In short
- Student choice scheduling means running the same unit at several times, so that each pupil joins the one session they can attend.
- A few written rules keep it tidy: one session per pupil per unit, a deadline for choosing, a cap on each session and a default for pupils who do not choose.
- Research finds that choice tends to raise motivation and effort, but no study has tested a choice of session time.
- A survey of free times and a shared sign-up sheet are enough to run the model by hand for one grade.
A single time for a reading session will clash with something for someone. One pupil has football on Tuesdays. Another shares a laptop with two brothers. A third takes the late bus. Student choice scheduling answers this with a simple model. You publish the same unit at several times, and each pupil picks the one they can attend. This article sets out the model, the rules that keep it tidy and how to run it by hand. It also reports what research on choice and autonomy suggests, and where that research stops.
What is student choice scheduling?
Student choice scheduling is a way of timetabling in which the school runs the same session at several times and each pupil chooses one. In a reading program, a session covers one unit of a story. Every session for that unit uses the same text, the same check of understanding and the same next step. Only the time, and sometimes the teacher, changes.
A unit is a part of a story that pupils can read and discuss in one session. If your stories are not yet divided, how to split a story into units shows how. Once units exist, the timetable becomes a list of units, each offered at a few times.
The model sits between two common alternatives. The table compares the three. It describes how each one works in practice. It is not a research finding.
| Question | One fixed time | Open drop-in | Student choice, one per unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who picks the time? | The school | The pupil, each week | The pupil, from a short list |
| How many sessions does a pupil attend per unit? | One, if they can make it | Any number, or none | Exactly one |
| What does a clash mean? | The pupil misses the unit | The pupil comes another day, or not at all | The pupil picks another time for the same unit |
| Can you predict group size? | Yes | No | Yes, through the cap |
| Does the teacher know who to expect? | Yes | No | Yes, from the sign-up list |
| How often is the unit planned? | Once | Once, but numbers vary | Once, then taught at each time |
The rules that keep it tidy
Choice without rules turns into drop-in. Six rules keep the model predictable. They come from practice, not from a study. Adapt them to your school, but write them down and tell pupils before the first unit.
- One session per pupil per unit. A pupil joins exactly one session for each unit. Extra practice happens at home, not in a second session.
- The same content at every time. Every session for the unit covers the same text and ends with the same check. No time is better than another, except that a pupil can make it.
- A deadline for choosing. Close sign-ups at a set time before the first session of the unit, such as Friday at noon for the following week.
- A cap on each session. Set the largest group you are willing to teach. When a session is full, it comes off the list. How Many Reading Sessions Should You Run Per Unit? explains how to choose the cap.
- A default for pupils who do not choose. After the deadline, the coordinator places each remaining pupil in the session with the most free seats, or the one their class teacher suggests.
- A rule for switching and missing. A pupil may switch to another session for the same unit while it has a free seat. A pupil who misses their session may join a later one for that unit, if one is open.
The first rule does the most work. It keeps every pupil's record simple: one unit, one session, present or absent. That makes the weekly attendance review quick, and How to Track Attendance in Reading Sessions explains what to record. It also keeps group sizes close to plan, because nobody turns up twice.
How to set it up by hand
You do not need special software to run this model for one grade. A shared spreadsheet or a paper sign-up sheet will do. The steps below are one way to set it up.
- Survey free times once a term. Ask pupils, or the parents of younger pupils, to tick every slot they could attend. Offer four to six options.
- Pick two or three times per unit. Choose the slots where most pupils are free. Check that a teacher is free at each one.
- Set the cap and count the seats. Seats across all sessions should exceed the number of pupils by a small margin.
- Publish the list. Show each session's day, time, room or link, teacher and seats left.
- Close at the deadline and place the rest. Use the default rule, and tell each placed pupil where they are.
- Send each teacher their list. The list is the register. Mark attendance against it.
- Review after the unit. Note which sessions filled fast and which stayed small. Adjust the next unit's times.
Example (invented numbers)
Grade 6 has 64 pupils in three classes. The coordinator sets a cap of 18 pupils per session.
The survey shows three common free times: Monday after school, Tuesday at lunch and Thursday evening online.
Unit 4 is published on Friday as four sessions: two on Monday in separate rooms, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. That gives 72 seats.
By the Sunday deadline, 57 pupils have chosen, and both Monday sessions are full.
The coordinator places the other 7 pupils in the Tuesday and Thursday sessions and tells their class teachers.
After the unit, the Thursday session had only 9 pupils. The coordinator keeps it, because 6 of them can make no other time.
What research on choice and autonomy suggests
Self-determination theory explains why schools offer choice at all. Ryan and Deci (2000) set out three basic psychological needs: competence, autonomy and relatedness. When these needs are met, they argue, people show more self-motivation. When the needs are thwarted, motivation and well-being fall.
