I think I talked about this in another thread about something else a long time ago.

There are two types of block scheduling, the 4X4 and A-B.

With the 4X4 there are 4 classes a day lasting about 90 minutes each. There are four 9 week terms and each term equals one semester. One year classes only takes one semester to complete. One semester classes only take 9 weeks to complete. So you may have Algebra, English 1, Physics and PE the first semester and US History, Spanish, Typing and Drama the second semester. At the end of the school year you have earned one extra credit than the 7 period traditional school year.

With the A-B you have eight periods. Monday and Wednesday you may have 1st, 3rd and 7th period and Tuesday and Thursday you would have 2nd, 4th and 8th period. On Friday you have all 8 periods, but shorter classes to take your weekly test. Like the 4X4 you earn one extra credit per year. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

My school did the 4X4 my senior year and I loved it. The only down side was I had stay at school till 12:15 pm where before I could leave at 11:30 am because I had co-op. The school day and year was the same length. We only had 6 periods before so it really helped some people.

The A-B seems like it would suck because you may have to study and do homework for 8 classes or so where with the other you only had to worry about 4 classes at a time. If two were elective classes you may only have homework for 2.

Our district did away with it a couple of years later finding no advantage, but being able to earn more credits helps when you fail a few classes. Also makes early graduation easier.

We had it for my last year of High School we were on A-B and I still have nightmares about that crap almost 15 years later! Nothing more embarrasing than going into class only to realize you are on the wrong day lmbo! Seriously it happened not to me but many others. Or grabbing the wrong folders or books...ugh is all I could say about A-B blocks!

Elective courses in jr/sr high were sometimes scheduled in a similar fashion (especially in the first couple years of jr high, when all the art/home-ec/shop/language courses were in "free sample" mode. The year was divided into 6 semesters and there were 3 of each type of class, so they would give us 1 shop class for the first semester, a diff one second semester, the last one 3rd semester, then a home-ec one 4th semester, diff home-ec 5th, last home-ec 6th. Same kind of pattern with art & language courses.) All other classes were always full-term though. There were 8 or 9 periods throughout the day, with most being around 45 mins (except lunch time. The lunch zone was essentially 3-30 minute periods smooshed together, with the students being divided into 3 lunch groups & having a single class for the other 2/3 of the triple period. ie You would go to math for 30mins, go to lunch for 30mins, go back to math for the remaining 30mins.) We had all of our math/eng/sci/etc classes every single day of the year.

We had neither of those. We had 7 periods and they rotated every day. I think the two after lunch never changed because of our weird lunch schedule. So, Monday would be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... Tuesday would be 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 6, 7... etc.

We had it all 4 years of high school. I LOVED it! We had Blue days and Gold days. Blue days were periods 1-4 (90 mins each) and Gold days were 5-8, period 6 was the whole school's study hall, but it was called SRT (student resource time) where you could go and talk to teachers or do your homework (but you had to have a pass).

It was nice not having to see the same teacher and kids every day...also, it made college an easier transition, in fact, all of my classes in college were either 50 min or 75 minutes, so classes seemed shorter and more bearable.

The A-B or a modified version of it seems to be more common. I know some schools around here use it. Like I said having to worry about 8 classes seems like it would suck to me.

Adults don't like the idea of kids only having Math and English a half a year so the 4X4 seems to be less popular. Also 90 + minutes is a long time for some between restroom breaks. We had 10 minutes between classes which gave you plenty of time to take care of what you needed to.

The less classes per day and class changes also seem like there is less time wasted. Attendance and getting the class quiet alone can take 5 minutes per class. This with less time for class changes could equal 30 more minutes of teaching a day. I'm out of school so I could care either way now. lol

Nope, I had an 8 period class schedule that was either an odd day or even day.