Block schedules offer many advantages, including increased usable instructional time, increased opportunities to use alternative instructional strategies, and fewer homework assignments and class changes for students. Challenges include maintaining student attention, providing balanced schedules, retaining major concepts, and accommodating…

Based on his experience with the Copernican block scheduling plan used in British Columbia secondary schools, a principal identifies administrative challenges (abuse of tutorial time, uneven distribution of teacher-preparation time, teacher fatigue, pedagogical changes, and unrealistic expectations) and suggests ways to address them. Involving…

An administrative team member/restructuring facilitator analyzes the failure of a block scheduling reform in a small, suburban district. The prevailing dynamics that obstructed success were fear of change, propagandizing of data, and a culture of complacency. These problems could have been avoided by training staff to work in longer periods,…