Edison School to Implement Block Scheduling

[Editor's note: This article was updated August 10 at 12:20 p.m.]

Come September, the sixth graders at Thomas A. Edison Central Six School in West Orange will have fewer classes a day, sitting through five class periods instead of nine. Edison School will implement block scheduling this fall, doubling the length of each core academic class period from 42 to 76 minutes, school officials said.  

Edison principal Xavier Fitzgerald said the shift will allow students to delve deeper into the core subjects. "The research says that the less transition students have the more academic success they will have," he said. 

The new approach will allow students to have "more time on task when it deals with math and English," said Fitzgerald. 

For now, Edison will be the first school in the district to implement the new structure. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Donna Rando said the elementary schools have a literacy block and a math block but does not block out all subject areas. 

"We've been the guinea pig," said  Fitzgerald. "We are a single grade school and sometimes it's a bit easier for us to make this transition. We are the transitional school in our district."

"The data proves this can be successful," said West Orange Board of Education President Laura Lab said. 

She emphasized, though, that the program's success depends on the professional development of the staff.  

"You need to learn how to teach in that 72 minute block," she said.  

Every sixth grader will have English, math and a related arts class everyday and alternate between science and social studies every other day. The language arts and reading classes will be combined into one core English class. Related arts, physical education, band, orchestra and chorus/ general music will be 38 minutes long. 

Fitzgerald said the push for block scheduling was a result of last year's curriculum changes. He said certain curriculum, like the Connected Math curriculum implemented last year, is best taught in longer periods. "We had to find a way to lengthen the time in order to make this curriculum work appropriately."

Fitzgerald said 475 students are expected this year and that with block scheduling, classroom sizes will actually go down from 22 students per classroom to 18-20. 

In addition to schedule changes, Edison will receive 21 additional SMART boards for the academic classrooms, school officials said. A SMART board is an interactive white board that uses digital ink and touch detection to project the content on to a larger screen. 

Lab said that combining the block scheduling with the new SMART boards would be an "innovative" and "exciting initiative."

"It's an enhancement and a new tool and it will redefine how you're going to spend that time in that block," she said. 

Fitzgerald was also excited to incorporated the additional SMART boards, "A lot of our kids are more technology advanced than we are," he said. "The kids light up when they see it because it's what they're used to."