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These tips were shared by Amanda Chamberlain (Unlicensed), assistant principal at West HS.

Manage The Process

Identify your scheduling team members

  • Department Chairs, Counselors, ESL lead, Special Ed lead., other administrators


Have several “Alignment Meetings”.

  • Beginning in early January through May/June.
  • Suggest every 2 or 3 weeks.
  • Identify who is responsible for what.
  • Establish deadlines
  • Examine current schedule, what works, what doesn’t.


Determine how course request will be gathered

  • Example option 1: Large group setting, by cohort.
  • Example option 2: Small group setting, by English class.


Adjust course offerings based on course request

  • This is decision making time (using numbers to justify decisions).


Look for conflicts in the schedule and even dispersion of classes throughout the master schedule.

  • General rule of thumb: try to offer core courses for each grade level, each period of the day. 
  • Look at trends: Offering Calc and AP Eng 12 at the same time is probably not a good idea. 
  • Singletons (1 section offered once a day) must be looked at.
  • IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO AVOID ALL CONFLICTS!!!!!!! Parents, students and teachers must be told this.


Special Ed Inclusion

  • Work with department chair to identify who is taking what currently and who needs what next year. (shared spreadsheet work wonderfully for managing this) Case managers must be contributing to this as well.
  • Avoid conflicts with inclusion sections offered and resource sections offered.


ESL Schedule

  • Shared spreadsheets where ESL core content teachers list who is taking what currently and what they need next year is essential.
  • Avoid conflicts with sections offered.


Establish Communication method with ALL STAFF concerning their individual schedules for the next school year.

  • You CAN NOT have 60 or so individual conversations, multiple times with your entire staff about their individual schedules.
  • The master schedule is developed based on student need, not staff need. Announce this face to face to the staff!!
  • You need to work with department chairs concerning the department schedule. They can communicate their wishes/ideas to the department chair.  Announce this face to face to the staff!!
  • Keep an eye out for the “back door” deal making that some will try. These typically do not have the student’s best interest in mind.


You can do this!!

  • Sure, first time through is busy and sometimes a headache.
  • Stay positive and communicate with others who master schedule…this is key!
  • Make life easy and have the master schedule set and emailed to staff before the last day of school.


Things to Consider

These tips were shared by Sara Howell, assistant principal at Northland HS.


Common Planning

Coaching periods

Career Center

How are lunches structured?

Special Programs – CSCC/ESL/Sp. Ed./Inclusion

Singletons (course placement   don’t move)

Rooms/Space

Course requests drive course offerings – just because it is on the course offering sheet doesn’t mean it will be offered.


Here are some of the things that I do on the front side:

  1. Meet with the counselors to determine a timeline.  Establish when they want to be in classes to assist students in course selection process.
  2. Modify course selection sheets
  3. Meet with TBT to discuss course offerings
  4. Distribute “Wish List” to teachers (collect input from teachers regarding what they would like to teach
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