Increasing minutes and daily practice, especially for math, while sustaining the music program

-Written by a non-politically affiliated Educator in the Community

For the past few years, the math program at Berkeley Heights Public Schools (BHPS), particularly at Governor Livingston High School (GLHS) and Columbia Middle School (CMS), has underperformed.

This article will focus on instructional minutes at CMS and not instructional techniques, which the latter may be more important than the former. However, daily (without ‘dropping’ a class one of every four days) and repeated math practice (as well as other core areas) is the focus of the below schedule.

Currently at CMS, there are 53-minute periods on a regular bell schedule. The following article will discuss only full-day schedules as these days occur the vast majority of the school year. The 8:10am arrival time and 3:00pm departure time remains constant.

The proposed two-schedule system eliminates the “rotate and drop” schedule but instead creates two schedules: ‘Schedule A’ focuses on core academics such as math, science, social studies, English Language Arts, world language, and cycle/elective classes. ‘Schedule B’ shortens the core classes and creates time for Enrichment Period (EP) and instrumental/choral music (Band/Chorus/Orchestra) without losing any core academic classes.

Schedule A minutes (with a hypothetical Grade 8 student schedule):

Period 1: 8:15-9:10am (55 minutes) (Social Studies)

Period 2: 9:12-10:03am (51 minutes) (World Language)

Period 3: 10:05-10:56am (51 minutes) (Mathematics)

Period 4: 10:58-11:49am (51 minutes) (Physical Education/Health)

Student lunch: 11:51am-12:21pm (30 minutes)

Period 5: 12:23-1:14pm (51 minutes) (Cycle class/elective)

Period 6: 1:16-2:07pm (51 minutes) (Science)

Period 7: 2:09-3:00pm (51 minutes) (English Language Arts)

Schedule B minutes (with a hypothetical Grade 8 student schedule):

Period 1: 8:15-9:02am (47 minutes) (Social Studies)

Period 2: 9:04-9:48am (44 minutes) (World Language)

Period 3: 9:50-10:34am (44 minutes) (Mathematics)

Period 4: 10:36-11:20am (44 minutes) (Physical Education/Health)

Enrichment Period/Music: 11:22am-12:10pm (48 minutes) (see note)

Student lunch: 12:12-12:42pm (30 minutes)

Period 5: 12:44-1:28pm (44 minutes) (Cycle class/elective)

Period 6: 1:30-2:14pm (44 minutes) (Science)

Period 7: 2:16-3:00pm (44 minutes) (English Language Arts)

Instrumental minutes notes:

• Currently at CMS, there are 159 instructional minutes per class over four days. The math calculation goes as follows: 53 minute classes X 3 days = 159 minutes (class has ‘zero minutes’ on the fourth day).
• With the above proposed schedule, if two of four days were to be ‘Schedule A’ and two of four days were to be ‘Schedule B,’ the seven core subjects would increase to 190 minutes (a 31-minute instructional increase over four days, or a 19% increase in math instruction over four days, for example). Math calculation: (51 minute classes X 2 days = 102 minutes for the Schedule A days; 44 minutes X 2 days = 88 minutes for the ‘Schedule B’ days; 102 + 88 = 190 minutes over four days). However…
• There are no four-day cycles. Not every week has the same number of ‘Schedule B’ days for instrumental/choral music class. A consideration for this schedule would be to have all ‘Schedule A’ days the first two weeks of school for the purposes of students settling into core classes. Regularly, there could be three ‘Schedule A’ days and two ‘Schedule B’ days per five-day (Monday-Friday) week. Closer to the January and May concerts, most if not all days could be ‘Schedule B’ days to allow for Band/Chorus/Orchestra to meet for the 48-minute period each day in the two weeks leading up to the concert. All students would still receive their 44-minute core classes.
• For the two weeks mentioned leading up to each of the concerts where there are 44-minute core classes, there is still an increase in instructional minutes for core classes (math, for example) over four days than the current rotate and drop schedule (from the current 159 minutes to 176 minutes at 44-minute classes per day multiplied by four). In other words, the rotate and drop schedule now decreased the instructional minutes at CMS from the schedule prior to the 2013-14 school year.
• As for the music teachers on ‘Schedule A’ days (where they don’t see the large ensemble), the music teachers still teach music classes and small group lessons to fill the remainder of their teaching schedule.

Instrumental/Choral Music period:

• As noted earlier, throughout most of the school year, Instrumental/Choral music meets twice per five-day week. There are cases where a student may have interest in both Band and Chorus, for example. Within “Schedule B,” one day could serve as “Music-1” and one day could serve as “Music-2.”
• Music-1: Grade 6 Band / Grade 7-8 Chorus / Grade 6 Orchestra are offered.
• Music-2: Grade 7-8 Band / Grade 6 Chorus / Grade 7-8 Orchestra are offered.
• Therefore, a Grade 6 student who plays the saxophone and sings could meet with Band on Music-1 and Chorus on Music-2 (each once per week).
• Any student in only one activity would meet with Grade 6 band once per week and receive Enrichment Period (EP) the other day.
• Some groups may or may not be able to meet twice per week based on staffing. Again – this is why there is an increase in Instrumental/Choral groups per week as concerts approach.

Special notes:

• No student is being forced to take band, chorus, or orchestra. Non-music students would receive a 48-minute Enrichment period an average of twice per week.
• Students who are in one music option (band or chorus or orchestra) can opt out of music one-of-two days per week for an Enrichment Period (EP) if there is an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) mandate, for example. This becomes more challenging if the student takes two music options (band and chorus, for example).
• In both schedules, there is a 30-minute school-wide lunch. Eighth graders could be accommodated in the cafeteria. Sixth and seventh graders could be accommodated in the gymnasium (some students already are at both CMS and GLHS). A school-wide lunch already occurs at GLHS with over 900 students (previously 1,050 students 10 years ago).
• Two-minute transition time remains.
• Any Advisory day would be “Schedule A” with the seven core classes approximately 48 minutes each.
• Any delayed opening or early dismissal schedule would be “Schedule A” with the seven core classes approximately 38 minutes each.

Overall, this schedule reduces Enrichment Period (“study hall”) time and increases teacher contact time. Admittedly, there is a reduction in band/chorus/orchestra minutes from the current schedule. There can be slight adjustments made to the current proposals and this is why there are added ‘Schedule B’ days the two weeks leading up to each concert.

Last, no matter the minutes in each period, this schedule permits for daily, repeated practice of a subject, such as math, without missing one school day of instruction for the completion ‘drop’ of a class.

NJ21st allows for confidential articles from non-administrators of local public entities whose careers would be affected because of their efforts in informing the public. NJ21st also allows contributions from members of non-profits whose positions as volunteers would be in jeopardy as a result of sharing their positions. In the case of the latter, the non-profit the writer is associated with will be identified. We have confirmed the source of this article, know their location and full name and have had face to face contact with the individual.

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