Flexible HS Schedule

A flexible schedule is a block schedule in which some courses meet daily for half of the year and others meet every other day for the entire school year. The flexible schedule enables students and teachers to focus on fewer classes at a time. 

Stamford Public Schools is a diverse learning community. While many of our students are educationally advantaged, the vast majority are high needs—defined by the State of Connecticut as those who qualify for free/reduced price lunch, are multilingual learners, or qualify for special education services. As a school district, we have an obligation to meet the educational needs of all students from the high achievers to those struggling to meet basic grade level requirements. 

Flexible scheduling puts all students first. Flexible schedules provide personalization and equitable opportunities for post-secondary success, whether students plan to attend college, enter the military, or go directly into the workforce after high school. 

Schedules can be created to accelerate learning for high achievers and to provide additional academic support for struggling students to keep them on track for high school graduation. Additionally, flexible scheduling enables students and teachers to better manage their workloads. The flexible schedule reduces the number of classes students are taking—and educators are teaching—at any given time. 
 

The number of courses a student takes each semester will depend on their unique academic needs and goals. Most students will take 4 classes per semester, though some students may take as few as 2-3 or as many as 6.  

Rather than a one-size fits all approach (i.e., everyone takes 7 or 8 classes for the entire school year), the Flexible Schedule can be customized to the unique needs of each student. 
 

The flexible schedule meets students where they are academically and can be customized to achieve each student’s particular goals. Rather than juggling 7-8 classes at a time, students will take an average of 4-6 classes per semester. Addressing the social and emotional needs of students who are feeling overwhelmed and stressed by current expectations and course loads should, in turn, alleviate some of the challenges teachers face in managing student social emotional health and behavior.     

Examples of how the flexible schedule can benefit students: 

• Ability to personalize their schedule and classes to their unique needs during a particular semester or year (flexible 4-8 classes).
• Academically motivated students will have the option to complete some 4-course sequences in just two years, opening up opportunities for additional electives, internships, or dual enrollment courses. 
• Students who need extra support will be able to enroll in tutoring concurrently with the course in which they are struggling, increasing their chances for academic success and on-time graduation.

• Students will have the opportunity to take more electives or enroll in Pathways. 
• Students will have the ability to recover credits within the same academic year. 
• More options for classes if students transfer into SPS after the start of the year
• Addresses the social and emotional needs of many students who are feeling overwhelmed and stressed by current expectations and course loads
• Reduces the number of courses taken each semester, thus decreasing the number of classes, homework assignments, and projects that students must manage at any given time. 
• Creates a more manageable student caseload for teachers, so that they can provide students with more individualized attention and build relationships in the classroom
• Maintains block scheduling which gives students more time to think and to engage in active learning
• The smaller class load will make it easier for students to manage absences (i.e. they will have  fewer courses requiring make-up work and fewer teachers to contact about their missed time).

Under both the traditional 7-period bell schedule and the A/B block schedule, students take 7 or 8 classes at a time—taught by 7 or 8 different educators with 7 or 8 different teaching styles and 7 or 8 different sets of expectations. This is a lot to ask of 14- to 18-year olds. Many of our students are not only balancing 7 or 8 academic classes but also participating in multiple extracurriculars or taking on after-school responsibilities such as part-time jobs or caring for younger siblings to help support their families. With the flexible schedule, most students will take only 3-4 classes a semester, which is not only a more manageable schedule, but provides more opportunities for deeper learning. 

Yes, each student’s schedule will be set for the entire school year as it is now. Students submit their course selections in February and March in consultation with their school counselor and family. Each year, dozens of iterations of the master schedules are created between March and August to ensure students receive the classes that meet their specific academic needs and state graduation requirements. Once the school year begins, there will still be an opportunity to add or drop courses, but the cut-off dates will be earlier for the semester length classes. 

No gaps in the math sequence are necessary in the flexible schedule. In fact, students who start their freshman year with Integrated Math 1 (IM1) will have more opportunities to explore higher-level math courses than in the previous schedules. Students will be able to complete their high school math requirements in two years, giving them two more years to pursue advanced placement and UConn ECE math courses, or to pursue business math courses in our pathways. 

Absolutely not! Flexible Scheduling enables high achieving students to accelerate completion of core coursework, creating opportunities to take more AP and UConn ECE courses, pursue a pathway, learn an additional world language, or participate in internships.  

Because many high schools have adopted block schedules in recent years, the Common Application form used by most colleges and universities now asks if the applicant’s high school has a block schedule, and also asks the applicant to list the courses they will be taking for the entire year. Next year, courses will be prioritized by academic importance so that student schedules will reflect what they need for their college transcript, if necessary.  

