Comparisons of traditional and block schedules on the ACT Mathematics Test and Algebra I state examinations and on student perceptions

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were significant differences in mathematical academic achievement relative to scheduling practices of Tennessee public high schools located in the metropolitan cities of Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville. The public high schools identified would have consistently implemented a traditional schedule, an accelerated (4 x 4) block schedule, or an alternating (A/B) block schedule for the academic years 1998--1999, 1999--2000, and 2000--2001.;Furthermore, the study was designed to seek insights on college students' perceptions of their high school's schedule relative to instruction received in their high school Algebra I class. These perceptions were gained through questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered to college students enrolled in state operated institutions of higher education in the cities identified for this study in the Spring Semester of 2002. These perceptions were obtained to determine if the college students' perceptions would support the theoretical beliefs associated with block scheduling and traditional scheduling as stated by the current literature. Theoretically, the extended class time in a block schedule will offer a teacher the instructional advantages of more one-on-one teacher-student interaction, the flexibility to offer a variety of teaching methods, and time for more in-depth instruction. Also, the aforementioned advantages are achieved without losing student attention. It was stated in the current literature that the traditional schedule is not able to offer the aforementioned instructional advantages because of the lack of time.;For Part One of this study, statistically significant differences were found among the means of the school scores of the traditional schedule, the accelerated (4 x 4) block schedule, and the alternating (A/B) block schedule on the ACT Mathematics Test and on the High School Subject Matter Test in Algebra I, respectively. In each examination, the accelerated (4 x 4) block-scheduled schools attained the highest mean school score followed by the traditional-scheduled schools and the alternating (A/B) block-scheduled schools, respectively. The findings of Part Two of this study revealed no statistically significant differences in the mean measured perceptions of each theoretical belief among the traditional schedule, the accelerated (4 x 4) block schedule, and the alternating (A/B) block schedule.