Analysis of the Current Semester Schedule

In conversations that have occurred in recent days and weeks, parents and community members have asked questions about the current schedule at Homestead, wondering what about it motivated faculty members, administrators and School Board members to endorse a study into alternatives.

Homestead currently operates on a seven-period semester schedule.  In that schedule, teachers teach six classes per semester (up from five per semester, a cost-savings-related change implemented two years ago without study into the academic or cultural implications of that decision).  Students may enroll in six or seven classes per semester.  No other high school in the North Shore and no other academic benchmark high school in Wisconsin operates on a seven-period schedule in which teachers teach six classes.

Assets of the current schedule include the following:

• One of most cost-efficient schedules possible (teachers in front of students 86% of the school day)
• Class period length represents the greatest amount of time possible in a seven or eight-period daily schedule
• Current curriculum and instructional approaches were developed around this schedule
• Current academic successes were achieved in this schedule
• Current approach is understood by the community and students
• Overall structure (two seven-period semesters) is common in Wisconsin.

Challenges associated with the current schedule include the following:

• Teacher load (number of students and courses per term, which can reach almost 170 per teacher in core areas like Math and English) results in less teacher time available per student
• Teacher load results in split attention among more students, educational support staff/teachers, and parents at one time
• Teacher load necessitates compromises in educational quality (reduction of writing-based assessments, for example) to manage volume of student work
• Requirement of teaching six classes in a term requires some teachers to be prepared to teach up to four different courses daily, reducing the amount of time that can be invested in any one course
• One 50-minute teacher preparation period limits amount of time available for student support
• One 50-minute teacher preparation period limits amount of time available for set-up and take-down of hands-on learning experiences like science labs
• One 50-minute teacher preparation period limits amount of time available for non-classroom responsibilities that impact student learning (meeting with educational support personnel and Special Education Teachers, serving on committees or work teams, etc.)
•  Teacher energy must be committed almost exclusively to maintenance of current performance, not improvement or innovation
• Faculty morale is low due to a sense of diminished efficacy in meeting students’ needs.

The lists above, the assets or challenges of the current schedule, are not exhaustive.  Still, this information represents the essential factors that led to the schedule study.  Further, these factors were considered throughout the schedule study process and were weighed against the challenges and assets of alternative schedules, including the trimester.