Highline High School Transitions to Four-Period Day: Key Details

UPDATE: Highline HS released more information sessions on their move in the 2025-26 school year to adopt a four-period school day. Parents and students are encouraged to attend.

The Highline Schools FAQ is the same as noted in the original article (included below), but the info page is now updated with additional information sessions for parents and students to attend:

Online session on May 15 (Zoom link through ParentSquare)
In-person event on May 22 (Future Pirate Night)
Online session on May 29 (Zoom link through ParentSquare)
In-person event on June 6 (Pizza with the Principal)

Three sample schedules from Highline contain some additional information:

All three samples have a mix of full-year, one-semester, and half-semester (or quarter-long) classes.
Math class lengths vary, and there’s a notable difference from the initial sample schedule: AP Calculus is listed as a full-year, not three-fourths of the year, in the slides handed out on May 1.
All samples list Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2, the math classes needed for graduation, as a full-year content that’s covered in 18 weeks (half of the 36 weeks in a school year).
Some samples list math classes that are one-half of a semester. AP Statistics is listed as a spring term class, but this year the AP Statistics test was on May 8, so students would have had about 12 weeks of instruction from the start of spring term to the test date to cover content that most test takers have 30 weeks to cover.
Not specified: what support will be available for students in their “off subject” semester. For example, students could have a gap of a semester and a summer, or a summer then a semester, for subjects that are not their strength. Parents and students may need to do some extra work during this time to keep up the students’ skills.

There’s ample research on the impact of the summer slump on academic skills. For example, a report on learning loss from the Brookings Institute discusses studies with a range of conclusions about learning loss, and options for parents and schools.

Will this work?

The approach of having a nine-month gap is uncharted territory. I tried to find research studies about covering a year’s worth of content in 18 weeks, but this is a very uncommon arrangement, and education programs have plenty to research that can impact far more people.

For insight and comparison, we looked at Jackson-Reed High School in Washington, DC, which shifted its schedule to cover a year of content in one term during COVID. The opinions and stories about gaps in reading and math are sobering. I called the school and asked for information: What happened? Did it work?

Currently, the Jackson-Reed school has an A/B schedule that reverted back from their Covid-era experiment; they have four classes on Mondays and Wednesdays that are 80 or 85 minutes long, and then a different four on Tuesdays/Thursdays. Fridays alternate, so classes 1 through 4 are on one Friday. Classes 5 through 8 are on the next Friday. This provides a total of 8 classes per semester.

Potential Highline HS Impact

For many students in Running Start or who attend classes at Puget Sound Skills Center, the proposed 4-period schedule would be challenging to implement at Highline High School. The person who ran the schedule said they tried the year of content-in-one-term approach for two years (2020-21 and 2021-22).

I asked about learning loss, and the suggestion was to have a half-semester class to cover the same material again as in the previous class. In Highline, this would not count for graduation credits, but it does appear it is feasible, given that some classes can be offered as first or second half of a term.

The DC administrator said they did not have a strategy for dealing with learning loss, and that learning loss was a reason they dropped the 4-classes-per-term schedule in favor of their current plan.

Parents Have Four Opportunities to Learn More

As stated in the original article, parents are strongly encouraged to attend meetings and make informed decisions with their child about schedule choices, tradeoffs, and what they need to do. Next opportunity is May 15.

Here is the original article:

*Calendar Closeup Stock image (rf123.com)*

Highline HS Introduces Four-Period Day Schedule… but Are Parents Paying Attention?

by Stuart Jenner.

Highline High School is moving its six-period class schedule to a four-period day for the 2025-2026 school year. Here’s what parents need to know.

On Thursday, May 1, Highline hosted “Pizza with the Principal” to discuss the potential impact on families and students as they learn to navigate a new system to meet graduation requirements.

The move is the culmination of the HHS redesign journey that began during school years impacted by Covid, as outlined on the slides that accompany this story and as outlined on this Highline district web page press release.

Significant Changes

Schedule changes have very big implications for students and families. So, where were the parents on May 1?

Highline HS has a total enrollment of 1,423 this school year, according to the state data portal. Yet, according to a meeting attendee, there were only a handful of parents, with a total attendance of 15, including some students and school employees.

One possible factor for the low attendance: There was no mention on the Sylvester Middle School site, where many of next year’s incoming 9th grade students currently attend.

Upcoming Presentations

The good news for parents and families: There are two more presentations on the schedule changes. One is on Thursday May 8, in person at Highline High, and the other is virtual on May 15 (Zoom link coming soon). Parents who want to discuss the classes, opportunities, and challenges of this transition are strongly encouraged to attend one of the meetings.

