The American high school schedule of single-period classes has remained mostly unchanged for over one hundred years. In response to societal changes and reform movements, the secondary school schedule is receiving renewed attention. Block scheduling, the use of extended periods of time for learning, is one response to school restructuring in Virginia and throughout the nation. In Virginia, the 7A/B block schedule is used by 23.3% of the high schools. Although advocates have convinced school boards to adopt this schedule, there is little hard data available to assess its efficacy. In this study the relationship between two types of schedules(7A/B block and 7-period traditional) and student achievement at the eleventh grade was examined. No differences were found between the two schedules for achievement as measured by the subscales of the eleventh grade Tests of Achievement and Proficiency. / Ed. D.

As 4/4 block scheduling was implemented in North Carolina, many public schools offered staff development to help teachers make the transition from a six- or seven- period school schedule, but little is known about the staff development provided. The purposes of this study were to determine the Stages of Concern of North Carolina public school teachers related to 4/4 block scheduling, their perceived professional development needs, and the relationships among their Stages of Concern, professional development needs, and selected characteristics. By calling each school district's central office, the researcher determined that 248 North Carolina high schools had implemented 4/4 block scheduling as of fall 1998. A list was developed of 73 schools that implemented block scheduling in the fall of 1996, 1997, and 1998. From this list, five schools were randomly selected for each of the three years, resulting in a sample of 15 schools. At each school, five teachers were selected from each of three teaching areas: academic, workforce development, and special subjects. Thus, of the1086 teachers employed at the 15 participating schools, 225 teachers were included in the sample. The questionnaire for this study contained three parts: (a) the Hall and Loucks (1979) Stages of Concern questionnaire, (b) a professional development needs section, and (c) a teacher characteristics section. Results of the study indicated that the teachers were concerned about the success of students in the classroom and the impact of 4/4 block scheduling on their students. Consequence was the peak Stage of Concern for the largest percentage of responders, and collaboration was the peak for the second-largest percentage. Teachers with less experience had higher informational concerns than their peers with more teaching experience. On four of the nine professional development needs, more recent adopters of 4/4 block scheduling indicated significantly less need for professional development than those whose schools adopted this schedule in previous years. Thus, as teachers became more experienced with 4/4 block scheduling, they may have had problems that were unforeseen when this schedule was initially adopted. Implications for practice and further research based on the results of the study were suggested. / Ph. D.

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This study compared traditional, A/B and accelerated block scheduling and its effects on student achievement and attendance by comparing the differences in student outcomes observed before and after the adoption of block/accelerated block schedules. The independent variable was the use of time in a block-scheduling model. The dependent variables were student outcomes measured by nine indicators based on the Academic Excellence Indicator System in Texas: student attendance, graduation rate, dropout rate, percentage of students taking advanced courses, percentage of students passing all Exit-level Texas Assessment of Academic Skills tests, percentage of students taking College Admissions Tests, mean SAT total score of those students who took the SAT, mean ACT total score of those students who took the ACT, and percentage of students who are at or above criterion on the SAT or ACT of those students taking the SAT or ACT. Data from archival files from the Texas Education Agency's Academic Excellence Indicator System for each respective year of the eight-year longitudinal study was collected. Scheduling models (traditional, alternating block and accelerated block) were investigated. The sample was drawn from the student population of a large urban school district in north central Texas, a district serving approximately 77,000 students. The district has twelve regular high schools serving students in grades nine through twelve. All twelve regular high schools were included in this study. The indicators were analyzed using SPSS multivariate and univariate analysis to compare the means, regression line slopes, and regression line intercepts for each type of schedule: traditional only, traditional prior to A/B block change, traditional prior to accelerated block change, A/B block, and accelerated block. The regression line, slopes, and intercepts were based on separate regression analysis where a school year was used to predict the AEIS indicators for each type of schedule. With the exception of graduation rate, significant difference was found for all dependent variables.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Liberty University School of Education, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-92). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-91). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-92). Also available on the Internet.