The first day of school marked the first year of the A/B schedule. At the beginning of the year there were many reservations about the sudden change, and many questions about how it would work compared to the 4 by 4 schedule arose, but as the year chugged along, the kinks began to appear, and ideas for improvements for years to come began.
“The class size was my biggest concern. On the 4 by 4, I felt like I could focus because the most I could have was 90 students at one time, and then this year they let us have up to 180. Which next year they are reducing the class size down to 160 so it will hopefully improve some,” AP Language teacher Tara Seale said.
One of the main issues that quickly became apparent was the set up of the A/B schedule. If a B day was scheduled on a holiday, that B day would be skipped. Including days missed because of snow, students will have two more B days than A days at the end of the year.
“I definitely like that I don’t have to sit in the same class with the same teacher everyday, because if you don’t click with a teacher it makes your day a little less of a drag,” sophomore Taylor Davis said.
Despite the problems with the schedule, it has many benefits for end of course testing and AP tests.
“A plus with the A/B schedule is that students are in my class all year, so when the AP test comes around, they aren’t in some other class wondering about having to be tested over something I taught them back in May when they left my class in December,” Seale said.
AP classes also face some challenges with the A/B schedule.
“I’m taking four AP classes this year and it felt like it gave us less time in the class, because coming back two days later it felt like you had forgotten a little bit” junior Caleb Zimmerman said.
With only four classes at a time on the 4 by 4 schedule some students found it easier to focus more on their subjects, rather than 8 classes on the A/B block.
“I definitely prefer the 4 by 4 schedule because I felt like we got more done in class without having to review previous lessons as much” Zimmerman said, “The workload isn’t necessarily easier or harder because you have a longer time to get homework done, I just felt like we got more done without switching everyday.
A/B scheduling also affects athletics.
“I’m in volleyball and soccer at the same time all year and that rakes up a lot of my time” sophomore Whitney Brown said, “but A/B scheduling makes it easier on me to be able to do my sports and my homework. It has really helped me a lot this year.”
Each schedule has its pros and cons. As the years go by, time will tell which benefits the students more.
“I’m really hoping they get it figured out next year so that we aren’t skipping classes because of holidays. I know we will get that figured out next year, because this was just our first year of figuring out the A/B schedule. I do think it will be better next year,” Seale said.
