Data Supports Student Progress Under Upper School Schedule

The results are in, and the new Upper School schedule really has delivered on its promises. Introduced two years ago, following years of extensive research, the move to an eight-day rotation with 75-minute class periods was designed to allow for more creative teaching and engaged students and a less frenetic pace of daily life.  It resulted in fewer classroom and subject matter transitions, fewer lost teaching minutes to athletic dismissals, increased time for in-depth discussion, lab work and collaborative projects and the opportunity for some students to take on additional classes in areas of particular interest such as the fine and performing arts or foreign languages.

While immediately popular with students, parents and faculty, Head of Campus Dr. David Flocco committed to an on-going evaluation to determine whether the new schedule really could deliver all that it promised.

One of the major benchmarks of success was determined to be student grade point average - in particular in the jump between sophomore and junior year, traditionally viewed as the hardest transition.  For the class of 2007, who only experienced the old schedule, 48% of student gpa's improved between 10th and 11th grade and statistics for the class of 2008, also on the old schedule, were very similar with 43% of students seeing a rise in their gpa.   However, for the class of 2009, the first class to experience both the old and new schedule, the numbers change.  61% of their gpa's went up between 10th and 11th grade and the trend looks to be continuing, with 59% of the class of 2010 showing an increased gpa between 10th and 11th grade.

This new information, which demonstrates a significant reversal in trend from that under the old schedule, delights Dr. Flocco. “It is especially gratifying to be able to support one’s research, instincts and intuition with more quantitative data,” he commented, “and these latest findings give an even greater validity to a schedule that has had a transformative effect on teaching and learning at the Upper School.”