BEDFORD - NOVEMBER 2, 2023 - North Lawrence Community school board released the following press release on tonight's vote on tri-semesters.
North Lawrence Community School Board
From: Dr. Wendy Miller, on behalf of the NLCS School Board of Directors
Discussion of Trimesters vs. Semesters for BNLHS
Background
The NLCS Board of Directors established several Performance Expectations for the Superintendent, Mr. Kevin Yancey, upon his taking the position in July 2023. Among these, was an expectation that reads:
“Review the trimester system at BNL High School for effectiveness and efficiency. This coming 2023-2024 school year will represent the fourth year of trimesters (vs. semesters) at BNLHS. If found ineffective or inefficient compared to semesters, prepare courses of actions and recommendations to improve the trimester system or to transition back to a semester-based curriculum.”
This expectation was established for the current performance period of July 1 2023 to June 30 2024. This performance expectation was established, at least in part, due to feedback to Board Members on various drawbacks of the trimester system.
The Board, in effect, requested a review of the status quo and asked for a
recommendation on a path forward.
Discussion
On Thursday, October 19th, the NLCS Board of Directors held a Working Meeting that was open to the public (public work session) focused on the topic of Trimesters/Semesters. In that meeting, Mr. Matt Canada, Principal of BNLHS, presented, along with a team of BNLHS teachers, on their review and recommendations.
Presenters in that meeting to the Board of Directors were as follows:
1. Mr. Matt Canada, Principal BNLHS
2. Dr. Erin Miller, Secondary Curriculum Director, BNLHS
3. Lacy Hawkins, World / US History Teacher BNLHS, & President, NLEA
4. Bryan Vance, Math & Science Teacher, BNLHS (AP Physics)
5. Melissa Anderson, ELA Teacher BNLHS
6. Lynn Titche, Biology Teacher BNLHS
7. Brenda Montgomery, Foreign Language (Spanish) Teacher BNLHS
No representation from the North Lawrence Career Center was present in the discussion on October 19th.
Documents for Review
Several documents were presented to the Board of Directors, including:
1. BNL Trimester Evaluation & Review, Sept 2023, a summary of survey information from a Google Formsurvey. Also in this document was information on the various College courses and some statistics on AP/College Credit involvement.
2. A document on the effects of Trimester implementation on the BNL Band & Orchestra. An excerpt – “Band has experienced a 51% drop in enrollment. Also changed from an all year class to a one trimester class.
Orchestra has experienced a 45% drop in enrollment. Choir has experienced an 82% drop in enrollment.”
Another excerpt – “Music department scholarships: College scholarships earned in 2020: $20,000 to ~18 kids (only one music major). College scholarships in 2022: $1,250 to one student.”
3. A sample schedule of a trimester vs. semester for a junior taking VU139, H106, Calc 1, Spanish 3, AP Physics, Eng 101, & Speech.
4. VU235 Ancient World History – Course Schedule. An example of the curriculum mapping under the current trimester system.
5. Geometry course schedule. An example of the curriculum mapping under the current trimester system.
6. October 19, 2023: Board Meeting: Trimesters, Dr. Erin Miller, Secondary Curriculum Director. This document contained several summaries of general Trimester vs. Semester discussion points. Sections in this document included Curriculum Mapping Perspective, Challenges, Common Curriculum Mapping Themes, What Does Research Say?, EES Recommendations in 2019/2020, and Resources.
It should be noted that under the What Does Research Say? Section, multiple studies were cited, some of the most significant points cited as follows:
· Bair and Bair (2010) found that the trimester schedule resulted in an overall loss of instructional time and that trimesters hurt students who were already at risk of academic failure. Their research suggests that struggling students benefit from more time to learn, practice, and absorb content in meaningful ways.
· Showell and Brown (2019) reported that contend demands increased while time for instruction decreased.
Bair and Bair (2010) reported similar findings. In the same study, teachers reported cutting inquiry-based activities such as labs, experiments, and projects due to the stress of covering essential content in a 12-week period.
The same study acknowledged that a trimester is really only 10 weeks to teach content and 2 weeks for transitions between trimesters and unexpected interruptions.
· Showell and Brown (2019) reported that the quick pace of trimesters and shorter time with students hindered teachers’ ability to create positive relationships with students.
· Final conclusions in the Bair and Bair (2010) study were that students experienced greater benefits from meeting regularly over the course of the entire school year because learning and practice opportunities were spread out over time. This is especially true for struggling and at-risk learners.
Under a trimester schedule, failure rates for these students increased. This resulted in a loss of electives for these students and overall
poorer achievement.”
· Gruber and Onuegbizie (2001) found that students who received instruction on a traditional semester schedule scored higher than their peers on a block schedule in ELA, mathematics, social studies, social studies, and science. No significant difference in achievement was found in writing.
It should be noted under the EES Recommendations in 2019/2020 section that a significant bullet point presented was as follows:
· Based on their experiences in working with schools around the state of Indiana and their research on trimester schedules, Equitable Education Solutions recommended staying on a semester schedule instead of switching to trimesters.”
Copies of these documents will be made available to the public, as they were presented in a public venue, namely the October 19 Work Session.
Recommendations
The opinion of the BNLHS staff and teachers who presented to the Board on October 19th was that Semesters allowed a better quality of education for our High School students and more time of instruction (cited in the meeting was a reference to current trimesters offering 60 days X 60 minute classes = 3,600 minutes of
instruction.
Semesters offer 90 days X 45 minute classes = 4,050 minutes of instruction).
In a follow up communication, Mr. Canada made his recommendation via the following text:
“RECOMMENDATION: Bedford North Lawrence High School formally recommends implementing a Semester Schedule. The recommendation includes operating on two Semester, four Quarter Schedule, transitioning from a Trimester Schedule.
Why Semesters? The recommendation to transition to a Semester schedule is rooted in the academic benefit for all students. Instructional evidence supports that increasing instructional time/days benefits our at risk students. The research supports that struggling students benefit from more time to learn, time for practice, time for re-teaching to gain mastery and allows opportunities to absorb content in meaningful ways. Dual Credit
teachers suggested that increased instructional days will lessen the rapid pass and demanding rigor outside of class for our high achieving students. Academic course continuity only supports student learning, diminishing gaps in curriculum. Increased instructional days will increase the possibility of experiencing a meaningful
curriculum for students, which drives student engagement and interest.”
Current Status
The Board established Thursday November 2nd as a follow-up Public Work Session to continue the discussion on Trimesters vs. Semesters, and further hear from BNLHS/NLCC staff. The Board requested a formal recommendation from Mr. Yancey/Mr. Canada and a recommendation on an implementation timeline. It was noted in conversations that time is of the essence, especially if next school year (2024-2025) is targeted for implementation.
Therefore, the Board of Directors intends to vote on the future state of Trimesters vs. Semesters at BNLHS at the general session of the Thursday, Nov 2nd meeting, after hearing further recommendations and relevant facts from NLCS stakeholders.
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