For the past 14 years, students at Yutan finished the semester with their regular class schedule leading up to one final early dismissal. During the days leading up to the early dismissal, students and teachers used that class time to complete a variety of final tests, projects and activities. To give classes more time for these tests, this year the school introduced a finals schedule at the end of first semester.  In the new schedule, students had 90-minute class periods with their eight periods split between two school days.

 The decision to use 90 minute periods was based on how the schedule worked out mathematically. One person who initially promoted the idea is Yutan principal Stefanie Novotny. 

“We had some teachers who wanted to do a final schedule; we had some who didn’t or didn’t necessarily need the extra time. But we wanted to try it just to see how it worked,” Novotny said. “I was surprised that we didn’t do finals here because we’ve had it at all of my other high schools…It just helps prepare students especially if they’re going to college. So it was odd to me that we didn’t have one.”

Although it was called a “finals schedule,” there were several academic things that teachers could assign students during this period of time. 

“For teachers, I kind of gave them some parameters, but it was up to them. They either could do a cumulative final, where it was maybe everything for the whole semester, it could just be a unit/chapter test or it could be a project or a presentation. I did say no movies, though, because, again, we want to be something that’s educational,” Novotny said. 

One teacher who has been wanting a finals schedule for a long time is science teacher Leslie Heise. She notes how the new finals schedule positively panned out in her classroom.

“[The schedule] worked well for my eighth-grade students to get some standardized state accountability testing done, so they took their MAP testing during that time,” Heise said. “There are some engineering opportunities that they have in their eighth-grade curriculum that would be fun to finish on those days as well. My other classes took a unit assessment. For the freshmen, we just did our review and our unit assessment together in that longer block. The chemistry students had a comprehensive final, so it was very helpful to not have to split that over two days this year.” 

While most staff members reacted positively to a finals schedule, one critique was that the class periods were too long. 

“I know there were a lot of comments about the time being a long amount of time. If they did MAP testing or a cumulative final, I think it was a good amount of time. But for a lot of other classes, it was just too long of a time period to fill in one sitting. So thinking about the amount of time for each period would definitely be something to consider for the future,” English teacher Ginger Eikmeier said. 

One student who has had previous experience with a finals schedule is senior Taylar Shull. Though Shull also prefers the finals schedule, she too feels that some classes were too long. 

“I have had many final schedules before from going to Mead and West Virginia. I believe it helped academically, but when it came to PE and classes like that, it was too long for both students and teachers,”  Shull said. 

While the periods might have felt long for some classes, some students enjoyed having the extra time in the new schedule. 

“I really liked how the finals schedule gave me a buffer time for my tests. Usually I am stressed because at times I don’t know if I am able to get it done in time, but the schedule really helped that so I wasn’t at all worried about running out of time,” sophomore Audrey Dieckman said. 

The finals schedule also provided benefits that students can reap in the future.

“Yes, there are still unfortunate schedules where maybe you did end up with three hard finals on the same day, but I do think that is realistic when we talk about kids entering college or careers. Some days do have heavier workloads than others, and as long as you know that information in advance and can prepare, I think it’s a valuable skill for our students to practice in a setting where the adults are showing empathy and compassion and trying to support them in the way that we are,” Heise said. 

Altogether, there were enough positives that the schedule will continue through the school year. 

“The final schedule is what we will have for this spring, so it’ll be similar to what we did this time. We may adjust a little bit just the timing, but as far as doing finals again, we will probably do the same,” Novotny said.