Beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, Easton Area High School transitioned from a traditional nine period day with 41-minute class periods to a Flexible Schedule with five blocks each 78-minutes in length.

2. Increase in students testing scores (proficient vs. basic from year to year)

What community-based learning opportunities are available for students to partake in to help increase learning?

Will my data collection allow me to answer my focus questions well?

The first question looks great, and I think your data collection with the archived test scores will allow you to answer it. I also like the idea of having the focus group with the students to get their feedback. Test scores only tell half of the story, so I think it's a good idea to have the student perspective on this, because ultimately the schedule change is for them, so knowing how they feel about it is key.

I'm not sure about the second question - I don't see how this is connected to the flexible scheduling. Maybe I missed something, but I'm not clear on what you mean by community based learning, and therefore I don't see how it is part of the flexible scheduling. Was there a push for community based learning when the school switched to flexible scheduling? I would suggest a bit more clarification on that question.

As for your concern about not having enough questions, I would agree. I would consider looking at your stakeholders and seeing what perspectives you've left out. Is there something that the students may want to know about the scheduling, or the parents, or the teachers? The question about increased test scores is good for the district overall to say, ' look at how effective our new scheduling is.' I think it would be good to consider who else stands to gain from this evaluation, and what data they may want or need.

Overall though, this seems like a great evaluation topic. Scheduling is something every school must consider, and it's such a personal question for each school community, so being able to show that it's effective from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders sounds like a great idea!

Key Question #1: Is this too limiting? Are test scores the only marker of success? Perhaps replace "Increased test scores" with "increased student success"

Key Question #2: Community-based learning is now availible because of the flexible schedule? I might make that more clear.