What's different about this schedule?

Guilmette Elementary School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, added more than 260 hours of instructional time to the school year and built in common planning time by extending the school day and strategically aligning grade team schedules. The schedule also allows for targeted intervention and enrichment opportunities for all students. (see Table 1) Students follow a similar schedule on Mondays through Thursdays. On Fridays, students participate in high-quality enrichment programming from noon to 2:30 p.m., which is led by community partners. These enrichment activities include art, music, yoga, and cooking. Teachers participate in professional development and planning at that time.

Operations and cost

The extra instructional hours are a significant cost. The district's teacher contract provides teachers with a stipend of $2,500 per year for added hours that is distributed evenly across their paychecks. Moreover, the quality of the enrichment programs offered on Friday is dependent on the community partners that teach the programs. Guilmette has worked to find high-quality, affordable partners.

Outcomes

In the four years since Guilmette has implemented the new schedule, its English language arts and math proficiency scores have steadily improved; since 2013, Guilmette outperformed other elementary schools in the district. More information is available on the school's report card.

Objectives

Add 260 or more instructional hours each school year

Provide collaborative planning time for teachers

Create added opportunities for enrichment and targeted intervention that focuses on acceleration

Achievement First Greenfield middle school schedule, New Haven, Connecticut

What's different about this schedule?

Greenfield schools, which are a part of the Achievement First network, designed a schedule that leverages four modalities of learning: self-directed learning; small group learning; large group instruction, and immersive expeditions. Students engage in daily self-directed learning to build responsibility and differentiate the pace of their learning. During this time, students use independent work or technology to review new concepts and move through mastery of content at their own pace. Students also participate in small group learning in sections of 14 to 16 students to dig into specific topics and receive individual feedback. Larger group instruction is reserved for seminars, debates, and experiments.

Every eight weeks, students engage in immersive expeditions for one to two weeks that explore a specific issue and apply skills to the real world. Expeditions such as creating a play, television show, or movie allow them to use writing, improvisation, and teamwork skills to bring stories to life. For example, in the expedition "Make your story come to life," students write and produce scenes or short plays to be performed by other actors. They engage with a professional theater company for storytelling workshops and go on behind-the-scenes tours.

Interactive digital learning is a key element of the Greenfield model. A cloud-based Personalized Learning Platform, or PLP, takes the place of traditional textbooks. Students use a laptop to access their online self-directed content, track progress toward their goals, and take assessments to demonstrate mastery of concepts. This system minimizes teachers' work and increases transparency of student progress. Teachers or students do not need to input results to track progress; the platform does it automatically. Teachers, students, and families can log in to access student progress anywhere with an internet connection. It also helps the school communicate with parents and families.

Every teacher is responsible for leading one instructional area-either humanities, math, science, writing, or social studies. This specialization allows teachers to focus on achieving ambitious results in their content area. A yearly pacing calendar identifies where students must perform at every point in the year in order to be on track with these ambitious outcomes. Teachers use pacing reports each day to determine where students are performing relative to the bar and to adjust their instruction in ways that will maximize the number of students who are on and ahead of pace.

In addition, Greenfield differentiates teachers' roles and schedules to allow for specialization, planning, and life balance. This includes collaborative planning time for all teachers, differentiated coaching, and professional development, as well as growth opportunities based on teachers' skills and experience. Greenfield also offers a staggered teaching schedule for more experienced teachers.

Within each grade, students are organized into goal teams of 10 to 12 students and assigned a goal coach. These teams meet daily in order to set and reflect on academic, life habit, or enrichment goals; deepen relationships with the goal coach and other goal team members; and build habits of success. Within goal teams, students are paired off with another student, called a running partner. These pairs provide mutual support and accountability to one another as they strive for ambitious short- and long-term goals. Goal teams are led by a goal coach who is a staff member in the school. The goal coach works closely with one goal team to build community and to be a primary support for each student and running partner pair.

Operations and cost

The ongoing operation of this schedule is not more costly than other schedules that Achievement First operates in its network. Core to Achievement First's mission is to operate with the same public dollars as traditional district schools in the geographies where it operates.

Outcomes

The Greenfield schools piloted the model in kindergarten and middle school grades, all of which saw proficiency exceed or equal the scores of other Achievement First schools in Connecticut after just one year. Kindergartners exceeded 90 percent proficient rates in reading, and 60 percent of students demonstrated at least 75 percentile growth in math. For middle school grades, average scores on English language arts weekly quizzes ranked first or second in the overall Achievement First Connecticut network. Fifth grade math scores exceeded the network average, but sixth grade scores were below the average. For more information on socioemotional growth, review the Achievement First's Greenfield Schools Year 1 Pilot.

Objectives

Allow for accelerated, differentiated academics through four modalities of learning: self-directed learning time; small group learning; large group learning; and immersive expeditions

Build in time for enrichment

Foster habits of success in all kids, including curiosity, personal growth, empathy, gratitude, drive, and teamwork

Emphasize the importance of student, family, and staff motivation

Differentiate teacher roles based on experience and create more time for planning for all instructional staff

Reduce turnover by finding ways to accommodate senior teachers who need more flexible schedules

Generation Schools secondary schedule, Brooklyn, New York

What's different about this schedule?

