With a new academic year comes a new academic schedule. Spartanburg High School has made a significant shift in the daily experience for students and faculty as the school transitions from a traditional seven-period structure to an innovative, four-block blended schedule.
This change, the first of its kind for Spartanburg High, aims to provide numerous advantages, including facilitating earlier graduation for students and enabling them to accumulate more credits while also easing the burden of managing multiple classes each day.
The implementation of this blended schedule tailors the academic day according to a student’s course load.
Students in honors or college prep (CP) classes attend four extended block periods each day, allowing for in-depth coverage of subjects over a single semester. For those enrolled in advanced placement (AP) courses or year-long electives, the schedule incorporates daily “skinny” classes that are 45-minutes long, ensuring the necessary continuity for subjects like foreign languages and advanced sciences.
This hybrid approach ensures that all students receive the optimal instructional time for their specific coursework.
As students and staff navigate this new system, it has become a prominent subject of discussion throughout the Spartanburg High School community. The modified schedule also provides additional benefits for student-athletes, allowing for more practice and weight training time during the school day.
Claire Lauer (12), a varsity swimmer and cross country runner, appreciates how the new block schedule has allowed her to take more classes, but in some ways, it has proven to be a stressful change.
“I think the block schedule has been efficient in letting us expand our academics and opportunities within our course loads, but overall, it was fairly stressful having to adapt to an entirely different layout, especially during my senior year,” Lauer said.
Lauer’s insight gives a perspective on how students who have already adjusted to the traditional schedule now have to re-adjust to the new schedule.
On the other hand, freshman students, who typically have four classes per day, have a different opinion on the new schedule.
Julianna Stolfa Morrissey (9) views the new schedule as a better version than the seven-period schedule.
“This year is much easier than the seven-period schedule. Especially when I missed days last week, I’ve had less work to make up since there are only four periods,” Stolfa Morrissey said.
Stolfa Morrissey’s insight gives an example of how this new block schedule has different views based on each person and their course load.
This new schedule has many benefits for the student body. Similarly, uopeople.edu states that “since students have fewer classes per day, it can translate into less homework per day. When students have less daily homework, they have more time to pursue their interests, hone their skills and even reduce stress levels through relaxation methods.”
Ultimately, the transition to the eight-block blended schedule is a proactive step by Spartanburg High School to modernize its approach to education, aligning with a broader goal of providing a more flexible, focused and student-centered learning environment for all.
