Aragon teachers will vote on a proposal for a school-wide, mandatory study period on Wednesday April 22. This “flex time” pilot proposal would create a 35-minute period in each block day where students can study or do homework or meet with their teachers to get extra help or enrichment.
Under this system, students would be split into two tiers. Tier one students would have a maximum of one D or F. They would be able to go to see any teacher during the flex time period. Tier two students, who have two or more D’s or F’s, would be required to go to the SLR and complete work related to the classes they are not passing. Parent and student volunteers would be available to tutor tier two students.
Assistant Principal Jim Coe says, “Students have the ability to go and meet with a teacher and have help if they are struggling. Or for that matter, AP students and advanced standing students who want to do extra work and want to have somebody guide them in an independent study, they can do that. That’s why we called it flex time. It’s not tutorial. It’s not accelerated stuff. It’s a wide variety of things that can be done. Even the counselors can use part of that time to go in and take care of scheduling issues.”
English teacher Vince Bravo, who helped draft the proposal, emphasizes that tier two students are also given flexibility during the study time. He says, “We’ve just identified a very specific population that we say, ‘The best way for you to get support is to have this initial interaction with a flex time manager, whomever is in the tier two area.’ That doesn’t mean you are stuck there. That doesn’t mean you are staying there the whole flex time, because you very well could be going off to your class. But you need to have that interaction … and I can tell you right now, there are very few moments where our students who have two or more D’s or F’s have that happen to them on a weekly or twice-weekly basis.”
English teacher Genevieve Thurtle, who also helped draft the proposal, says, “To actually build [flex time] into the day guarantees that all students have access to their teachers because sometimes students can’t make before school or after school because of bus schedules or parents schedules. The proposal suggests that philosophically we believe students should have access during the day to teachers.”
While many teachers are in support of flex time, Thurtle says, “I do think we have some teachers that have concerns about losing instructional minutes because what’s going to happen on block days is that we’re going to have to shave off six minutes from the block period in order to bring in flex time. There are hesitations primarily for that reason. Those minutes add up over the course of the year, so that is a concern of the faculty.”
During the drafting process, Bravo got feedback from both the Leadership class and Leadership Advisor Melissa Perino’s Sheltered English Support class. Bravo says, “[The feedback from students was] over and over again ‘Yeah, this would be helpful.’ ‘Yeah, I could really use this assistance.’ ‘Yeah, this would be great.’ The feedback was positive, [almost] unanimously in favor of it from students.”
Students are required to be a classroom during the flex time period. Students will scan their ID cards as they walk into the classroom to create an attendance record. Coe says, “[It’s] pretty quick. Just walk through the door and scan, and that would indicate where you are. So in case of an emergency where we need to get to you, we know where you are. Plus, it is expected that you are someplace.”
Teachers can choose whether they want to open up their flex time to students they do not have in other classes. Coe says, “Preferably, [students] should probably be going to the teachers that they have. If a teacher outside their schedule wants to offer something for the entire student body, [they can]. So by the teachers’ own volition, they open themselves up to other students. But technically, it is really for the teachers to meet with their own students, who either want advancement and to do other things, enrichment activities, or they want some kind of specific help. We are not looking to augment a teacher’s teaching load or change it in any way.”
When the school switched to the block schedule, there were suggestions for a longer period of student access time, instead of the 15 minute office time currently in place. Coe says, “I was a big proponent of that myself. We had opened up the block schedule in order to gain collaboration time in the schedule for teachers to meet, but we really hadn’t addressed the issue of what about students. When do students get their share of the time where they can have free access? Rather than bite off both of those, we decided to compromise. So this is a culmination of a proposal that really goes back to two years ago.”
The teachers drafting the proposal visited various high schools, including San Mateo High School and Cupertino High School, that have already implemented a tutorial period. Bravo says, “We’ve seen over and over again in schools that have implemented tutorial or flex time or student access time within the school day that there has been a decline in D’s and F’s and an increase in higher grades as well. Not only are we looking at raising the students’ letter grades, but also [increasing their] contact with adults on campus.”
Cupertino High School junior class president Ishan Sharma says, “It’s totally a huge asset. With regular scheduling, there may be time for collaboration at brunch and lunch, but of course as you know, students’ schedules are so wayward. So [tutorial time] gives a perfect, allotted time for things like group projects or practicing for a presentation.”
If the proposal passes, there will be an evaluation in April of next year. The evaluation will include a student survey, a faculty survey, a look at the impact of tier one flex time on the school and an analysis of whether the tier two flex time raised students’ GPA.
Read our editorial on the proposed flex time.
