At Mayfield Middle School, in order to create personalized and more meaningful learning experiences for the students, it was realized that a typical, traditional schedule was not always conducive to the types of learning experiences teachers wanted to create. Teachers had great ideas for projects and practices that would incorporate more critical…

Everybody complains about a lack of time in school, but few are prepared to do anything about it. Laying the foundation before making such a shift is essential to the success of the change. Once a broad-based team has been chosen to do the work, they can follow a process explained in four steps with the apt acronym of T.I.M.E.: Taking stock,…

Students learn or progress at their own paces. How can schools make sure that they get the help they need--and only the help they need? Many are turning to multi-tiered systems of support. This brief provides some practical considerations for schools contemplating tiered approaches.

Over the past decade, RTI International has pursued the goal of quality, inclusive, differentiated early grade literacy instruction in nearly 30 early grade reading or early grade literacy programs in low- and middle-income (LMI) countries. Across our diverse portfolio, we have supported Ministries of Education (Ministries) in diverse contexts in…

The major challenge with time is finding it. Current school-day schedules and school-year calendars are leaner than ever because of budget reductions. States and districts have implemented furlough days to balance lean-and-mean budgets that show no sign of improving. Few are willing to take the leap toward reducing instructional time to improve…

Adults often find themselves transitioning from one activity to another in a short time span. Most of the time, they do not feel they have a lot of control over their schedules, but wish that they could carve out extended time to relax and focus on one project. Picture a group of children in the block area who have spent 15 or 20 minutes building…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has documented that 1 in every 88 children is identified with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD; CDC, 2012). Autism is now recognized in children at an earlier age because most researchers agree autism can be reliably identified by the time children reach 24 months (Cox et al., 1999; Stone et…

This article discusses the challenge of finding time for learning teams to meet. The author firmly believes that teachers have the capacity to develop solutions that best meet their needs and the needs of their students. She believes that if the teachers know that their learning and teamwork is in the best interests of their students, they will be…

It is no accident that the first use of computers in school systems was to arrange schedules for students and teachers. The proper use of the computer in the classroom is as a replacement for the clock and its strict temporal schedule. By conveying information through self-instructional content, the computer can schedule work for pupils in…

Flexible modular scheduling (flex mod)--a schedule philosophy and system that has been in place at Wausau West High School in Wausau, Wisconsin, for the last 35 years and aligns nicely with current research on student learning--is getting more and more attention from high school administrators across the country. Flexible modular scheduling was…

The amount of time allocated for learning and the way that time is used is one of the few variables that can be influenced rather directly by school leaders. Fortunately, it is also a variable that has shown consistent links to student performance. Now that schools are focused directly, and in some cases exclusively, on student achievement, there…

To use a block schedule or a traditional schedule? Which structure will produce the best and highest achievement rates for students? The research is mixed on this due to numerous variables such as: (1) socioeconomic levels; (2) academic levels; (3) length of time a given schedule has been in operation; (4) strategies being used in the classrooms;…

The purpose of this "Handbook" is to bolster the effective implementation of the intervention models and strategies outlined in the "2010 School Improvement Grant" (SIG) program--section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--in order to achieve the program's clear goal--rapid improvement of persistently…

Some of the difficult questions surrounding intensive scheduling, along with examples of successful applications of this approach, are described in this document. This book offers a blueprint from a practitioner's perspective and is intended for educators and lay people interested in improving secondary schools. Chapter 1 demonstrates how to…

This book investigates school schedules by examining the use of time at the middle level and discussing strategies that schools may use to provide greater flexibility to the school day. Eleven specific scheduling models are presented and described. Complementing the models is a discussion of the factors that propel a school's investigation of…