Date of Award
Spring 4-2010
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Education
First Advisor
Dr. William Emrick
Second Advisor
Dr. John Oldani
Third Advisor
Dr. Sherrie Wisdom
Abstract
As schools continue to strive to meet federal testing requirements, many schools have been looking at ways to improve. During the 1990’s many school districts thought they had found the method, tool, or program, with which to accomplish this goal: the block schedule. This study was a comparison of the teaching strategies and attitudes of teachers at two high schools with a block schedule and two high schools with a traditional schedule. The researchers began showing interest in this topic when several local schools decided to abandon the block schedule at their high schools, because of the increased cost associated with block scheduling. The researchers began a collaborative investigation to determine whether teachers on a block schedule use different instructional strategies than their colleagues on a traditional schedule. If teachers were using these strategies, then benefits from a block schedule could potentially outweigh the additional costs created by the schedule. The subjects in this study were teachers from two large schools with student populations of more than 1,000, while the subjects in the companion study were teachers from two small schools with student populations less than 500. In each case, one school used a block schedule, while the other used a traditional schedule. The teachers of these schools were asked to complete a survey that was developed for the purpose of this study. A z test for proportion compared the responses of the participants to the survey instrument. The responses were compared by school size and type and the responses to the open-ended questions were analyzed. The results of the survey indicated that there was little difference between the responses of the teachers on the Large School Block Schedule as compared to the teachers on the Large School Traditional Schedule. The teachers were generally satisfied with their schedule, but really liked some aspects of the other schedule. In conclusion, this researcher feels that school administrators should focus more on the instructional strategies used by teachers and less on the type of schedule, because the results of this study demonstrate that effective teaching can take place on either type of schedule.
Recommended Citation
Raines, Jerry Randolph, "Exploring Differences in Teacher Attitudes and Instructional Strategies Between Traditional and Block Schedule High Schools: A Comparison of Two Large Schools" (2010). Dissertations. 631.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/dissertations/631
Rights
Copyright 2010