Why did Sun Prairie move to Block Scheduling in the 2018-19 School Year?
Starting in 2014 our Superintendent, Tim Culver and Board President, Tom Weber held Strategic Planning sessions with approximately 60 community residents, parents, students, teachers, administrators, district staff, business leaders, and volunteers. The Strategic Planning Team met for three full Saturdays and a Wednesday evening. The process was facilitated by Brian Kammers and Joanne Sternke. Following these full deliberations and many rich conversations, the Strategic Planning Team proposed a new district Vision, Mission, Values and Beliefs Statements. The proposed Strategic Plan was adopted August 11, 2014.
We then began the Curriculum Renewal and Design process in the fall of 2015 in the area of math, it became apparent that we were in need of additional minutes of instruction in order for us to achieve our goal. It was evident that there were other curricular areas where innovative scheduling or a shift in how our schedule is structured would afford additional opportunities for all students. These additional opportunities would allow students not only to access more rigorous coursework, but would provide more course options for students. Building leaders and a committee investigated and prepared a block scheduling model at each school site for implementation in the 2018-19 school year.
Some benefits of Block Scheduling
- More choices for students - students can find more areas of interests
- Increase engagement opportunities - allows teachers to engage with kids when in a class for a longer period of time
- Acceleration for students - allows students to get to higher level courses if they want to
- Interventions and enrichment opportunities - students have built in time to get assistance
- Fewer classes per day to focus on
Schedules will look differently at each school site. View the information below for more information by grade.