Throughout their K-12 experience, students interact with the same teachers on a daily basis. Students were with the same teacher every day in elementary school, and students saw the same teachers every day for the entire school year under the traditional 7-period middle and high school schedules. At the same time, we recognize that sometimes personalities do not mesh, and that some teaching styles may not match a student’s learning style. In these cases, families are encouraged to speak confidentially with their building principal to discuss their concerns. If a resolution is not reached at the building level, the matter should be escalated to the Associate Superintendent. 

Under the current schedule, a student who misses five consecutive days of school would be making up work from as many as 7 or 8 different classes. In the flexible schedule, students will be taking fewer classes, so it will be less onerous to make up missed work. It is actually unusual for students to miss more than 3 consecutive days of school. Through November 18, 2024, only 36 high school students—or 0.72 percent of the total student population at AITE, Stamford High, and Westhill—have recorded 3 or more consecutive absences. 

The research on “summer slide” and other learning loss due to gaps in schooling is inconsistent.  Many researchers debate whether summer slide is real or how it impacts achievement. What we can say with certainty is that it is always helpful for families to encourage review/practice of core skills over the summer months, which is why our schools assign summer work to decrease the need for review at the beginning of each school year. 

It’s also important to remember that flexible scheduling promotes acceleration of learning. Rather than skipping a semester and extending the amount of time between courses in a sequence, students can complete two levels of a subject in a single year (e.g., Integrated Math 1 in the Fall of freshman year and Integrated Math 2 in the Spring of freshman year). 

One of the benefits of block scheduling is that it provides for deeper and more internalized learning, which helps with retention. For students who choose not to take classes in consecutive semesters, the scheduling software will be designed to prevent more than a one-semester break between courses in a sequence (e.g., Integrated Math 1 during fall of freshman year and Integrated Math 2 during fall of sophomore year.) 
 

Yes. Stamford Public Schools produces schedules for nearly 5,000 high school students and more than 350 teachers across three high schools on an annual basis. This is a months-long process regardless of schedule type (traditional 7-period, A/B block, or flexible block). The process begins in February when the Program of Studies is released and concludes in August when schedules are finalized and shared with students and teachers. 

As in the past, we will contract with an external resource to support the creation of the master high school schedules at all three high schools. Our goal is to bring most of the scheduling work in-house in subsequent years. 

The Associate Superintendent for High Schools and the Chief Academic Officer will work closely with high school administrators, high school counselors, and content area department heads to ensure the master schedule accommodates all core academic and elective courses, that teacher assignments aligns with certification areas, and that accounts for specific constraints such as room size and part-time staff.
 

High school students adapt to a different schedule each year because they take different courses each year. Even within the same school year, student schedules change each semester when they are enrolled in 0.5 credit classes, and lunch schedules may also rotate on a quarterly basis.  
 

The new high school curriculum—which was largely designed and written by SPS educators—is compatible with flexible scheduling. Only pacing guides—which are documents that outline what topics/skills from a course curriculum should be taught during each class period—will need to be updated. The district will hire SEA member teachers to update the pacing guides according to the terms of the contract between the BOE and SEA.   

With flexible scheduling, students will be taking fewer courses at any given time and will benefit from receiving daily instruction in most subjects. Under the A/B block schedule, students juggle 7-8 classes each day; with the flexible schedule, students will focus on only 4-6 classes at a time.  

One of the benefits of the flexible schedule is that we can pair a class with academic support in that subject. For incoming freshmen, these decisions will be based on middle of year (MOY) testing in grade 8 in consultation with middle school counselors and grade 8 teachers.   

For example, suppose we know from MOY testing that a student is struggling in mathematics. If the student’s teacher and counselor recommend additional support, that student will be enrolled in Integrated Math 1 along with a mathematics tutoring class in the fall semester of their freshman year.     
 

SPS is building a robust career pathways program in all three high schools. The flexible schedule will provide the most options for juniors and seniors to pursue credit bearing experiences, such as work-place learning, pre-apprenticeships, and internships. Because the flexible schedule is static—meaning most classes meet at the same time every day—students in the upper grades will be able to create schedules that enable them to arrive late or leave early on a daily basis for these external credit bearing opportunities.  This is more difficult to do in a pure A/B schedule due to different schedules on alternating days.  

Block scheduling reduces the number of transitions during the school day, which has a positive impact on school climate. Flexible scheduling has the added benefit of reducing student and teacher workloads, which also will contribute to a better school climate/culture. 

Our high school teachers work hard every day. Beyond providing instruction in the classroom, teachers must dedicate time to preparing lesson plans for each course, grading assignments for each course, and meeting with students to provide additional support. 