Generation Schools Network's secondary school model creates up to 30 percent more learning time than traditional public schools in New York City and provides opportunities for differentiated instruction. It also reduces student-to-teacher ratios and overall teacher workloads to facilitate the development of supportive teacher-student relationships.

Furthermore, teachers have more time for collaboration and professional development. All teachers, as part of their approximately 180-day work year, participate in a one- to two-week Summer Institute dedicated to collaborative planning in preparation for the school year. In addition, grade teams have two weeks of professional collaborative time staggered throughout the year when their students are in intensives. This is in addition to the collaborative time that teachers have every day.

To reduce teacher workload and increase instructional time, the Generation Schools Network differentiates instructional roles-foundation, studio, and intensive teachers. This allows the school to build on a wider range of teachers' strengths and to design roles and responsibilities that help teachers be effective and reduce turnover. In addition, it reduces teachers' student load. Teachers have 75 or fewer students daily compared with their peers in New York City traditional public high schools, who often teach 150 students daily. The model organizes teachers into grade level teams and a college and career intensives team. The college and career intensives team rotates from grade to grade over the course of the year, spending a month with students exploring college and career pathways. Teachers on that designated grade team are not responsible for students that month and can use that time for collaboration and breaks. By staggering teacher breaks, Generation Schools Network expands the instructional year for students without increasing the number of working days for teachers.

Every student also has a differentiated schedule that fits their needs. Students participate in extended foundation courses-including interdisciplinary courses on humanities or science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM-which teach required subjects for all students as well as have various studio courses based on their interests. Studio courses include art history, physical education, art, foreign languages, or advanced sciences.

Operations and cost

Generation Schools' model reconfigures the same number of staff members who are employed in a conventional school model so that each school can offer much more planning time to teachers and instructional time to students without increasing staff costs, which are a majority of a school's budget. Depending on how districts budget, this type of schedule may require additional costs for maintenance or transportation.

Outcomes

Generation Schools Network has improved student achievement and graduation rates. Brooklyn Generation School, or BGS, has improved attendance, course completion, and graduation rates. At 69 percent, the four-year graduation rate at BGS has matched that for the city overall-70 percent-and outperformed schools with a similar demographic of students. These achievements are especially remarkable, as 85 percent of BGS' students enter high school behind or significantly behind. In addition, 100 percent of the 2016 graduating class was accepted into college-many receiving multiple admissions and significant financial aid to make the opportunity real.

Objectives

Increase instructional time for all students and opportunities to differentiate instruction

Reduce student-to-teacher ratios and overall teacher workloads to facilitate the development of supportive teacher-student relationships

Integrate collaborative planning time for teacher teams

Model school schedules designed by teachers

Model elementary school schedule
Created by Lexie Woo, fourth and fifth grade teacher in Queens, New York
What's different about this schedule?

This schedule allows educators the opportunity to improve their instruction through strategic collaboration with colleagues, additional planning time, and ongoing feedback from administrators.

The timing of instructional blocks rotates to diffuse the negative impact of time-sensitive factors, such as tardiness, early dismissals, fatigue, medication use, and attention span. In addition, each subject has a double instructional block once per week, providing time for innovative educational practices, including multidisciplinary learning; project-based learning; and science, technology, engineering, art and design, and math, or STEAM, and STEM. This allows students to engage in a more self-directed and autonomous educational experience, growing as independent thinkers and doers.

With this dynamic schedule, teachers can select preferred preparation times, allowing teachers to shape their day to fit their working style. In other words, teachers can deliver instruction at the height of their energy.

Objectives

Create more teacher planning time and develop more opportunities for teachers to receive feedback on their instruction

Allow teachers to self-select preparation periods to ensure that the timing works for their teaching and working styles

Offer double instructional blocks for each subject throughout the week

Rotate the timing of instructional blocks

Model high school schedule
Created by Crischelle Navalta, high school teacher in Donna, Texas; Jillian Harkins, high school teacher in New Haven, Connecticut; Mary Kreuz, high school teacher in Toledo, Ohio; Megan Williams, eighth grade teacher in Washington, D.C.; and Amanda Zullo, high school teacher in Saranac Lake, New York
What's different about this schedule?

This schedule strategically minimizes teachers' workloads to ensure that they have time to build their content expertise. In addition, teachers have additional time apart from active instruction to collaborate with their content team, plan independently, or assume a leadership position.

Objectives

Reduce instructional load by ensuring that teachers teach no more than two different course subjects, and limit teaching time to only 60 percent of a teacher's day

Build in approximately 40 percent of the day for conference time, leadership roles beyond the classroom, common planning time with content or grade team, and professional development

Conclusion

Tasked to deliver differentiated, high-quality instruction that prepares students for the social and academic challenges in college and beyond, schools must push their thinking on how they allocate time throughout the school day. Innovative school schedules should meet diverse student needs and ensure that all teachers are primed to deliver engaging, rigorous content. As this issue brief demonstrates, various models already exist to accomplish these goals. As schools across the country reimagine their school day schedules, they will be most successful if they customize the use of time to meet content needs rather than adapting content to fit a fixed schedule.
Meg Benner is a Senior Consultant at the Center for American Progress. Lisette Partelow is the Director of K-12 Strategic Initiatives at the Center.

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CAP outlines five innovative school schedules that benefit teaching and learning.

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25-26 High School Data Sort and Analysis