Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, Southern Lehigh High School is switching to a modified A/B block schedule to provide a learning system better suited to the teachers and students.

For the next school year, students will have four periods a day for approximately 77-80 minutes a period.  Classes will alternate on a six-day schedule.  For example, during first period you may have math on days 1, 3, and 5, and have English on days 2, 4, and 6.  Students will have the opportunity to schedule eight full-year courses, and there will no longer be lab periods for sciences.

There will also be a 40-minute “Spartan period,” in which students can select activities and teachers can “request” students that need to make up work or receive additional help.  To answer rumors connecting the Keystone Exams and the new Spartan period, the Spartan period may be used as remediation for students who fail the Keystones, since passing the Keystones is becoming a graduation requirement.

Why do we need to change?  It all started in 2009, when students, teachers, and parents took the “We” surveys, which assessed the current situation of our district.  The administration also took an anonymous survey of teacher’s opinions and ideas about scheduling.  Using these results, five committees were formed, including the scheduling committee, who took charge of orchestrating these changes.

The scheduling committee decided from these results that the best way for Southern Lehigh to move forward and benefit the students and teachers is to switch to a form of block scheduling. They have been working on the details of this switch since the committee’s formation in 2011.

Block scheduling does provide several benefits to the student body, and can help give students and teachers more time to go into further detail on course material.

“The biggest advantage is that class periods are longer and allow students to be ‘active’ engaged learners,” Southern Lehigh Superintendent Leah Christman said.  “Longer time blocks provide for more student-centered learning activities as opposed to passive learning and teacher-centered activities.”

This means that teachers can provide more in-depth, hands-on learning, as opposed to memorization and base-level knowledge of facts.  It will also allow students to explore the details of subjects, instead of just knowing the superficial aspects.

Mrs. Christman also noted that class time is saved with block scheduling. “The other advantage is that students can focus on four subjects each day rather than eight,” she said. “It also increases class time by eliminating hallway time to move between eight classes each day.”

As with any change, there is a downside.  With block scheduling, students will not get the opportunity to attend all of their classes each day.  Students who have trouble focusing will also have to sit through longer periods without breaks.

The student reception of this switch has been varied.

“I’m excited for the new schedule because I like change,” junior Josh Hellerick said.  “The addition of the Spartan period will provide a fun, educational time and more freedom for students and provide variety.”

Despite this, several students are still opposed to the switch.

“I am not looking forward to the modifications being done to the schedule. This may alter the amount of workload given to students because of the increased amount of time between two classes of the same subject,” junior Andrej Quartone said. “However, in certain cases this change may prove beneficial for alternate activities and afterschool clubs due to the increased amount of time within the schedule.”

Hopefully the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages as Southern Lehigh prepares to rearrange our schedule.  For more details, all of the scheduling committee’s work is published on the school website.

More information will be given as the next school year approaches and and scheduling commences.