LaFayette High School students and teachers will adopt a new class schedule in the fall that resembles a college-schedule week with a twist.
Assistant principal Heather Holloway said the new schedule, which will adjust for a school year shortened by 11 days, “seemed like the perfect combination of year-long instruction while still having the benefits of the block schedule.”
Under the current schedule, students with a semester of a subject such as math in the fall might not have another semester of math until the spring semester of the next school year. That separates the two courses by nearly 18 months, making it harder for students to remember and build on their learning, Mrs. Holloway said.
CLASS SCHEDULESLaFayette: Block schedule, alternating daysAll classes: Rotate classes on alternating days with four year-long, 96-minute blocks each dayRidgeland: Block, period mixRegular classes: Four 103-minute blocks over two semestersHonors Academy classes: Five 60-minute periods, year-long, and one 103-minute block over two semestersCLASS NOTESName: LaFayette High SchoolPrincipal: Roger HibbsNumber of students: 1,140Number of teachers: 85Address: 5178 Round Pond Road, LaFayette, Ga.Name: Ridgeland High SchoolPrincipal: Robert SmithNumber of students: 1,300Number of teachers: 94Address: 2478 Happy Valley Road, Rossville, Ga.
With the new schedule, “We’re not going to have to battle the lack of retention we’re seeing,” she said.
Students under a year-long schedule have the same subject year to year with only a three-month summer break in between, she said. And by keeping 96-minute block classes, students get more instructional time.
Walker County’s other high school, Ridgeland, adopted a modified schedule last year that the staff wants to keep, principal Robert Smith said. The schedule was put in place along with the launch of the school’s Honors Academy, he said.
Mr. Smith said regular classes operate on a four-block day over two semesters,. Honors Academy students and teachers are on a year-long schedule of “five one-hour classes and then, at the end of their fifth class, they catch up to the rest of the school on the fourth block,” he said. “Everybody has the fourth block in common.”
Gwen Gregory, director of LaFayette High’s guidance department, said there still are some kinks to work out, but once students and teachers get used to the change, the year-long plan should improve end-of-course test scores.
Under the school’s alternating-day schedule, a student will have a class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday one week and Tuesday and Thursday the next week, Mrs. Gregory said. That way, there is no need to adjust credit requirements for graduation, she said.
“It also gets students used to a college schedule,” she said.
However, students and teachers will need to do more organizing because of the alternating schedule, she said.
“When you do something different, there are growing pains, but we’re excited about it,” she said.