Overview of Block Courses
Block courses allow you to define groups of courses that you want to schedule together. Each block has a group of blockettes defined. The blockettes indicate the course - or usually, the course-section - that should be scheduled in place of the block course.
You can think of a block course as a "dummy" course - students request the course code, but are not scheduled into the course. Instead, the student scheduler (Schedule Students option) schedules them into the course-sections associated with the block course, which are referred to as blockettes.
For example, you could define a block called Core06 if students in grade 06 take core courses with the same set of students. If the core courses are English, Math, Science, and Social Studies, you would define these courses as blockettes of Core06. Students would request Core06. The scheduler would schedule each student into a section of English, Math, Science, and Social Studies.
If you use the District Course Catalog, when block courses are created at the district level, a block course with the same course code is added to the Building Course Catalog for each building that shares the district course's building type (for example, Middle School or High School). You can also add a course at the building-level catalog and use it to create a block. However, if a block is created in the District Course Catalog, you cannot change it at the building level.
Options for Defining Blockettes
When you define the blockettes for the block in the Master Schedule, you can select options to specify how strictly students are grouped within blockettes. For example, for each blockette, you can select whether the blockette is mandatory. If all blockettes in the block are mandatory, the student will only be scheduled into a blockette course-section if the student can be scheduled into all of the blockettes.
If you want to schedule a course as part of a traditional block (students are scheduled into a specific section and must be scheduled for the blockette in order to be scheduled for any blockettes): | Specify a section for the blockette and check the Mandatory box. This is the strictest way to define a blockette. If all blockettes are defined this way, then students will move together as a unit for all blockette courses. |
If you want to schedule a specific section if the blockette can be scheduled, but allow the student to be scheduled for other blockettes if this blockette does not fit: | Specify a section for the blockette and uncheck the Mandatory box. |
If you want to schedule any section of the blockette, but require that the student must be scheduled for the blockette: | Do not specify a section for the blockette and check the Mandatory box. |
If you want to schedule any section of the blockette if it fits in the schedule: | Do not specify a section for the blockette and uncheck the Mandatory box. This is the least strict way to define a blockette. If all blockettes are defined this way, then the block is considered a proxy block. Proxy blocks are useful for scheduling multiple courses based on a single course request for a student. |
If you want to use teacher linking to schedule blockettes that are not assigned to a section: | Define a block that has at least one section specified or at least one section defined as mandatory. In the Same Teacher field for the block course-section, select P- Linking Preferred or R - Linking Required. This setting only applies to blockettes that do not have the Same Section box selected in the course catalog. When the scheduler schedules a student for the block, it will not use teacher linking rules to keep the student with the same teacher for blockettes that have a section specified in the Master Schedule. |
Note
A proxy block can contain another block as a blockette. For more information about scheduling block and proxy courses, refer to How Blocks and Proxies are Scheduled.
Note
Do not use teacher linking if you have defined a proxy (a block where no sections are specified and mandatory is not checked for any blockette).
Note
We recommend defining blockettes with at least one mandatory blockette. When the scheduler tries to schedule a block with no mandatory blockettes, it attempts to schedule all possible combinations of blockette sections, slowing down the scheduler's performance.