Offering high school students a free year of college have become fightin' words in Philadelphia. And showing how students can complete a 21-credit high school program plus a year of college at no additional cost to taxpayers may start a revolution. What is upsetting some Pennsylvanians about such terrifically good news is the high school schedule that makes it all possible -- intensive block scheduling! Unfortunately, too much is at stake to remain silent.

Use of intensive block scheduling with its four-period day and semester-length courses is spreading like wildfire across the United States. In just three years, 27% of the high schools in my home state of Virginia moved to the semester-block. For some states acceptance of block scheduling has been even more dramatic. Surprisingly, there is no central leadership or organization orchestrating this change; it is almost always a local initiative. Schools with a traditional seven-period schedule already have the staffing and facilities needed for the change; therefore, they don't need outside help or approval.

The appeal of 90-minute classes and 90-day courses for both students and teachers is a simpler daily schedule and more focused learning. Students take only four classes at a time, but can earn eight credits per year and 32 over the four years of high school. Similarly, teachers teach three classes per semester, six rather than five per year, and have a quarter of the day for planning and class preparation. Additional planning time and no more than 75 students each semester gives teachers a greater opportunity to meet the individual needs of their students. But the flexibility of the semester block offers more, much more!

With 32 credits available Pennsylvania students can complete the 21 high school classes required for graduation and still have a year of study left. (See the 9-13 High School Schedule) This additional year gives students an opportunity to obtain the specialized training they and their parents want. It also serves as an incentive for students to do well in their high school classes in order to have time left. Time left to take the Advanced Placement, community college, four-year college, trade and commercial school, and employer training programs high schools currently offer. Indeed, semester-block schools are finding they already have the resources to permit students to earn a free year of postsecondary training.

A rural Virginia semester-block high school pioneered a scholarship program to help their students pay for postsecondary study. Learning that tuition for a postsecondary class (45 hours) is often less than the staffing costs for a high school class (150 hours), Orange County set up scholarships for postsecondary classes taken in place of high school classes. Their 1,100 students can complete high school and get up to a year of study beyond the high school level at no additional cost. Start-up funding for the scholarship program came from the summer school budget which was no longer needed with the semester-block schedule. For 1996-97, this Virginia community is again offering scholarships which equal the tuition for a three-semester hour community college class.

The "Future Scholars" scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement, attendance, and behavior. All seniors and juniors who miss no more than 5 days each semester and are not above Level 1 on the disciplinary scale are eligible. Seniors with a cumulative 3.0 GPA (grade point average) on a four-point scale receive three scholarships which can be used at any accredited state postsecondary school or for an AP exam. Those with a 2.5 GPA earn two scholarships; seniors with a 2.0 get one. Eligible juniors with 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 GPA's receive AP scholarships to pay for one, two, or three AP exams, respectively.

As expected, GPA's are improving and more students are successfully completing AP and college classes. Since going to a semester-block four years ago, the per cent of juniors and seniors completing college level courses has risen from 11% to 26%. This year, 37% of the senior class are enrolled in AP and community college classes. Without increasing costs, this central Virginia community is allowing its students who learn well, attend regularly, and behave to earn a "free" year of postsecondary study.

The staunchest critics of the semester-block tend to be parents of students who have been served well by the traditional system. Fearful of losing the schools they know and, for the most part, trust, they totally reject the new structure. Fighting to protect their children, these parents, quite understandably, question everything about the semester-block.

They begin by questioning whether high school students and teachers can make productive use of 90-minute class periods and 90-day courses. The fact that elementary and kindergarten students routinely spend their days in instructional blocks of 120 minutes and more seems to be forgotten. High school teachers and students apparently are not as competent as their elementary counterparts at managing longer instructional blocks. Questions as to whether high school students can learn an entire course in 90-days or 18-weeks have been answered by the colleges these students hope to attend. For most of this century, US colleges and universities have been using 16-week courses. When more time is needed, the colleges offer a two-course sequence.

The favorite argument for rejecting the semester block is the myth that full-year students learn more than semester students. Opponents cite three studies in which full-year students outscored semester students on the standardized tests given to Canadian students in May. What the Canadian researchers found was that full-year students still in class outscored first-semester students who had been out of class for three months. These researchers also found that full-year students outscored second-semester students who had received four to six weeks less instruction. Even with the deck stacked against them, the semester students come within one or two percentage points of equaling the full-year students.

Now the College Board has confirmed these Canadian findings with their Advanced Placement (AP) exams which are also given in May. First-semester AP students who finish their classes in January do not score as well on the May exams as semester-block students taking the class both semesters. The same is true for second-semester AP students who begin the class in late January or early February. Teachers of one-semester AP classes had asked the College Board for a fairer testing schedule for their students but were turned down as too few in number.

The success of some of the semester-block schools with the Advanced Placement classes is in fact quite noteworthy. In just three years using two-semester AP classes, the number of students taking AP classes and exams doubled at the rural Virginia school mentioned earlier. During this time, scores of "3's" and above on the AP exams, which are scored on a 5 point scale, ranged between 65 and 85%. Students may receive college credit or advanced placement for scores of "3" and above. Remarkably, while doubling the numbers in their AP program, 95% of this Virginia school's AP exam scores were "2's" and above. Nationally, only 76% of the students tested in 1995-96 scored "2's" and above on the same group of tests.

None of this matters to groups whose only reason for existing is the defeat of intensive block scheduling. For them block scheduling is an "ineffectual and incompetent" deception put forward by school administrators to show they are doing something. [Boldt 9/24/96] If you do not agree with them, then you are an enemy in the "battle" to preserve their schools. The enemy these groups are battling are their neighbors -- the parents, students, teachers, and administrators in the local high schools. It is unfortunate and unnecessary that this issue divides communities.

Block scheduling is simply a tool to manage personnel and facilities. The schedule, just like the building, provides a structure within which instruction takes place. It is neither good nor evil. The schedule does not raise test scores nor lower test scores. Only quality instruction will raise test scores! And quality instruction can take place in any building and with any schedule.

Two earlier Philadelphia Inquirer articles rejected block scheduling as an ‘alleged' reform while calling for higher standards, school choice, and vouchers. Yet a Virginia school used its semester-block to produce a 150% increase in the number of students taking college level courses. And it did this by allowing students to enroll in other schools and establishing a public school voucher program to pay their tuition. Before rejecting block scheduling, everyone needs to understand exactly what is being turned down!