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 high schools have struggled to increase the academic performance of their students to meet state and national guidelines, all aspects of the schools' operations have been reviewed. This includes the type of schedule, block or traditional, used by the school. This study was a comparison of teacher attitudes and teaching strategies between two high schools with a block schedule and two high schools with a traditional schedule. Traditional schedule classes meet every day for 45–55 minutes, while block schedule classes meet every other day for 80–100 minutes. In 2007 several local school districts switched from the block schedule back to the traditional schedule because of the increased cost associated with block scheduling. The increased cost is derived from the increase in the number of courses needed in an eight-block schedule versus a traditional seven-period schedule. The purpose of this study was to determine whether teachers on the block schedule were using the researched-based instructional strategies that would help a block schedule be more effective. If teachers were using these strategies, then benefits from a block schedule could potentially outweigh the additional costs created by the schedule. The schools involved in this study were two smaller high schools, one that operated under a traditional schedule and the other under a block schedule. A companion research was conducted at two larger high schools, one that operated under a traditional schedule and the other under a block schedule. All of the schools in this study are located within a 30-mile radius of one another near a major metropolitan area. The results indicated that there were very few differences between the instructional strategies used by teachers on a block schedule and teachers on a traditional schedule. Additionally, teachers from both schedule types held a favorable opinion of the schedule at their school. In conclusion, 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
Reller, Timothy Leonard, "Exploring Differences in Teacher Attitudes and Instructional Strategies Between Traditional and Block Schedule High Schools: A Comparison of Two Small Schools" (2010). Dissertations. 633.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/dissertations/633
Rights
Copyright 2010