At the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, Kalamazoo Public Schools moved from a five-period trimester schedule to a seven-period semester schedule. As a result, classes have been shortened from 70 to 50 minutes each.
While most classes are still expected to take the same amount of time throughout the year, AP classes will not. AP classes are designed to be challenging, college-level courses that offer college credit to high performing students. However, a new challenge for AP classes has been added this year—shortened class periods.
AP classes have always been designed to take the full school year. However, their curricula must now be covered in only 70% of the time due to the shortened class periods. In addition, students who have an AP class as their first hour get another 10 minutes shaved off their period due to the morning announcements.
“It’s been a real challenge. It’s basically like starting from zero again,” said AP Spanish teacher Marta Grabowski. “I’m having to change my past lessons, shorten assignments, give more time to work than I usually would and also just eliminate assignments and lessons.”
The new schedule has led teachers to have to scramble to re-plan their year and still prepare students for the important AP exam at the end of the year. AP exams fall in the late spring, determining whether a student receives college credit for the course. However, despite some of the concerns surrounding the shortened class periods, there are some benefits to a shortened AP curriculum
“I don’t think there will be any kind of drop off in [AP] scores this year,” said history teacher Matthew Porco.
Porco has been teaching AP classes for 21 years, and this isn’t the first time his class time has been shortened.
“When I first started teaching, we had 90-minute class periods,” said Porco. “The times dropped from 90 to 70, then 70 to 50, so we’ve had to make adjustments before.”
While the shortened classes have taken away some aspects of AP courses, some students like the shorter classes because they can be more focused solely on the important things.
¨I think these [shortened] AP classes get more to the point,” said sophomore Simon Gottlieb. “I think teachers really only touch on the important things now.¨
Some AP students also feel that the added seminar is helping them deal with the workload.
¨I enjoy doing less in AP classes and having the time to do more work in seminar,” said Gottlieb. “I feel like there is less filler in the class, and the classes have really been filtered only to have important information this year. It feels easier to focus.”
Increased focus is a shared opinion between teachers and students. They find it beneficial, even though they have to cover more ground in less time.
¨I like 50-minute periods better, I think it’s easier for students to focus,” said Porco. “Even though it’s a challenge and an adjustment, I think 50 minutes is a more ideal time.¨
In an article by PLD Lamplighter, Anvi Vanish writes, “Short classes are often favored because they allow students to focus more in class. Students get less bored in classes and have to focus for shorter amounts of time.”
The article also describes how shorter classes make it easier to condense and cover more important topics in a shorter time. However, the new AP schedule raises the question of the possibility of having a class that is too condensed.
With shortened classes and more students, teachers’ creative freedom has been greatly reduced.
“Because of all the changes to the schedule, I feel like I don’t even have time to think or plan any fun activities, as my main focus is on what can be eliminated or modified,” said Grabowski. “On top of that, I also have a lot more students this year and therefore a lot more grading, which takes up all my planning time, which would be the only time for me to plan fun and engaging assignments.”
Even with the shortened AP schedule and the challenges involved in covering all topics, most teachers and students seem to agree they can push through, persevere and cover enough content to be successful on the test in April.