Under both the traditional 7-period bell schedule and the A/B block schedules, most of our high school teachers are teaching 5 classes concurrently for the entire school year with a caseload of up to 150 students at one time. 

Under the flexible schedule, most teachers will teach no more than 3 periods per day with a maximum caseload of 75 to 90 students at any given time. 
 

Under the current SEA contract, most high school teachers are expected to teach 5 blocks. Under the current 7-block A/B schedule, that means teachers are teaching 5 out of 7 blocks and that they are teaching 5 classes concurrently all year long. 

Under the terms of the new agreement, most high school teachers will teach 6 out of 8 blocks. English and Social Studies teachers will teach 5 out of 8 blocks but will be assigned collateral duties for the sixth block.  Special education teachers will teach 5 out of 8 blocks with the sixth block reserved for PPT meetings and other work specific to special education. High School teachers will have 84 minutes per day of unassigned time.  
 

We do not understand why the SEA remains opposed to the flexible schedule. The impact of the flexible schedule on high school teachers was negotiated through collective bargaining, and SEA members overwhelmingly approved the agreement.  

Some high school teachers are likely disappointed that they will no longer receive a 20% stipend for teaching six classes concurrently as they did under the traditional 7-period schedule and the 7- and 8-period A/B schedules. The SEA president recently referenced this in a message to members, stating “If we had gone to arbitration over the schedule, we would not have been able to garner 20% for those teachers teaching a sixth class and we certainly would not have come to (sic) close to achieving the financial compensation and language that was agreed to.” 

We believe that most high school teachers understand the benefits of flexible scheduling, and that they will come to appreciate teaching fewer classes at a time with smaller student caseloads.
 

The agreement between the BOE and the SEA specifies maximum class sizes by content area. Beyond that, the actual number of students in each class depends on (1) overall enrollment and (2) number of students who enroll in each course.  

The BOE and the SEA agreed upon the following maximum class sizes by content area beginning in 2025-26:

• Math: 25 (down from 30) 
• Science: 24 (no change)
• English Language Arts: 30 (no change)
• Social Studies: 30 (no change)  
• World Language: 25 (down from 30)
• Visual and Performing Arts: 30 (no change)
• Physical Education / Health: 30 (no change) 
• Career Technical Education: 30 (no change)

The number of teaching positions is based on enrollment, the courses selected by enrolled students, and the maximum class sizes outlined in the SEA contract. 

Yes. Students who enroll in an odd number of AP classes will be able to choose from a variety of electives to fill the empty A/B block.

No. Advanced Placement courses will follow the A/B schedule, meeting every-other-day for the entire school year. 

Most UConn ECE classes will be offered on a semester schedule as they are in college. If a UConn ECE class is co-seated with an Advanced Placement class, the course will be offered on the A/B schedule and meet every other day for the entire school year. 

No. IBDP courses with standardized end-of-year exams will follow the A/B schedule, meeting on alternate days for the entire school year. 

AP science courses will continue to run as 1.5, meeting every day in the fall and every other day in the spring. 

The traditional 7-period schedule—in which classes met daily for 45-50 minutes—was the most common high school schedule for many decades and relied heavily on lecture-based instruction in most subjects. Block schedules, in which classes meet anywhere from 75 to 90 minutes, provide more time for students and educators to engage in collaborative, project-based learning that is considered best practice for 21st century teaching and learning. 

In addition, students could earn only a maximum of 28 high school credits in the traditional 7-period schedule, but the State of Connecticut now requires students to earn 25 credits for graduation, leaving struggling students with few opportunities for credit recovery and high-achieving students with fewer opportunities to pursue dual enrollment and other advanced coursework.  
 

The flexible schedule—or 4x4 block schedule—has remained the district’s preferred high school schedule since it was proposed in spring 2022. At that time, teachers and parents at Stamford High and Westhill opposed ANY type of block schedule. When the A/B block schedule—which had been in place at AITE for years—was implemented at Stamford High and Westhill for 2022-23, teachers and parents experienced the benefits of block scheduling. The longer class periods in the block schedule provided for more meaningful teaching and learning, and fewer transitions throughout the school day had a positive impact on school climate. 

Now that there is support for block scheduling among teachers and students at all three high schools, we are implementing flexible schedules to provide for more customization of student schedules based on academic needs and goals and to provide our students and teachers with more manageable workloads.   
 

Dr. Rhodes is a career educator with more than 30 years of experience as a bilingual teacher, school administrator, district administrator, and college professor. She has a particular interest in the issue of educational equity and how districts can better serve the needs of all students. Her new book does not recommend a particular schedule, as the composition of every school district is unique. Rather, Dr. Rhodes makes the argument that schedules should be used strategically as a tool to improve equity and student outcomes instead of a logistical puzzle to be solved each year.