Pea Ridge High School enjoying new schedule

An unusual schedule implemented this fall at the high school seems to have the support of most students and teachers, according to surveys the school conducted recently.

"It has gone exceptionally well," said Jon Laffoon, principal.

The school dropped its traditional structure of eight 45-minute periods each day in favor of a flexible-modular schedule, more commonly referred to as "flex-mod."

Under the new schedule, the school day is broken down into 15 modules of 25 minutes each. Classes meet three or four times per week with each class meeting covering one, two or three of those modules, depending on what best suits the subject matter.

Pea Ridge High School, which enrolls about 590 students, became the first school in Arkansas to adopt flex-mod after officials spent much of last spring researching it and determining whether it would be a good fit. The School Board approved the recommendation to switch to flex-mod in April.

A key feature of flex-mod is the "individual learning time" built into each student's day. Students may use that time as they see fit. They may choose to do homework or seek extra help; at least one teacher from every subject area is free throughout the school day to meet and work with students.

That individual learning time, however, also may be spent in an extracurricular activity, working on a community service project or simply spending time with friends. Raising expectations by allowing students more independence is one of the philosophies behind the schedule, Laffoon said.

Hannah Howell, 15, is a sophomore at the school. She's gone from earning mostly Cs and Fs her freshman year to As and Bs this year. The schedule change enhanced her sense of responsibility by putting her more in control of her time, she said.

"I realized I needed to grow up and do what I need to do," Hannah said.

The school lends each student a Chromebook laptop computer, which students use to access their grades, communicate with their teachers and work on projects.

"It's made it where our kids can learn and access learning at any time," Laffoon said.

When teachers have to miss a class, they post their assignments for that class online. As a result, the school district expects to save $30,000 per year on substitute teachers, Laffoon said.

The high school circulated surveys related to the schedule and other changes in early December. About 90 percent of the 236 students who responded either agreed or strongly agreed flex-mod is preparing them for the "real world" because they are learning time management and personal responsibility.

Only 6.4 percent of students said they didn't enjoy being at school more this year than in previous years, according to survey results.

The students' satisfaction may be translating to better grades, too. Whereas last year about 8 percent of the school's students had at least one D or F during fall semester, that figure was down to 3.5 percent for this fall semester, Laffoon said.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said.

In a survey of teachers, 17 out of 25 respondents, or 68 percent, said they were either "moderately" or "extremely" satisfied with flex-mod. Three teachers said they were "extremely dissatisfied."

The dissatisfaction comes mainly from veteran teachers who aren't comfortable with some aspects of the change, Laffoon said.

When asked to what extent they thought students enjoy flex-mod, 24 of 25 teachers checked either "somewhat," "quite a bit" or "a tremendous amount."

Trenton Carrington, 15, is new to the district this year, having moved from Marionville, Mo. He's in his freshman year at the high school.

"At my old school, we had the same classes every day. And it was just kind of boring," Trenton said.

He found flex-mod complicated at first, but he keeps his schedule on his cellphone for easy reference. He said he sees no drawbacks to it, even calling it "fun." He wouldn't choose to go back to a more traditional class schedule, he said.

Hannah said she recently used some of her individual learning time to organize a school-wide benefit for Safyre Terry, an 8-year-old girl from New York who was severely scarred and lost her father and three siblings in a fire in 2013. She wouldn't have had time to do something like that last year, she said.

"We have time in our schedule to collaborate and pull this kind of stuff together," said Crystal Marquez, a master teacher and one of the staff members most involved in the school's schedule conversion. "Kids are coming in with all kinds of great ideas."

Nationally, about two dozen other schools employ some version of the flex-mod schedule. Pea Ridge officials traveled last spring to see the schedule at work at River Bluff High School in Lexington, S.C.

Now, Pea Ridge High School is an attraction for other educators curious about flex-mod. During the fall semester, representatives of 25 school districts paid visits to the school; most were primarily interested in seeing the new schedule at work. Another five visits have been arranged for after Christmas, Laffoon said.

The focus on one-to-one technology and the Pea Ridge Manufacturing and Business Academy -- a charter school that emphasizes career and technology education -- are other things drawing outsiders to Pea Ridge.

"We're innovating on three levels," Laffoon said.

Dave Perozek can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWADaveP.