High schools must format the master schedules and designate a specific number of instructional minutes to help promote student growth. School leaders that attempt to enhance Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment growth scores need an opportunity to utilize a master schedule that fits their needs and to support continued growth. With the emergence of…

This phenomenological qualitative research study aimed at understanding the scheduling practices of middle school principals in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. More specifically, this study examined how frequent changes are made to the middle school master schedule, factors that contribute to scheduling changes, barriers to scheduling, and the…

Block scheduling has been touted as a reform effort for American schools (Trump, 1959; Zepeda & Mayers, 2006). Block scheduling allows teachers to use the additional class time to vary the activities in the classroom and move away from the lecture model and affords teachers the opportunity to utilize more student-centered activities to engage…

This quantitative study was designed to determine the impact of course gap--the time period between semesters in which students take a particular course--on student achievement in mathematics. The testing instrument used was the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), given annually to all students in Grades 3 through 11. The study…

There are those in the school community who believe that the anxious feelings and heightened sense of anxiety experienced by sixth graders as they transition from elementary to junior high school constitute a rite of passage. Teachers and school administrators in the Indiana Area Junior High School in Pennsylvania believed differently. During the…