An accessible guide to creating schedules that amplify school and district priorities, support best practices in teaching and learning, heighten student engagement, and enhance equity.
A school's schedule can be as important to education outcomes as its budget or strategic plan. The secret to making the schedule a tool for school improvement is to approach schedule design not as a technical task, centered on making everything fit like Tetris blocks, but as a strategic one. In this book, informed by research and their work with hundreds of schools, scheduling experts Nathan Levenson and David James explore how strategic scheduling can turn a "good enough" schedule into one that supercharges learning and engagement without additional costs or more FTEs.
If you are ready to
* Figure out which schedule type is best for your students and staff;
* Disrupt harmful tracking and ensure every student has access to highly skilled teachers and rigorous curriculum;
* Deliver optimum hours of core instruction while expanding electives and providing opportunities for student voice and choice;
* Precisely match staffing to course enrollment to free up personnel and funds for other purposes
* Find time for critical intervention and enrichment blocks; and
* Communicate scheduling decisions more effectively to parents, families, and district leaders
... then it's time for strategic scheduling. Offering targeted advice for best-practice scheduling at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, this book will help school and district leaders--and the teachers and students they serve--make the most of every school day and every school year.