Written by Alexandra Steyn

The Upper School schedule needs a major overhaul.

The schedule changed slightly this year: House is only five minutes and there is five minutes’ passing time between blocks, shortening each period to an hour.

I recognize the difficulty of building a schedule that satisfies everyone. I know how hard the Upper School administration works to create the schedule, and I do not claim to know everything (or much) about schedule-making. That being said, the newspaper is a platform for student voices. This editorial is meant to demonstrate my opinion of the schedule.

I will start with the positive aspects. I agree that the start (8:30) and end times (3:15) are appropriate and work well with balancing students’ sleep schedules. Office Hours is a great addition, since finding other times to meet with teachers is tricky in a busy schedule. The thirty minute block dedicated to Community Time is welcome, providing both a break from class and an opportunity to connect with the broader community. Passing time, though not entirely needed, helps when one is passing from the Cohen Center to the Pinkham or vice versa.

Next, I will move into the core problem in the RCDS schedule. The schedule is composed of eight blocks. Each block meets every other day for an hour, meaning that a class meets for two or three hours a week, which is insufficient time for core subjects. I will measure insufficient time through comparison of our schedule to that of four surrounding independent schools: Horace Mann, Greenwich Country Day School, Greenwich Academy, and Brunswick.

Horace Mann’s schedule runs on a five-day rotation and has eight blocks. The day begins at 8:25 and ends at 3:15. Core subjects meet for 45 minutes four out of the five days, and more advanced classes meet all five days for 45 minutes. Adding the time up, each core subject meets either 3 hours or 3 hours and 45 minutes each week. Compare this to RCDS, where a core subject meets 3 hours every other week, and otherwise meets for 2 hours. I find it hard to believe that classes at RCDS can dive as deep into the content as Horace Mann when class times differ so extensively.

Out of the three schedules I examined, Horace Mann differed the most from ours. They do not begin each day with House, and they do not end with Office Hours; they have clubs twice a week after the school day ends for 30 minutes; lunch is only 45 minutes; and they have only a fifteen-minute break each morning.

The schedule of the GCDS Upper School runs on an eight-day rotation and includes eight blocks. Five classes meet every day; four meet for 55 minutes, and one meets for an hour and fifteen minutes. Each week, a class will meet for at least 3 hours and 5 minutes each week. At RCDS, a class meets for the same amount of time only every other week.

GCDS offers more class time without differing much from our schedule. Advisory starts each day for ten minutes, though it starts at 8:20. They have their equivalent of Community Time, which runs for 30 minutes as well. Their lunch is only 5 minutes shorter than ours. Classes at GCDS end at 3, merely 15 minutes after ours. The main difference is the lack of Office Hours.

The Upper Schools of Greenwich Academy and Brunswick share the same schedule. Their schedule runs on a five-day rotation and is composed of seven blocks. On days 1, 2, 4, and 5, the day starts at 7:45 for advisory. The first class starts at 8:10, and the last class ends at 2:40. Five classes meet on those days, four for an hour and one for 50 minutes. On day 3, the day starts an hour later at 8:45 and ends 20 minutes earlier at 2:20. Five classes meet on day 3, each meeting for 50 minutes. Classes meet four days out of five a week.

For the five blocks which meet on day 3, the classes meet for 3 hours and 50 minutes or 3 hours and 40 minutes each week, depending on whether they meet during the 50-minute block. For the two blocks which do not, the classes either meet for 4 hours or 3 hours and 50 minutes each week. This means that, at best, RCDS classes meet for 40 minutes less than at Greenwich Academy and Brunswick. At worst, they meet for two hours less. Imagine how much more content classes could cover if classes met for an additional hour a week.

A direct correlation between increased instructional time and retention of material has been proven. Key findings from a report by Yael Kidron and Jim Lindsay titled, The effects of increased learning time on student academic and nonacademic outcomes: Findings from a meta‑analytic review, prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences of the United States Department of Education, showed that “increased learning time programs improved literacy and math achievement.”

Horace Mann, Greenwich Country Day School, Greenwich Academy, and Brunswick all have schedules that allocate more time to classes. These are the schools RCDS is compared against. These are the schools that attract the same motivated students as RCDS. The administration should follow their example and develop a schedule that provides more class time. Not only will it ensure students fully understand crucial material, but it will push students to explore the content of classes at a deeper level. This will only happen when more class time is given.