This study attempted to determine if the type of class schedule (traditional, A/B block, or accelerated block) used in Texas public high schools significantly affects students' achievement results, attendance rates and dropout rates. One thousand four hundred ninety (1490) Texas high school principals were surveyed to determine the type of schedule currently in use on each campus, the type of schedule previously used on each campus, the length of time the current schedule has been in place on each campus, and the length of time that the previous schedule was used on each campus. This study is particularly significant in that this research provides information to assist principals in determining if block scheduling is instrumental in improving achievement in reading and mathematics, in improving attendance and in lowering dropout rates. The results of the study indicated that the use of a particular type of schedule: traditional, A/B block, or accelerated block is not directly correlated to improved achievement, attendance, or dropout rates. An expectation that the implementation of a traditional, A/B block, or accelerated block schedule will be the sole factor to cause improved student achievement, improved attendance rates or improved dropout rates is inappropriate. Ultimately, campus and districts officials must assure that effective teaching practices are occurring on each campus, regardless of the schedule type. Currently, a projected (Texas) state education funding shortfall is causing school district administrators to review cost-saving options for the 2003 - 2004 fiscal year. There is discussion in many districts regarding the fact that traditional scheduling is more economical than A/B block or accelerated block scheduling. The results of this study indicate that the decision to move campuses from A/B block or accelerated block to traditional scheduling might be made as a cost-saving move without negatively impacting student achievement, attendance rates or dropout rates.

The focus of this research was on the effect of school schedules on student achievement for ninth-grade students in a Florida school district. Data were collected from two central Florida high schools from the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years. Five one-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were performed to ascertain if there was any interaction between school schedules and student achievement. Examined were the interactions (a) between schedule and schools, (b) schedule and male students, (c) schedule and female students, (d) schedule and Black students, and (e) schedule and Hispanic students. The independent variable, school schedule, consisted of two levels: traditional schedule and A/B block schedule. The dependent variable was the spring Algebra 1 End- of-Course Examination (EOC), and the covariate was the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Mathematics Eighth-grade Development Scale Score. School schedule was not significantly related to students' spring Algebra 1 EOC scores, F(1,788) p = .932. School schedule was not significantly related to male students' spring Algebra 1 EOC scores, F(1,392) p = .698. School schedule was not significantly related to female students' spring Algebra 1 EOC scores, F(1,393) p = .579. School schedule was not significantly related to Black students' spring Algebra 1 EOC scores, F(1,186) p = .545. School schedule was not significantly related to Hispanic students' spring Algebra 1 EOC scores, F (1,184) p = .700.

<p>  </p> <p>Available literature indicated that construction projects have been experiencing significant time overruns from their planned duration. In many cases, the primary reasons for project delays were ineffective planning and scheduling methods, poor communication and collaboration between the key stakeholders, and the construction operations and task requirements have been overlooked.</p> <p>Construction project planning and scheduling are extensively studied topics, and several techniques have been developed to solve construction project scheduling problems. Traditional production planning and scheduling techniques are based on the push planning strategy, such as linear and network scheduling techniques. In the traditional method, the project scheduler calculates activity durations and then sequences them to determine when to complete the work. These techniques and planning methods have been criticized for lacking collaboration between project workers and realistic integration of the project time, location, and other essential resources to create a reliable work schedule. Furthermore, the inability to account for site operations, tasks, and workflow leads to waste and delay. </p> <p>Consequently, Ballard and Howell (1990) proposed the last planner system, and then Ballard et al. (2000) further developed the method. In the last planner system, all key stakeholders and the project management team actively communicate and coordinate to accomplish the project’s planned milestones. The last planner system and pull planning scheduling objective is improving workflow and increasing plan reliability. However, the pull planning scheduling method has some limitations. For instance, this method cannot be used to determine the available work capacity in each working space and show how much work can be completed at a given time. In addition, the pull planning and LPS system are highly descriptive and experienced-based, relying on the decision and experiences of the site supervisors. </p> <p>Available literature concerning construction project delay also indicated that ineffective planning and scheduling, slow decision-making, and poor communication and coordination had been the top critical causes of construction project delay.</p> <p>Therefore, this research was conducted to minimize construction project time and cost overrun due to poor scheduling and production planning. The study has been conducted in two main parts. In the first part of this study, critical causes of project delay have been analyzed, and the contribution of poor planning and scheduling to construction project delays in different environments has been assessed. The relative importance index and Spearman’s coefficient techniques have been utilized to analyze the collected data.  The second section of this research work was conducted to investigate the construction scheduling reliability and production efficiency and developed the enhanced production planning and scheduling method to improve schedule reliability and production plan efficiency.  The reason for developing the enhanced production planning and scheduling method was to find the best work option to optimize work duration and efficiently plan required resources per category of the identified activities. In addition, this study has automated the scheduling input data capturing from the project BIM model by utilizing the developed visual program.</p> <p>The study finding in the first section indicated that the top ten critical causes of identified causes of project delay in specified environments were significantly different. However, Ineffective project planning and scheduling had been among the most critical causes in all three conditions. Ineffective planning and scheduling were ranked number one in developed environment conditions, second in developing countries, and fifth in high-risk environments.</p> <p>Study results in the second section have shown that the case study's executed schedule had experienced significant changes in the planned dates of individual tasks, project milestones, and resource allocation. The project schedule critical path and critical activities were changed repeatedly after each update, and the project structure work was delayed for 30 days from its initial plan, as illustrated in figures 33 to 35. Subsequently, the enhanced planning methodology has been applied in the selected case study to validate the developed method and evaluate the result of the case study. The case study implemented work plan has been compared with the enhanced planning-based developed schedule. The total duration of the enhanced planning-based method has been calculated to be 240 work days, which shows 30 days less time from implemented case study plan and 50 days from the project base plan in the construction document, as illustrated in figures 39 to 41. </p> <p>Furthermore, the production schedule sensitivity analysis has shown that the production schedule and the case study base plan tasks duration have not been significantly different since both schedules were created based on the similar size of the work crew, but in terms of the number of the planned task, the production schedule had been created based on the most suitable work option. Another advantage of the production schedule is that it is more reliable because the schedule is created for a shorter duration, not long before the project work starts, and it is created after multiple collaborations and assessment steps. In addition, the developed program in this study using Revit dynamo automated the extraction of input data from the BIM model to create the project schedule. </p> <p>In conclusion, based on the case study results, the enhanced production planning methodology and developed metrics and indices can be applied to various building construction projects to find the most suitable work option and create a reliable and resource-efficient work schedule. </p>