Who likes puzzles? Sudoku? Logic Puzzles? Master Schedules? This high school administrator for eleven years has had charge over the development of the master schedule for the campus where I worked for the last eight years. I have had the pleasure to put this puzzle together for a campus of 2,400 students, 750 students, and 650 students.
Yes, some out there have created master schedules for more students, but some of the precepts for this scheduling do not change from campus to campus.
What Is the Overall Goal?
Before you place anything on the large dry-erase board in front of you or place that first magnet on the board you need to ask yourself, what is the overall goal of the schedule you are about to build?
- Perhaps you want your core departments to have shared conference periods.
- Perhaps you have a district who has given you PLC time as one the slots on a teacher’s schedule.
- Perhaps you need to build in time for your academic competitions and your organizations.
- Perhaps you need to make time for more writing, reading, or math based on your data.
- Perhaps you need to match conference time for certain teachers to mentor your younger teachers.
No matter what your overall goal is, this is one of the first questions you should ask yourself and this drives many of the things you will do next.
What Are Your Givens?
Much like in a Sudoku puzzle or a geometry proof, you start with your givens. When are your athletic periods? When are your PLC times during the day? When are your large singletons like your band classes, dance classes, etc.? These go on the board first. It is a class like this that anywhere from 50 to 100 or more students will be in that dictates where some of your teachers need to be. For example, at the school where we had 2,400 students the boys’ athletic class, girls’ athletics class, and our dance/drill team class had to be placed first because of the number of teachers and students involved.
Second, what are the core and career/elective singletons? At the school with 2,400 students and, most importantly, with the school of 750 students and 650 students, our singletons dictate our schedule.
This is perhaps the most essential part of our scheduling. For example, five students in a band class could sign up for that AP Biology class, and you certainly can’t offer that second period. But if you offer it the fourth period, that AP Calculus class may not have as many students as it could. Then you also have to place your career (Career/Technology) elective classes in such a way that students who need certifications are also not in another singleton that they need.
Yes, this is easier when you have sixteen English teachers versus six English teachers. One year at the school with 750 students, we had one student who had band and four AP classes they requested.
In the end, we had to call the students to find out which AP class he wanted the least. Once we were able to place the singletons on the schedule in such a way that he could make three of the four AP classes, it worked from there.
Once you have the singletons where you think they work the best, start placing your doubletons, etc.
The singleton and doubleton placement will primarily impact your high school seniors and some juniors as they reach the pinnacle of the tracks they have been on since their freshman years. Think about how specialized math and science become at the higher levels and these are more difficult classes to place on the schedule, thus why they go on first.
Setting the Lineup
Once the givens, singletons, and doubletons are in place, the rest of the schedule really starts to fall into place. Then you get into one the best parts of this whole process, completing the lineup as this former baseball coach likes to call it.
You already know some of your key players, for example, who will be teaching your singletons and doubletons, which usually are your advanced placement, dual credit, or remediation classes.
- Now, who do you want to teach the primary load of freshman English or Algebra I?
- Who has the best personality for this?
- Who can grow these students the most?
- Who can have the firmness and nurturing nature for that squirrel-y grade level?
- Which teacher can prepare the Algebra II students the most for the next year of Calculus and Pre-Calculus?
- Who handles the seniors the best who are just there to get credit but will have to be pulled across the graduation finish line?
- Which teacher just cannot work with another teacher and needs to be with a different grade level?
- Who needs an extra “easy” class because they have a heavier morning or afternoon load?
- Which teacher is ready for those EOC classes or does one need to have another year of World Geography?
- Finally, who needs to be pushed this year to show they can really teach?
These are just some of the questions that help to decide who teaches what for the upcoming year. In the end, the master schedule can be used to reward and punish based on the work level, loyalty, needs, and personality of the staff. But more than that, it should support your overall goal of what your campus is trying to accomplish. The master schedule is one of the greatest tools you have to move your campus forward.
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