With a new school year already well into gear, students must thoroughly prepare themselves with heavier books, clean notebook paper, harder classes, and a new, promising schedule that was implemented just this year. Many students have expressed little enthusiasm for the alternating block class schedule, and yet they have only given themselves a short week to acclimate.

Teachers spent a great deal of time at the end of last year debating over which schedule would replace our unique Copernican schedule. They were pressured to make this choice because over the past two years, standardized tests scores have been declining, so the state enlisted the school into the Immediate Intervention for Underperforming Schools Program (IIUSP).

This means that they hope to make changes that will improve students’ grades and test scores, and while some teachers felt sad to see the schedule’s removal, others believed that the change was imperative, so students’ retention of learning material could improve, thus, raising test scores.

So, what is wrong with this schedule?

Many adolescents feel that the schedule is too confusing, with its alternating days and six or seven classes per day. Some teachers feel that forming new lesson plans for those classes, while keeping track of the material they are teaching can become laborious, and learning all of the student’s names will take extra time to accomplish. With four new counselors in the midst, the scheduling has been chaotic. The counselors must do extra work to accommodate all of the students according to the school’s fledgling schedule, but this accomodation should only occur once while the new counselors assign students to their classes.

Although the schedule has confusing aspects at this moment, it does contains good qualities that can help students further succeed in their classes. Now, all of the students have the entire school year to learn the material, and teachers can slow down and assign less homework for their pupils. In addition, pupils have an extra day for completing any assignments.

Bonds between teachers and their eager students will improve immensely, and students will feel more comfortable surrounded by the same peers throughout the year; which can lead to students feeling more comfortable asking their peers for help and starting study groups.

Teachers can concentrate on improving the individual student’s strengths and weaknesses because they know the children better. Under the school’s old Copernican schedule the classes ended after a semester, and students did not have a chance to build lasting connections with teachers.

In the past, students were turned away when transferring to this campus because their classes did not correspond with this school’s schedule, but more students can attend without having to repeat classes that they took at their previous school.

Stress on school counselors will decrease because they will only have to deal with scheduling the whole student body once a year, instead of being frantic twice a year as they had to do with our previous schedule.

The main goal of the schedule change is to elevate test scores that have been declining in the previous years. School staff members only want to improve every student’s education, and as the year continues, all of the students will eventually be assigned to their correct classes. They will learn to accept the alternating day schedule. It takes time to become accustomed to something that is just beginning, and it will become easier to find classes once a few weeks pass and students adjust to the schedule.