Program

Below, please find the items the SAG extracted from the Task Force Recommendations that pertain to scheduling. They are in blue. Please add any other scheduling considerations you have below them in black.


 * Implement time slots for a cross-divisional advisory that would possibly allow faculty to stay with a certain group of boys throughout their time at A-S.
 * Find a way to incorporate service learning into the schedule.
 * Should advisory be used for curricular support (in addition to/instead of study hall)?
 * Eliminate separate classes where advisory-type activities occur -e.g. Project Charlie
 * Variety is important and should be incorporated into the structure of the program. For example, continue to schedule classes at different times of each day.
 * The school should continue to offer boys mid-morning snack and explore the food options most conducive to learning. (This might be combined with break/recess).
 * Since exercise has a positive effect on classroom learning: get them moving. Give them time to release energy, time to socialize and connect, for example, by lengthening lunch (combined w/recess).
 * Lunch by division? Mixed division lunch?
 * Where more individualized instruction is necessary, we should put boys into groups small enough to deliver it.
 * Length of classes - teachers asked for more flexibility in class length, to allow for more in-depth learning when necessary, interdisciplinary units, and cooperative learning.
 * Task force finding suggest we explore and possibly adopt new ideas about the curriculum (“seeking a change in structure and pedagogic philosophy that shoots for real understanding” )and then work our schedule around those ideas


 * We anticipate needing time in the schedule for: Advisory (Upper/Middle School) and Homeroom (all 3 divisions/but a longer block in the Lower School)
 * Middle and Upper School Orchestras in the early morning: Middle (ASO) on Mondays and Wednesdays Upper School (ASP) on Tuesdays and Fridays (could shift to Tuesdays and Thursdays, if agreed, avoiding the larger strikes on Fridays before assemblies..cf Steve Warner) Building in more time for Upper School has been an ongoing request (50 boys) with rehearsals ending at 8:45.
 * Rethink our grading policies -- grade all, or grade none. Use portfolios more fully throughout school.
 * Establish blocks of learning (in place of 45min "classes") that could change times in the day as we rotate through the week (i.e. science/ math/ tech block in the am some days and pm others. Same for a reading/ English/ history/ geography/ writing block.
 * These blocks should be able to "breathe." When there are large projects going on for a particular grade, the history portion of that block for example could inflate to take more time, then deflate to allow more straight reading time when the project is completed. And so on.
 * I think that it is really important that we continue to have small groups for Lower School Reading. In order to do this we would probably have to continue splitting the grade in half and sending half to a special (P.E., Music, Science) while we split the rest among the 5 reading teachers.
 * PLEASE do not eliminate Project Charlie.
 * Consider changing Lunch schedule to have US have lunch earlier. They are coming in eating @ 5-7am active and then they have lower energy an hour before lunch.
 * Would it be possible to re-name Project Charlie in Lower School
 * Create an early morning drop off for US
 * Re examine after school options - affordability and time (after school should end at 6pm)
 * Should US English, History and Science classes be smaller? Will we need to have Homerooms? Could grades be split into three sections instead of two so that our instruction would better address the needs of ALL of the boys and allow for more differentiated learning to occur?
 * Greater connection among subjects. For example, teaching fractions/decimals? Do it with historical readings on the subject, how they're used in banking, what meaning they have for music, art, and how scientists make sense of the world by using them.
 * It will be critical to take into account parents and drop off's in the morning. With large ensembles meeting every morning and parents and specialists often locked into a weekly mindset, a "rotation within a rotation may be the way to go...ie. rotate academics between 9-2:15 on a 6-10 day schedule, lock in arts, theater, music in a five day schedule (MS needs a regular drop off day...therefore, US needs it, given time, space personnel constraints. Perhaps the advisory will also be a lock-in time within the 5-day schedule so that interdisciplinary and service learning can happen on predictable days.
 * 5 day weekly schedule(the traditional ALLEN schedule) running concurrently with a 10-day new schedule(the enlightened ASTEVENSON) schedule) rotating academics. Such a combined approach benefits a school that is so committed to the arts.
 * For orchestras, a time slot for smaller sectional rehearsals. This work would really help the boys since they get to meet with a specialist from the instrumental faculty. 45 minutes during the day (between 9-2:15) Currently, over 100 boys would stand to benefit from a smaller, more individualized rehearsal.
 * Make Advisory real, useful, meaningful, thought-out ... or dump it.
 * · Spanish - for 3rd grade, or a grade in the middle school where half a group is taught, we can have a “game day”, with the entire class group, on Fridays, every week. This class could last for a bit longer time, and can also meet on or just before the last day of vacation.
 * 6th grade would have Spanish four times per week.