ABSTRACT
When elementary school personnel initially investigate the possibility of developing a parallel block schedule (PBS), they invariably ask, “Don’t we need additional teachers to staff the extension center room(s)?” We typically respond, “Not necessarily.” For example, we find that elementary schools, especially schools with a large number of special needs students and programs, often already have several types of support teachers and staff; designing a PBS for those schools sometimes simply requires using positions in different ways. By developing a parallel block schedule in schools having numerous support personnel, we very often end up with schedules that provide fewer interruptions for both teachers and students and less fragmentation in the school day. Greater inclusion and integration of content also can occur in such schools, and students with special needs are not isolated or stigmatized when receiving the required services because both the students and the support personnel are integrated more fully into the general education program.
