MCHS to go to seven-period schedule?

MadisonJournalTODAY

RSS Feed

Email Alerts

Facebook

MCHS to go to seven-period schedule?

Posted by

Ben Munro

in Top Stories

Friday, December 18. 2009

Comments (10)

An overwhelming majority of teachers at Madison County High School are interested in shedding block scheduling in favor of a modified seven-period day.

Madison County Schools Superintendent Mitch McGhee informed the board of education (BOE) Dec. 8 of MCHS’s wishes.

“It’s a pretty unique schedule,” McGhee said.

A committee of Madison County High School teachers voted 79-17 to explore the seven-period format after studying Morgan County High School’s schedule.

More details will follow in January when MCHS principal Chad Stone makes a presentation to the BOE.

McGhee said the most “off the wall” facet of Morgan County’s configuration is that classes don’t start until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Teachers have a common planning time that morning.

McGhee noted that the Madison County faculty was strongly influenced by what they saw at Morgan County High School.

“It’s pretty innovative stuff,” McGhee said. “It’s very sound in what they want to do.”

The BOE could vote on the new schedule by March as MCHS would like to go ahead and start scheduling for next year.

The new schedule would require the BOE to drop the minimum number of credits for graduation from 28 to 24. While the seven-period format contains more academic minutes, it provides less opportunities for classes, requiring the reduction.

“It’s not watering it down or making it easier,” McGhee said. “There’s just less opportunities for credits.”

McGhee feels the seven-period day will probably be a hot topic of conversation in the community.

“It’s a big change,” McGhee said. “It was a big change to go on the block (schedule) and it will be a big change to go off it.”

Due to the federal requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act and increased weight placed on testing, McGhee said block scheduling is becoming less effective.

“This has really been coming for a number of years,” McGhee said.

Defined tags for this entry: MCHS, Top Stories

Related entries by tags:

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

#1 resident on 12/18/09 at 01:47 PM [Reply]

Thats pretty much the way it was when i graduated in 91. we had 6 classes a year and it seemed to work out okay. i hope it does again.

#2 anonymous on 12/19/09 at 03:27 PM [Reply]

Is this really that grand to put more on our kids ? If you know all about it please enlighten the whole county so we can understand the whole concept of this !!!!

#3 happyforstudents on 12/20/09 at 09:31 AM [Reply]

Everyone, this is a GOOD thing!! MCHS switched to block scheduling my junior year and it was AWFUL...we all got so incredibly burned out by those super long classes! On top of that, the teachers had to cram all the information into half a year...if your child does not learn quickly, they're probably having a really hard time learning a year's worth of info in one semester. Also, take into account the CRCT schedule...whatever class your child takes the second half of the year will have to move along even FASTER to make sure they get all the info before CRCT! No, they may not get to ultimately take as many classes during their time in high school, but I really think spreading the info out will help kids grasp more concepts in the long run and improve CRCT scores...which of course is all that matters to the state (but that's a whole other thing). Don't worry parents!!

#4 anonymous on 12/21/09 at 01:07 AM [Reply]

So if this is a good thing then we should go back to a traditional school calendar as it was before this block scheduling and start school after labor day and end school the first week of June. Makes sense to me because as I remember it was the teachers that were crying about having too much to teach in a short amount of time with this block schedule.
Also do away with all these breaks that way we can cut the end of school back to sometime in May then our kids will have a real summer break the way it use to be, you give them a real break and they don't get burned out as quick.

#4.1 MCHS Student on 12/21/09 at 07:29 PM [Reply]

We'll get burned out quicker if we don't have breaks throughout the year...I'd rather have mor breaks than a longer summer.

#4.1.1 anonymous on 12/21/09 at 09:15 PM [Reply]

Sounds like you would not go to school at all if you had your way !!!!!! Why is a day here and a day there better versus three full months off where you can go on a real vacation the way it was years ago and enjoy the summers off ? Sounds like a better plan to me and we had breaks just not every time the wind blew.

#4.1.1.1 Sardonic Veracity on 12/22/09 at 07:32 PM [Reply]

Jerk.

#4.1.1.1.1 anon on 12/23/09 at 11:06 PM [Reply]

Please be nice !!!! Santa is watching you!!!!

#5 taylor on 06/10/10 at 02:25 PM [Reply]

i think a 7 period day would be a good idea becaus ethe last period could be a day that kids could do haomework and study and read

#6 jk on 06/11/10 at 07:30 AM [Reply]

Just like the "whole language" inventive spelling thing they went to for a while--they realized it did not work. Block scheduling is not the best either. Glad to see it will change back.

Add Comment

Name
Email
Homepage
In reply to
Comment: E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.

Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above:
Phone*

What is seven minus six?
: Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry
: Submitted comments will be subject to moderation before being displayed.

Community

Madison Community

MCHS to go to seven-period schedule?

MadisonJournalTODAY

MCHS to go to seven-period schedule?

Recent Stories

Recent Comments

Sister Sites

Archives

Community

Keyword Tags