In the 20th century, the prime concern in scheduling was to fit everything in that adults thought was important, i.e., the classes and lunch. School was, indeed, a place where students and teachers rarely ran from one place to the other and the schedule was just another organizational tool that helped keep everything in order. As the 20th century drew to its close and the 21st century dawned, the pace and activity of school dramatically increased. Expectations, mandates, requirements, parent demands, college competitiveness, and entrance, even economics, made traditional scheduling obsolete. The old concept of scheduling was no longer adequate to the task.
That new task moved the realm of scheduling from the tactical to the strategic. As schools watch their students run increasingly frenetic lives, both in school and out of it, and sleep experts comment on the way in which young people go through their days in a sleep-deprived fog, administrators do well to reconsider scheduling as a low-value task. Typically done as a part-time occupation on top of full-time responsibilities and compensated with tiny stipends, the position of scheduler has rarely attained any stature, even as its impact is readily acknowledged by faculty.
Scheduling in the 21st century exists within a radically different context, as exemplified in the following table.
As you think about your schedule, see it through a student’s eye. Diagram a day that identifies the experience of a student from the beginning of the transportation cycle (determining the moment of waking up) through all the expectations of the school, into the evening (determining the moment of going to bed). Require all faculty, once a year, to live that experience. Use this exercise to find out whether you are asking our children to meet the school’s expectations in a reasonable way.
Being student-centered in the 21st century is the only way we are going to ensure that our schedules fulfill their new purpose.
More resources of interest
Linking Learning to the 21st Century: Preparing All Students for College, Career, and Civic Participation, NEPC study
ISM Monthly Update for Division Heads, Vol. 7 No. 4 21st Century Teaching: Lessons That Are Challenging, Relevant, and Reflective
More resources for ISM Consortium Gold Members
Ideas & Perspectives Vol. 34. No. 13 The 21st Century School: Teaching Time
Ideas & Perspectives, Vol. 35. No. 15 The 21st Century School: Strategic Schedule Review
