It is important to identify the rules and standards that apply to the schedule for teachers, courses, and rooms before beginning the scheduling process. These rules are used by the Master Schedule Builder to calculate the optimum number of sections that should be created for each course in conjunction with the student course requests. The following issues should be decided prior to scheduling.
Course Options
What is the maximum number of students that can be scheduled in a section? Minimum and optimal numbers are also defined, so this should be the true maximum number of students.
What is the minimum number of course requests needed for a class to be taught? Is there a minimum number of students that must be in a course for it to be financially feasible to schedule the course?
What is the ideal, or optimum, number of students in a class?
How many days per week do the sections meet? For example, a class that meets Monday-Wednesday-Friday has 3 days as opposed to an all-week course that has 5 days.
How many class periods are in a day?
How many terms are in a school year?
Are there grade level limits on the course? Some courses may only be available to freshmen or seniors.
What priority should be given when scheduling a course? Is a course a required core course, or is it an elective? Required core courses are generally scheduled before electives.
Teacher Options
What is the maximum number of class periods that can be assigned to a teacher in a day? An optimal, or preferred, number of periods can also be selected, so this should be the true maximum.
What is the maximum number of class periods that can be assigned to a teacher in a term? This is the average number of periods per day across an entire term. Unlike the maximum per day, which is applied across all days, this would allow a teacher to be assigned to 6 periods one day and 4 the next, which would average out to 5.
What is the optimum number of class periods that can be assigned to a teacher in a day? These are class periods, and do not count lunch or other periods outside a class teaching assignment.