{"id":7550,"date":"2026-01-14T14:45:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/?p=7550"},"modified":"2026-01-14T14:46:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:46:03","slug":"grace-schedule-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/grace-schedule-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace Schedule Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Media provided by Cassie B. ’26 from the Official Grace Church School Website.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace students opened their inboxes on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025, to a survey seeking their feedback on Grace\u2019s current schedule. This survey launches a multi-year effort to rethink how we optimize our time during the school day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the survey, working groups will be held for students and faculty to share feedback on the schedule. Together, these working groups and surveys are the first step in a broader reevaluation of the schedule. It\u2019s monumental as well, as it is the first time in the high school\u2019s history that the administration is factoring students\u2019 opinions on the structure of the school day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration\u2019s goal in this revaluation is to determine whether the day could be better optimized. Tom James says, \u201cWe\u2019ve had the same schedule, give or take, since the founding of the high school, so it\u2019s really high time for us to take a fresh look at it. It\u2019s time to ask [ourselves], does the current schedule best serve our mission?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the schedule is a 6-day rotation with 3 80-minute classes per day, a 2-hour lunch block, and a 60-minute elective that alternates on a 4-day cycle. On Wednesdays, students take pass\/fail classes in niche areas, as well as required courses, to build real-world readiness. Wednesdays also feature an hour-long study hall, a community meeting, and a lunch elective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace\u2019s unorthodox schedule is part of what makes the school unique and appealing to many, but it can also pose some logistical challenges. Some classes perform better during longer periods than others. During the week, study halls are not included, to many students’ dismay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many students are satisfied with the current schedule and are concerned that a change could increase their workload or reduce time for community bonding activities. Some believe Wednesdays, while less academic, are still valuable parts of the week, giving them time to pursue their interests in less formal or stressful classes and to meet with their teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really like the current schedule, says Senior Chloe R. \u201826, \u201cI love the Wednesday schedule. I love the 80-minute classes. I think it\u2019s a great schedule for people who do a lot of extracurriculars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most consistent criticism was that the schedule does not allow time for independent work. Nelly Z. \u201828 suggests: \u201cAn hour and twenty-minute class could be shortened so that we have more time to work on our homework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beno S. \u201828 echoes Nelly\u2019s opinion: \u201cPersonally, I like Wednesdays. I think the only thing I\u2019d change is adding more study halls to get work done, because I rarely have time to get it done in class. One of the main problems we have is not enough time to get work done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other students emphasized that the current schedule helps prevent burnout. \u201cI like the schedule, because it doesn\u2019t feel too long\u201d, says Mara M. \u201827, \u201cIf we had more classes a day, we\u2019d have a lot more homework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December, during student-faculty focus groups, additional ideas were raised to improve engagement in Wednesday classes. Students noted that while they liked the 80-minute classes and rotating periods, long classes can often lead to disengagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some students suggested that allowing students to choose their Wednesday classes as early as freshman year could make these days more valuable. Students lamented the requirements, including Introduction to Inquiry and Community and Diversity. These students said they\u2019d prefer to take classes that focus more on niche interests, like those offered to upperclassmen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These ideas and others will be reviewed by the High School Schedule Working Group, a 19-person committee comprising faculty and students, before being presented to the admin. According to Mr. James, the group \u201cstill believes that our schedule should adhere to the science of learning and that we should be on top of the research about how adolescents learn.\u201d The goal is to make a recommendation \u201cinformed by evidence\u201d that draws on input from students, teachers, parents, and scientific data. The administration plans to complete these conversations by the end of 2025-2026 and make a preliminary recommendation to Ms. Perry shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarina M. \u201826, the author, is a Senior Columnist for <\/em>The Grace Gazette.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media provided by Cassie B. ’26 from the Official Grace Church School Website. Grace students opened their inboxes on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025, to a survey seeking their feedback on… Continue reading “Grace Schedule Talk”<\/span> <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":7551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,8,984,200,7],"tags":[180],"appful":[],"class_list":["post-7550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-culture","category-inteviews","category-recent","category-school","tag-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9uEnr-1XM","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-14-at-2.44.55-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7552,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7550\/revisions\/7552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7550"},{"taxonomy":"appful","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/appful?post=7550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}