One attendee said a major takeaway for her was the increased focus on project-based learning, listed as “Support for PBL.”

Bell Schedule Challenges

In the current six-period day, each period is 53 to 58 minutes according to the current bell schedule page. This can create some real challenges when getting through labs or working on projects. In a four-period day, each period can be longer. As stated on the information page about the transition, the new bell schedule has not yet been released. (The page also says other information is coming soon, so check back for updates). But most likely, class lengths will be 80 to 85 minutes Monday-Thursday (Friday is early dismissal so classes will be shorter). Students will earn a full credit, equal to the current year’s credit, in a semester. Essentially, they have to cover 36 weeks of content in 18. But then they can earn 8 credits per year during the regular school day, up from six credits currently.

Graduation Requirements

A major challenge for students in any scheduling approach is meeting grad requirements. Highline District graduation requirements are based on state standards. There are eight subjects: Math, English, Social Studies, Arts/Music, Science, PE/Health, Career and Technical Education (CTE, also called Occupational Education), and World Language.

With only four slots, fitting in eight subjects takes careful planning over multiple years. For example, a student could be signed up for a fall term of Math, English, World Language, and Science in the new schedule. But then there’s no room for Art/Music, Social Studies, PE/Health, and CTE. So, how or when do the other subjects fit in? Well, they only fit in if one of the first four subjects is not on the schedule for the next term. But, in order to match teachers to classes and balance teaching loads, presumably half the students will take their year-equivalent of a subject in the fall, while the other half will take their year-equivalent in the spring.

One schedule example:

One of the slides from the meeting shows a sample schedule with a mix of classes. Band is a full year in this example, so it is 25% of the daily schedule (up from ⅙, or 17% currently).

So, a student in band for all four years would earn 8 credits of band, up from four currently. But if 25% of their schedule is band, in order to meet the rest of the graduation requirement of 28 credits the school board has adopted for Highline HS, with a total of 32 credits possible in four years (see section b on the district page), students will need to plan carefully for the handful of remaining slots.

Graduation requires earning 28 credits.There are 32 total slots over the four years (4 slots/semester times two semesters/year times four years). In addition to the 28 required credits, there are four additional electives possible in a four-period day over four years.
20 of the 28 required credits are for specific subjects. The other 8 required for graduation are electives. (The 20 are 4 English, 3 Math, 3 Science, 3 social studies, 2 World Language, 2 Health/PE, 2 Arts, 1 Occupational Education)
If a student takes band, Mariachi, drama or other arts for all four years, that is a total of eight credits of Arts. But only two Arts/Music are required for graduation. So that means six of these are elective credits.
With the Arts graduation met in this scenario, there are then 18 more credits in specific subjects needed for graduation. With the 8 band credits, plus 18 specific subjects, the student then only needs two more elective credits, but can take up to six total credits during the regular school day. (18 + 8 = 26). (28 – 26 = 2) (32 – 26 = 6).

But what about pre-college requirements?

Six open slots over four years, while taking four years of performing arts, sounds like an improvement over the current setup. But here’s the problem for students who want to attend college: they need MORE than the minimums.

Suppose the students want the recommended, and close to mandatory, requirements of the UW Seattle and many other colleges. In that case, they need an additional year of math, an additional year of World Language, and an additional year of science.

That’s three slots filled out of the six open slots. This gets very complicated to plan out because not every class needed can be offered every term due to limited teacher availability.

PARENTS NEED TO GO TO THE MEETINGS. Making this schedule work is going to be very challenging!

Additional complications

Outlining scenarios takes more space than we have in this article and is very time-consuming for staff to put together.
Complicating matters even further: In the meeting slide, some other classes are listed as semester-long, while others have variable lengths. Two math options are described as taking a semester and a half. That way, students are in the class close to the time of the Advanced Placement tests. Then there’s a class called “College Writing” that is listed as taking a half semester.

History: Will it Repeat?

Highline High School, many years ago, had a four-period day. As reported in the Highline Times (now Westside Weekly) in 2009, students complained they did not really develop the ability to work independently, which is a critical skill for college and career. Alums and students reported that much of the class time was spent accomplishing school assignments, and that they had very little homework assigned outside of class. A few years later, the school moved back to a six-period day.

What can parents and students do?

Here’s hoping more parents will show up at the next meetings. High school schedules are complicated, and this story is just skimming the surface.

This evening, Wednesday, May 7 at 4:45pm, the Highline School Board will discuss the Secondary Redesign at a Special Work Session. The public is invited to watch in person or live online. Regular Board Meeting will follow at 6:00pm.