Patall, Cooper and Robinson (2008) tested the effect of choice across 41 studies, with child and adult samples. Providing choice enhanced intrinsic motivation, effort, task performance and perceived competence. The effect on motivation was stronger for children than for adults. It was also stronger when two to four successive choices were given.
Patall, Cooper and Wynn (2010) took the question into real classes. Students were randomly assigned within their classrooms either to choose among homework options or to be given one. The conditions were reversed for a second unit. With a choice, students reported higher intrinsic motivation, felt more competent and did better on the unit test.
Katz and Assor (2007) add a warning: choice does not always motivate. In their review, choice helps when the options are relevant to pupils' interests and goals and are not too many or too complex. It also helps when the options fit the values of the pupils' culture. When these conditions are missing, choice may not raise engagement at all.
What this means for session times
- Keep the list short. Two or three times per unit are easy to compare. This follows Katz and Assor's point about too many options. It has not been tested for timetables.
- Make the options real. A choice between two times that a pupil cannot make is no choice. Survey free times first.
- Explain the rule once. Pupils who know they get one session per unit can plan their week around it.
Where the research stops
None of these studies offered a choice of session time. The choices were between activities, versions of a task, rewards, homework options and similar options within a task or lesson. Patall, Cooper and Robinson (2008) also measured motivation and performance, not attendance.
So the research supports a general point. Pupils tend to put more into what they have had a say in. It does not show that choosing a session time raises motivation, and it does not show that it raises attendance. Research on scheduling reading sessions is thin, and we found no study of this model.
The case for the model is mainly practical. A pupil cannot attend a session that clashes with the bus home, and a second time removes the clash. Whether that raises attendance in your school is a question you can answer with your own records. Does Flexible Scheduling Improve Student Attendance? reviews what is known about schedules and attendance, and shows how to test it.
Younger pupils, fairness and small sessions
These questions come up whenever a school tries the model. The answers are practice, not research.
Younger pupils
Pupils aged eight or nine may not manage a sign-up on their own. Let a parent or the class teacher choose for them, under the same rules. You can hand over in stages. The teacher chooses for the first unit, the pupil chooses with help for the second, and alone after that.
Fairness
If sign-ups open at different times for different classes, the first class takes the most popular slots. Open the list for everyone at the same moment, and announce that moment a day before. The cap stops any one time from taking everyone.
Small sessions
A session with four pupils costs the same teacher time as one with sixteen. If a session stays small for two units, merge it with another that its pupils can attend. Keep it if it is the only time some pupils can make. How Smarter Session Scheduling Can Cut Teacher Workload covers merging and the hours it saves.
How iRead handles this
In iRead, a session is a live class, online or in school, that students enrol in themselves. Admins or teachers publish several sessions for the same unit, and each student joins exactly one, the one they can attend. An optimizer proposes the schedule that seats every student in the fewest sessions, and the school's team approves it. Attendance is recorded automatically.
The core principle: Offer a short list of times for the same unit, and give each pupil exactly one seat. The choice removes clashes, and the rules keep the timetable predictable.
See it in iRead: Admins or teachers publish several sessions for the same unit, and each student joins exactly one, the one they can attend. Attendance is recorded automatically.
See how sessions workKey takeaway
Student choice scheduling works when it is bounded: a few times, the same content at each, and one seat per pupil per unit. Research on choice supports offering options, but nobody has tested a choice of session time, so watch your own records.
Frequently asked questions
What is student choice scheduling?
It is a timetabling model in which the school runs the same session at several times and each pupil picks one. In a reading program, every session for a unit covers the same text and check, so pupils lose nothing by choosing the time they can actually attend.
Can a pupil attend more than one session for the same unit?
Not under this model. Each pupil joins exactly one session per unit. That keeps group sizes close to plan and keeps the attendance record simple. A pupil who wants more practice can reread the unit at home before the next session.
Can a pupil switch sessions after choosing?
Yes, if your rules allow it and the other session has a free seat. Set a cut-off, such as the day before, so that teachers know who to expect. A pupil who misses their session can join a later one for the same unit, if one is open.
Does giving students a choice improve motivation?
Often, yes. Patall, Cooper and Robinson (2008) combined 41 studies and found that choice enhanced intrinsic motivation, effort and performance, more so for children than adults. Those studies offered choices of tasks and options, not session times, so the effect of choosing a time is untested.
How many session times should we offer per unit?
Two or three is a sensible start for one grade. Enough seats for everyone matters more than many options. Katz and Assor (2007) warn that choice may not motivate when there are too many options or they are too complex. Add a time only when pupils still have clashes.
Sources
- Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78. doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
- Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., & Robinson, J. C. (2008). The effects of choice on intrinsic motivation and related outcomes: A meta-analysis of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 270-300. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.270
- Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., & Wynn, S. R. (2010). The effectiveness and relative importance of choice in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(4), 896-915. doi.org/10.1037/a0019545
- Katz, I., & Assor, A. (2007). When choice motivates and when it does not. Educational Psychology Review, 19(4), 429-442. doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9027-y