The Jay Mathews Attack on Block Scheduling

Testing industry insider and long time manipulator of public opinion, Jay Mathews, had a piece two pieces last week that give the editors of Washington Post reason enough to pull the plug on this guy. The sad fact is that Mathews has filed an impressive portfolio of editorials masked as news stories at the Post, and since no one at the paper cares enough about education to check out the facts or the rest of the story that Mathews does not report, they continue to let him do what he wants with impunity.

One of Mathews' target last week was block scheduling. Now for any story or innovation that Mathews wants to knock down or to promote, there is the ultimate criterion of test scores to consider, which serves as ironclad arbiter for any policy consideration. If there is no evidence, for instance, that whole grain bread for lunch increases test scores, then there is no reason to replace the Bunny Bread. Same with block scheduling: no evidence for increasing test scores, then let's go back to the six, seven, or nine lap race course that leaves students scatter-brained and exhausted at the end of the day. Of course, that is the accepted mode of societal management, is it not?

And how Mathews found a principal who would act the fool for him in a national newspaper, that's pretty impressive:

But Einstein Principal James G. Fernandez said he is unconvinced that block scheduling, used in his school for several years, raises student achievement. He suggested that the format might lead some students to drop out because of long classes. So why have so many schools adopted it? "Other than it was the fad, I'm not really sure," he said. He said he switched back to a traditional schedule because it allowed a longer lunchtime for one-on-one work with students and because it might help prevent students from dropping out.

"Show me some data that indicates kids perform better" with block scheduling, Fernandez said.

Well, Principal Fernandez, here is a link a piece in the Kappan offers several sound reasons that might have influenced your decision, had you chosen to let your decision be influenced. Below are a few of them that Jay Mathews didn't ask you about or tell you about, because when it comes down to it, he is an opponent of block scheduling because the College Board is an opponent of block scheduling:

It was difficult to schedule Advanced Placement classes in some block systems.

A few reasons to consider block scheduling:

• greater flexibility in scheduling
  

• opportunities for students to complete more courework

• less time during day spent in class changes and routine management tasks
  

• improved school climate . . . a more relaxed atmosphere

• greater student/teacher rapport

• instruction and curriculum improvement/innovation

• more individual student attention from teachers

• improved school discipline

• more teacher planning time

• more time for labs, vocational projects, art, band, writing, and research

• less time needed for grading, more time to devote to teaching

• more shared ownership of teaching and learning among students and teachers
  

In terms of tests, there have been no notable differences on standardized test scores among block compared to non-block. For those schools and teachers that seek to maintain lock-step authoritarian control, however, the block is a challenge. If you think it is hard to lecture teens for 44 minutes, try 88 minutes. Good teachers adapt--authoritarians resent the change, and blame block scheduling for messing up their day (as well as their one year of experience, repeated 20 times). That is why, I am afraid, that there is such a blowback in recent years toward the bad old schedule of the past. Authoritarian regimes breed authoritarian schools. And, then, there's the economics of testing to be protected, and that is where Jay Mathews comes in.