3 Tips to Create More Strategic Middle and High School Schedules
Scheduling season for middle and high schools is just starting—follow these tips to create more strategic schedules that are better for students and staff
Scheduling season for middle and high schools is just gearing up. If you’re looking to design a schedule that is better for students and for staff this cycle, check out these three tips. Schools that adopt these approaches have been successful in creating budget-friendly, more strategic schedules that better serve both staff and students.
Tip 1: Avoid “Garbage In, Garbage Out”
Good school schedules are built on good data. If data inputs like student course requests, staffing figures, or course assignments are incorrect, the best you can expect is a frustrating, time consuming scheduling process that results in sub-par schedules for students and teachers. It is far better to spend more time before you begin building any schedule making sure you are clear both on what you need to schedule and that the data required to build the schedule is accurate. A good rule of thumb is to expect to spend about 2x the amount of time collecting scheduling data and confirming schedule requirements as you do actually building the schedule.
Here are a few suggestions to make sure your “schedule inputs” are both accurate and give you flexibility when scheduling:
Collect student course requests in the same software platform schedules are created to reduce the likelihood of errors.
Allow students to designate course alternates/backups to allow for a higher degree of flexibility when scheduling.
Document a clear set of class size targets and scheduling rules prior to building schedules to help navigate inevitable tradeoffs associated with creating the schedule.
Vary how often select courses run (e.g. every other semester, every other year) so not every course is offered every term. Doing so can limit the number of single-section classes that often “clog up” schedules and help increase class sizes for courses that otherwise would be low enrollment.
Tip 2: Building a Schedule Early Does Not Make It a Better Schedule
In my work with schools and districts across the country, I regularly see school teams work hard to complete school schedules as early as possible. Many set a target of distributing next year’s school schedule prior to the end of the current school year. While there is certainly a degree of comfort that comes with this, the kicker is that many of these schools ultimately need to change their schedule over the summer as enrollment or staffing changes.
A schedule built more quickly does not result in a better schedule; a schedule with the absolute most up-to-date student, teacher, and course data results in a better schedule. It is best to over-invest in ensuring all of your “schedule inputs” (e.g. student requests, teacher assignments, etc.) are accurate before any schedule build, and it is best to wait to share any schedules with students and teachers before you are very confident in the data that makes up the schedule. A good practice is to share a preliminary school schedule with staff at the end of the school year that lists courses and sections teachers will teach, but not period assignments.
That said, students and teachers are typically not well served when the school schedule is built in a rush the week before school starts–so don’t wait too long!
Tip 3: Scheduling Software Requires Expertise—and Will Only Get You So Far
The world of school scheduling has come a long way in the past 30 years. Nearly all schools and districts now have access to incredibly powerful scheduling software, usually built into their district’s student information system (SIS), such as PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Aspen, and many others. Other tools such as Timely also exist. But while all of these softwares are impressively capable, designing and creating a world-class schedule using them requires 1) a high degree of expertise, and 2) thoughtful decisions regarding the tradeoffs that inevitably occur during any schedule build. These tools can tell you what is possible to schedule–just not what should be scheduled.
Best practice calls for having 1-2 staff members (usually a counselor or assistant principal) who are very proficient with the scheduling software to partner with a team of other school leaders (usually the principal, 1-2 department heads, and a few teachers) to create the schedule. The staff responsible for actually building the schedule should establish regular check points during the schedule build to check in with the larger scheduling team to troubleshoot challenges, barriers, or questions.
As you set off on your own scheduling journey this year, remember that you can schedule anything, just not everything. Schools that build schedules by using a strategic scheduling process really can build budget-friendly, strategic schedules that serve both students and staff well.
David James is a former teacher and middle school administrator who serves as an advisor to more than 40 school districts across 15 states. He is co-author of the It's Time for Strategic Scheduling: How to Design Smarter K-12 Schedules That Are Great for Students, Staff, and the Budget, now available on Amazon.
He also leads the Secondary Scheduling Academy, an accelerated hands-on training program for school and district leadership teams to enhance capacity for strategic scheduling, build buy-in for changes, and design effective, best practice-aligned schedules that are better for students, teachers, and the budget.