Title: Scheduling Help for Career Academies and SLCs
1Scheduling Help for Career Academies and SLCs
2Welcome!
- Who are we?
- Charlie Dayton
- Tracy Hanna
- CASN
- Who are you?
- Title?
- Geography?
- Experience?
- Or
- Torn out hair?
- High blood pressure?
- Drinking problems?
3What do we have to offer?
- Magical Solutions? Perfect Remedies?
- No
- Well?
- A new guide, an online tutorial
- Information from experts around the country
- Best practices that have worked elsewhere
- An annual schedule of who needs to do what, when
4The Agenda
- We explain the five stages
- You ask related questions
- We share our collective wisdom
- You put a few ideas into practice
- We explain how to obtain The Guide
- You stumble out of the room in a haze of
confusion
5Session Objectives
- Increase your knowledge and understanding of the
critical importance of the master schedule in
implementing SLCs/ Academies. - Learn more about the Stages and Steps of the
Master Scheduling Process, related best
practices, and how to get more information. - Critique your own schools processes, looking at
challenges as well as best practices.
6Why is scheduling so important?
- Lack of connections
- Among subjects
- Among students
- Among teachers
- The silo approach
- English
- Math
- Social Studies
- Science
- SLCs provide
- Subject connections
- Student connections
- Teacher connections
- Plus (in Academies)
- Links outside school
- Links to the future
7Why is scheduling so difficult?
- It is an inherently complex process
- Many factors to incorporate (see the Dirty Dozen)
- As you probably know all too well, if youve
tried to do this - SLCs/Academies add new complexities
- Student cohort scheduling
- Teacher common planning time
- Shared leadership and involvement
8Constraints and Conflicts
- Outside requirements
- Staffing allocations
- Collective bargaining agreements
- Credit requirements
- Space constraints
- Time constraints
- Singletons/doubletons
- Special populations/programs
- Teacher preferences/needs
- Software capabilities
- Making deadlines
- SLC Academy Needs!
9SLC Academy Needs
- Shared Leadership
- Linked Classes
- Common Teacher Prep Time
- Balancing Across SLCs
- Looping
- Advisories
10Who Should Be Involved
- Traditional Method
- A single administrator or counselor, often
working behind a closed (and occasionally locked)
door - Students and teachers receive their schedule
during the summer or right before school starts - Recommended Method
- Master Schedule Team
- Multiple stakeholders are involved in all aspects
of creating the master schedule
11Master Schedule Team
- Open system with a team environment to build
capacity and collaboration - Counselors, teachers, administrators, classified
staff, even students involved - At least two people with computer/database
expertise, or ability to learn how to manipulate
programs
12District Role
- Districts should provide staffing information/
teacher allotments earlier in the year (by the
spring, not the summer) - Attempts to economize by cutting such allotments
based on false projections almost always
backfire, causing everyone grief and hurting the
quality of teaching staffs
13Put This to Use!
- With two to three people not from your school,
- discuss the following
- Constraints Best Practices
- What are your top 3 constraints in scheduling?
- What are best practices at your school that
address these constraints? - The Who
- Who currently designs the master schedule at your
school? - What other key stakeholders should be involved?
14The 5 Stages in Master Scheduling
- Planning
- Student course selection
- Master schedule construction
- Analysis, adjustment, and distribution of
schedules - Fine tuning and re-adjustment
15Stage 1 (August - December)
- Planning Preliminary/Initial Tasks
- (months 1-5)
- Assemble and develop scheduling team
- Team involves stakeholders
- Team develops materials and calendar for creating
the master schedule
16Stage 2(January - March)
- Student Course Selection/Course Tallies (months
6-8) - Students and families informed of course
selection - Students register for next years courses
- Team evaluates course tallies, negotiates with
administration and the district
17Stage 3(March - May)
- Master Schedule Construction
- (months 8-10)
- Team establishes rules for course scheduling and
analyzes constraints and SLC/Academy needs - Computer runs begin, with final adjustments made
by hand - Team invites stakeholders to view master schedule
18Sample Bell Schedule
Period 1 Period 2 Period 3 Period 4 Period 5 Period 6
English Prep Cohort 1 Cohort 2 Cohort 3 Cohort 4 Cohort 5
Social St. Prep Cohort 2 Cohort 3 Cohort 4 Cohort 5 Cohort 1
Math Prep Cohort 3 Cohort 4 Cohort 5 Cohort 1 Cohort 2
Science Prep Cohort 4 Cohort 5 Cohort 1 Cohort 2 Cohort 3
19Stage 4 (May - July)
- Analysis, Adjustment Distribution of Schedules
(months 10-12) - Master schedule is analyzed by team and
stakeholders - SLC/Academy teachers analyze individual student
schedules - Class schedules passed out and adjustments made
by hand as needed
20Put This to Use!
- With those from your school, discuss the
- following questions and make a plan
- Scheduling Process
- Which steps does your scheduling process already
use? - Which steps would you need to add?
- Lessons Learned
- What are the 3 most important things you learned?
- How will you share/implement these upon your
return home? - If there is no one from your school, jump into
another group.
21Stage 5 (August - September)
- Fine Tuning Readjustment (months 13-14)
- Team and stakeholders analyze process
- Team reformed and process begins again
- Do you remember your 1st year of teaching?
- Thats what youre going through now
- Do you remember your 5th or 10th year?
- Thats where you can get to
22Internal Assessment
- Learning from those involved in the process
- Administrators
- Counselors
- SLC Leads
- The scheduling team
- Plus looking at the results
23External Assessment
- Learning from those affected by the process
- Students
- Parents
- The rest of the teachers
- Through
- Focus groups
- Surveys
- Data
24A cycle of improvement
- He who fails to study history is condemned to
repeat it - What principles and priorities were met?
- What ones werent?
- How can you improve the process?
- Keep your eye on the goal, and celebrate the
improvements
25Additional Information Available in the Guide
- Software Matrix
- Alternative Bell Schedules
- Glossary of Terms
26How to Get the Guide
- Written Guide
- http//casn.berkeley.edu (Resources Tab)
- www.naf.org (Members only)
- PowerPoint and Handouts
- http//casn.berkeley.edu
- Tutorials
- http//www.nwrel.org/scpd/sslc/tutorials/
- ITS (almost) ALL FREE!
27Staying in Touch
- Charlie Dayton
- charlesdayton_at_earthlink.net
- Tracy Hanna
- thanna_at_berkeley.edu
- CASN_News-subscribe_at_yahoogroups.com