Choosing Choice: Strategic Management of High School Courses to Build Student Engagement

Outline

Content will include details about the “five big steps” to manage courses strategically to maximize student choice and drive student engagement, including: Academic Programming & Planning, Schedule & Data Preparation, Advisement/Course Selection (Family Engagement), Staffing, and Schedule Building & Reflection/Refinement

Presenters will share a mix of best practices, specific examples, and sample tools related to each step. Participants will have an opportunity to reflect on their own scheduling process relative to best practice examples.

Time: How much time will be spent on each content component?

5 min - audience polling/engagement

~10 min per component of scheduling process (outlined above)

5 min closing, reflection and Q&A

Process: Include specifics on the frequency and tactics you plan to use to engage the audience (e.g., peer-to-peer interaction, device-based activities, games or contests, etc.).

We will use a mix of real-time audience polling, peer-to-peer discussion, and whole group Q&A to engage the audience. As presenters, we will be frank and specific in share examples of what has worked well and what challenges to expect.

Supporting research

It's Time for Strategic Scheduling: How to Design Smarter K–12 Schedules That Are Great for Students, Staff, and the Budget (ASCD 2023)

Assessing Your Scheduling Software: Is it leading to overstaffing? (published in July/ August 2024 edition of School Business Affairs magazine; https://newsolutionsk12.com/blog-manager/assessing-your-scheduling-software)