This book provides an accessible guide to creating schedules that amplify school and district priorities, support best practices in teaching and learning, heighten student engagement, and enhance equity. A school's schedule can be as important to education outcomes as its budget or strategic plan. The secret to making the schedule a tool for school improvement is to approach schedule design not as a technical task, centered on making everything fit like Tetris blocks, but as a strategic one. In this book, informed by research and their work with hundreds of schools, scheduling experts explore how strategic scheduling can turn a good enough
schedule into one that supercharges learning and engagement without additional costs or more FTEs. If you are ready to: figure out which schedule type is best for your students and staff; disrupt harmful tracking and ensure every student has access to highly skilled teachers and rigorous curriculum; deliver optimum hours of core instruction while expanding electives and providing opportunities for student voice and choice; precisely match staffing to course enrollment to free up personnel and funds for other purposes; find time for critical intervention and enrichment blocks; and communicate scheduling decisions more effectively to parents, families, and district leaders, then it's time for strategic scheduling. Offering targeted advice for best-practice scheduling at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, this book will help school and district leaders-and the teachers and students they serve-make the most of every school day and every school year.