A/B Days

Throughout most of educational history, many different strategies for scheduling have been employed and experimented with. Only more recently, though, has A/B scheduling become popularized. If you’ve spent any time at BHS, you’ll be familiar with the concept of A and B days: on one day students attend a class, on the next they attend a different one in the same time slot, and they alternate back and forth like that throughout the year.

“I am a huge fan of A and B days,” said Alison Justus in a recent interview. “I like the idea that it kind of breaks up the school year for students so they get to focus on four classes on an A day, and four classes on a B day,” she continued. “I think it’s a good mix where students can have classes that last all year long, [and it’s] beneficial at the end of the year, especially if they’re taking AP exams or they have SOL tests or other, like, CTE tests. I think it gives them more time to prepare and be ready to pass those tests.”

Not everyone is so happy about A/B days though. “I feel like it’s kind of a headache, like, having to have different classes, then different lunches every day, and trying to keep up with that,” said Jennifer Cooper, a student here at BHS. “Especially if you miss days and stuff,” she added.

“Frankly, I like it,” opined Naveed Jantzen, another BHS student. “An entire five days of one class, solely one class, no alternating, no giving yourself a break is a terrible idea. [...] If you alternate it gives yourself a chance to breathe. Statistically speaking, what’s called space repetition actually lets you learn better. [...] If you pause for a little bit---or maybe a long bit, I don’t know---if you pause at all then it makes you remember better.”

As near as I can figure, the overall response and public opinion on A/B days is relatively positive, although it’s always difficult to gauge these kinds of things without conducting a large-scale survey. Still, many people in my limited pool of interviewees seem to agree that the current schedule is superior to that seen in elementary and middle school.

I myself have never really given all too much thought to my opinion on A and B days, but when I think about it, I suppose I am in favor of them. They provide a break in the monotony, and yet they provide a comforting kind of structure to the school week. In this journalist’s opinion, A and B days are A (and B) okay with me.

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Written by Miles Johnson.

Photography by Sallie Frost.