Schools’ largest and most valuable resources for improving student outcomes are their people—and master school schedules dictate how those people spend their time.
In an environment in which many districts are facing difficult budget tradeoffs, it’s more important than ever to make every resource count, and the schedule is a powerful lever for change.
Too often, schools roll over their schedule year over year, layering new strategies and improvement efforts on top of the overall schedule design, rather than redesigning the schedule to create a cohesive and intentional student experience.
Why? Redesigning school schedules is technically complex and can introduce significant change into students’ and educators’ lives. It requires everyone to shift assumptions about time spent in subjects, courses offered, and educator roles and assignments.
And, while individual school schedules are typically set by school leadership, the district usually leads major scheduling shifts, which often require a staff and/or school committee vote, approval from union officials, and support or encouragement from the community.
What makes school schedules strategic?
Strategic scheduling might be daunting, but it’s not impossible, and it starts with aligning on a set of priorities that are rooted in student and educator needs.
Identifying priorities up front ensures that, as leaders explore decisions and tradeoffs related to the schedule design and implementation, the process remains anchored in what’s most important for driving student outcomes.
The types of scheduling priorities schools focus on tend to fall into six major categories:
- Expanding access to priority courses that help students prepare for college and career
- Optimizing instructional time and staffing to the highest priority areas
- Creating time for teacher collaboration and professional learning
- Creating time and space for off-campus learning opportunities during the school day
- Enabling high-quality advising and better relationships
- Improving multilingual learner and special education course access and service delivery
Strategically redesigning the bell schedule—including the number and length of periods or instructional “blocks” throughout the day—has a profound impact on each of these priority areas.
How Metro Nashville Public Schools’ new schedule serves students
Since creating the Academies of Nashville model 15 years ago, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools has seen graduation rates improve dramatically and has become a national exemplar for high school transformation.
Metro Nashville leaders intentionally designed the academy model and have evolved it over time to support students in exploring and successfully preparing for their next steps in college and career.
Limitations of the previous schedule
These goals were initially supported by an eight-period block schedule in which students took four courses on “A” day, and four different courses on “B” day—with each course meeting every other day. Teachers taught six of the eight total courses across two days.
As they emerged from the pandemic, Metro Nashville leaders found that their eight-period schedule no longer matched their goals. Students got less time in core courses than they needed, absences had too high an impact when courses only met every other day, and teachers were struggling with heavy workloads.
Powerful experiences unlocked
After considering multiple options, the district shifted to a seven-period hybrid schedule, in which students are enrolled in seven year-long courses.
Three days per week, they attend all classes for 50 minutes. Two days per week, they attend longer 90-minute blocks of three or four classes. One day per week, they have a long period dedicated to advisory or personalized learning time.
This new schedule:
- Increased weekly time in each core course from 200 to 240 minutes
- Increased student-teacher touchpoints from two and a half to four per week
- Created a consistent schedule from week to week to enable industry and higher-ed partnership
- Created additional teacher release time to address teacher workloads
For teachers, the strategic schedule unlocked more sustainable and collaborative work experiences. And it ensured students got more high-quality instruction in the areas they needed it most.
Strategic scheduling as a change lever
When considering ways to improve student experiences, boost academic outcomes, and relieve teachers of burdensome workloads, the school schedule might not immediately come to mind. But it’s a powerful—and often overlooked—lever that can help a district’s vision for schooling come to life.
The schedule is the foundation for most elements of education. It impacts how teachers experience their work, what courses students can access, and the return districts get on their overall investments.
Implementing more effective school schedules means using existing resources strategically, rather than simply layering new resources on top of the same models. And when budgets are tight and resources are limited, a lever like this is virtually invaluable.
