Block Schedule

All of Helix Charter High school operates on a block schedule where each day 4 periods of 1.5 hours each are held. Students enroll in 3 or 4 periods per semester and received a full year credit by passing a full semester of class. In this way, students may earn credit in as many as 8 classes in one year. Teachers are expected to teach 3 of the 4 periods daily. this means 6 courses during the year instead of the normal load of 5. Since teachers do an extra period, class size is reduced with an average of 30 students per class instead of 36. Students get more attention as there are fewer students per class and fewer classes per semester. Students can concentrate on subjects more intensely as their energies are not dissapated as much as a normal schedule. For SEPA intervention activities, this schedule works very well as the period is longer and thus more flexible for speakers, project development, lab experiences, and field trips. Since teachers have a one period prep daily, scheduling common prep time is easier thus allowing for coordination in team taught situations.

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