2025-26 High School Schedule Changes FAQ

The workgroup focused on several key priorities when designing the new schedule:

Increased student-teacher contact time

• Student contact time per course has increased resulting in 150 average instructional hours per course annually – a significant improvement over the 7-period schedule. 
• Most classes meet four times per week across four separate days. 
• 4th period is an exception, meeting four times per week but occurring twice on the same day due to other scheduling constraints/decisions. 

Balanced block structure to support learning

• To prevent overly long class sessions or back-to-back days of the same subject, blocks alternate across the week. 
• Wednesday could not be an "all-period" day due to concerns about short, unproductive class times and excessive transitions in a shorter day. Instead, it serves as a midweek block anchor. 
• Friday was chosen as the all-period day since it historically includes assemblies, special events. 
• Built-in academic support during the school day: 
  • Teachers will have additional time **within class times ** to provide intervention and academic support. 
  • This ensures every student has access to help without overloading specific periods or reducing overall instructional time

Meeting state instructional hour requirements

• The schedule is fully compliant with Washington State's instructional hour mandates. 
• While passing time can count toward instructional hours (up to 20% per day), our new schedule remains well within that limit and reduces transition times overall.  
• Homeroom does not count as instructional time, so the schedule needed to accommodate that within the required instructional hour totals. 

Longer passing periods to reduce stress and improve transitions 

• 10-minute passing periods on block days were introduced to ensure students have time to move through the building without feeling rushed. 
• In larger high schools, 5-minute passing periods were already insufficient, and many schools had already adopted 7-minute passing times. 
• The extended passing time allows students to use restrooms, ask teachers questions, or briefly connect with peers before their next class. 

Maintaining a weekly homeroom for personalization and flexibility

• Stakeholder input indicated that one homeroom/personalization time per week was sufficient for advisory needs and schoolwide activities. 
• Friday was selected to align with existing schoolwide practices for assemblies, guest speakers, and other programs. 
• Schools retain flexibility in how they use this time. 

Maximizing teacher planning and preparation time

• Unlike a traditional block schedule that results in days without any planning time, this schedule ensures teachers have regular prep periods while increasing student contact. 
• The combination of 80-minute and 45-minute periods allows for both extended learning time and more consistent check-ins throughout the week. 

Creating a common schedule across all comprehensive high schools

• All four high schools participated in designing the schedule, ensuring that input from multiple stakeholders was incorporated and ideas from each school are reflected. 
• A common schedule supports staffing efficiencies, program alignment and consistency in student opportunities. 

Ensuring access to external programs (WANIC, Running Start)

• Block scheduling can create challenges for students enrolled in off-campus programs.
• The schedule was designed to avoid additional barriers while maintaining key opportunities for participation in Running Start and WANIC. 
• Schools acknowledge need to problem solve for individual students, similar to current practice.  

• The shorter 45-minute periods were intentionally placed at the end of block days to minimize instructional disruptions caused by early dismissals and student absences. 
• Missing an 80-minute block class has a greater impact than missing a shorter session, so this arrangement ensures students are less likely to miss extended instructional time. 
• This structure does create some challenges for students with partial schedules (such as those in Running Start), but counselors are prepared to help navigate those situations. 

• Teacher and student feedback showed that six short periods on early release Wednesdays were less productive and desired. 
• Making Wednesday a block day allows for more meaningful instructional time while keeping class lengths consistent throughout the week. 
• This also defined the length of other block periods, 80 minutes, and ensured a steady midweek anchor day in the schedule. 

• Alternating block days prevents large gaps between class meetings. 
• Consecutive block days (e.g., Monday-Tuesday or Thursday-Friday) could result in a five-day gap between class sessions, which would negatively impact continuity and learning. 
• Both students and teachers preferred a more even distribution of learning time across the week. 

• One of the goals of shifting from a 7-period to a 6-period schedule was to improve student well-being. 
• Larger high schools already found that 5-minute passing times were insufficient, with many using 7-minute transitions. 
• 10-minute passing times provide:  
  • A break between long block periods. 
  • Time for students and teachers to reset, use restrooms or ask quick questions. 
  • A way to reduce the stress of rushing between classes.

There were mixed stakeholder preferences regarding whether Monday or Friday should be the all-period day. 

Friday was chosen for several reasons:  

• It provides an additional check-in with all teachers at the end of the week before students leave for the weekend. 
• Assemblies and special events already take place on Fridays, so making it an all-period day minimizes the impact of disruptions. 
• Friday has historically higher absentee rates – having all classes meet helps students stay connected without missing extended instructional time in a block period.