To: The LOOP:; From: "James Kilpatrick" Subject: Fwd.ECC:Block-Scheduling Flops Date sent: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 21:17:45 -0600 >From: Quentin49@aol.com >Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 20:15:06 -0500 (EST) >To: education-consumers@tricon.net >Subject: Block-Scheduling Flops >Sender: owner-education-consumers@tricon.net >Precedence: bulk > >I would appreciate anyone on the loop who knows of schools that have used >block scheduling in high school and then later have changed back to a more >traditional schedule. I know the original school that Joseph Caroll did his >block scheduling experiment on, Maconomet high school in Massachussetts, no >longer uses block. Anyone with information on what happened there and why >they changed would be appreciated. > >We are looking at BS here in Rochester, Mn. high schools and the main pusher >of the idea has stated emphatically that not one single school that has gone >to block has ever reverted. I find that hard to believe, even if the program >is highly effective. I am even more suspect of BS which appears to have a >very thin research base in the US. Carroll's books on BS "The Copernican >Plan" books, seem to contain exclusivly ancedotal information with no >objective testing done. It shows tables of 7 schools and improvements in >grades, honor roll numbers and lowered dropout rates, but nothing >standardized or from outside the school. > >Anyway, I would like to compile a list of BS flops that are verifiable. I >would also be interested in positive implementations of this and how they >were made to work. Carroll's books all extol the virtues of fuzzy "group" >learning "strategies" and essentially bringing OBE into the upper grades. It >is also clear Carroll was a master learning and OBE fan before he went for >BS. I am not too impressed with that considering our district's current >experience. >EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE > Jimmy Kilpatrick Phone 713 520-9715 Coordinator of Community Programs Fax 713 520-7214 Advisor for Reading and Reading Disabilities University of Texas at Austin Home 281 265-2368 Charles A. Dana Center Mobile 281 536-4713 1723 Westheimer Road Houston,Texas 77098-1611