Opinion
School & District Management Opinion

The Pandemic Forced My District to Make One Big Change Worth Keeping

The disruptive change of COVID-19 can offer opportunities even in the face of tragedy
By Erica M. Forti — July 27, 2021 2 min read
A woman looks past the pandemic to the future.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

“Never let a good crisis go to waste,” Prime Minister Winston Churchill is widely credited to have said in the throes of World War II. A crisis, in other words, can be an opportunity.

In summer 2020, my district, like all others, found itself in the midst of the COVID-19 catastrophe. We were also in a battle against time, with just six weeks to forge a plan to reopen our schools safely while offering students opportunities to learn and grow.

We prevailed for the most part. Since September 2020, our district has been in a full in-person mode with a remote-learning option. Despite having to quarantine various groups since then, there’s been no break in our full in-person schedule.

About This Series

Over the coming weeks, we will be rolling out 17 lessons from experienced district leaders who spent the last year leading from home. Learn more and see the full collection of lessons.

We used the crisis to adopt an approach we had been discussing for years: block scheduling. In our version of block scheduling, we replaced the traditional schedule of seven 42-minute daily periods with two alternating blocks of four 85-minute classes for both full-time and remote students.

What appealed to us about the practice is that it frees up time for hands-on learning and collaboration, while affording deeper levels of teaching and learning with fewer interruptions.

Even in normal times—as everyone reading this knows—changing a school schedule is a complex and contentious business. Coalitions must be built. Contracts must be negotiated. Teachers must be trained. The public must be convinced.

Among the perverse benefits of the crisis was that it forced us into what some corporations describe as disruptive change—a modern version of a “good crisis.” We used the pandemic as an opportunity to quickly adjust and innovate in our determination to safely reopen our schools.

We based our response on the bedrock belief that school is more than a building; it’s where students develop positive relationships with their teachers. Those connections, our experience taught us, make students more likely to engage in learning and have better academic outcomes—far better, we believed, than in online settings with their distractions and lack of oversight.

That’s where block scheduling came in and came through—both for its scholastic benefits and for meeting our safety and health challenges.

Reducing the number of classes from seven to four limited the time that students had to pass in the hallways. Keeping students together in cohorts facilitated contact tracing. The increase in class time in class afforded teachers a greater stretch during which they could balance in-person and remote teaching, as well as schedule mask breaks.

More than that, at a time when the outside world was anything but calm, the schedule gave students consistency and stability—the most salubrious conditions for learning and growth.

Students have reported that the added time has enabled them to learn at deeper levels and to work on projects longer with continuous feedback from teachers. Teachers say they’re able to give students more individualized attention with the increased duration of class time.

There were glitches. We experienced a shortage of teachers. This resulted in too many students consigned to study hall. In addition, safety precautions precluded group work and moving around the classroom.

Such challenges are fixable. We’ve added three additional teachers to next year’s budget. And many of the restrictions, we hope, will be lifted by September, allowing us to maximize the instructional benefits afforded by block scheduling.

Whether you call it a “good crisis” or disruptive change, it’s fair to say that block scheduling for our district is here to stay.

Complete Collection

Superintendents discuss ideas at a roundtable.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week and Getty Images

Related Tags:

Coverage of leadership, summer learning, social and emotional learning, arts learning, and afterschool is supported in part by a grant from The Wallace Foundation, at www.wallacefoundation.org. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.

Events

Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Boosting Student and Staff Mental Health: What Schools Can Do
Join this free virtual event based on recent reporting on student and staff mental health challenges and how schools have responded.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
Practical Methods for Integrating Computer Science into Core Curriculum
Dive into insights on integrating computer science into core curricula with expert tips and practical strategies to empower students at every grade level.
Content provided by Learning.com

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management Rising Tensions From Israel-Hamas War Are Seeping Into Schools
As effects of the war reverberate in school communities, schools have federal responsibilities to create discrimination-free environments.
5 min read
People gather in Pliny Park in Brattleboro, Vt., for a vigil, Monday, Nov. 27, 2023, for the three Palestinian-American students who were shot while walking near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, Vt., Saturday, Nov. 25. The three students were being treated at the University of Vermont Medical Center, and one faces a long recovery because of a spinal injury, a family member said.
People gather in Pliny Park in Brattleboro, Vt., for a vigil, Monday, Nov. 27, 2023, for the three Palestinian-American students who were shot while walking near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, Vt., Saturday, Nov. 25. Tensions over the Israel-Hamas war are playing out in schools and colleges across the country, including some K-12 schools.
Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP
School & District Management The Missed Opportunity for Public Schools and Climate Change
More cities are creating climate action plans, but schools are often left out of the equation.
4 min read
Global warming illustration, environment pollution, global warming heating impact concept. Change climate concept.
Collage by Gina Tomko/Education Week and iStock/Getty Images Plus
School & District Management 13 States Bar School Board Members From Getting Paid. Here's Where It's Allowed (Map)
There are more calls to increase school board members' pay, or to allow them to be paid at all.
Two professional adults, with a money symbol.
sankai/iStock/Getty
School & District Management Opinion Bad Sleep Is a Problem for Principals. Here’s What to Do About It
Our new study highlights the connection between stress and sleep among school leaders, write three researchers.
Eleanor Su-Keene, David E. DeMatthews & Alex Keene
5 min read
Stylized illustration of an alarm clock over a background which is split in half, with one half being nighttime and one half being daytime.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva