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The Bell Schedule domain represents the start time and duration of one or more class periods in a day or over a course of days. A bell schedule represents a listing or register of regularly occurring events. 

Key Entities

This domain contains:

  • A BellSchedule entity, which defines the meeting times and dates for each logical class period. 
  • A ClassPeriod entity, which allows Sections and Bell Schedules to change independently.
  • A Section entity, which is related to a ClassPeriod entity that represents the basic unit for scheduling a section.

Key Concepts

The key concepts include the following:

  • The model accommodates a wide variety of bell schedules, including block schedules.
  • A fully realized bell schedule will include the dates of all the class period meeting times for a particular school throughout a school year.
  • A class period does not have to meet every day. Specific meeting days are defined in the Date element on the BellSchedule entity. This allows a school to have a bell schedule that is special for a specific day, such as for a testing day or a late-start day.
  • A school may have multiple bell schedules defined and may have different bell schedules on the same calendar time period (e.g., for different grades).
  • The BellSchedule entity connects to a Section entity through a ClassPeriod reference. For example, a Section might be assigned to a class period named Block A. The BellSchedule entity contains the information about what time Block A starts and ends on a given date.

Bell Schedule Data Overview

The following diagram uses data to illustrate the connections between the key entities in the Bell Schedule domain:

Model Reference

This section contains reference information for the Bell Schedule domain model. 

Bell Schedule Model Entities

BellScheduleThis entity represents the schedule of class period meeting times for a particular set of dates.
ClassPeriodThis entity represents the designation of a regularly scheduled series of class meetings at designated times.
EducationOrganizationThis entity represents any public or private institution, organization, or agency that provides instructional or support services to students or staff at any level.
SchoolThis entity represents an educational organization that includes staff and students who participate in classes and educational activity groups.
SectionThis entity represents a setting in which organized instruction of course content is provided, in-person or otherwise, to one or more students for a given period of time. A course offering may be offered to more than one section.
SessionA term in the school year, generally a unit of time into which courses are scheduled, instruction occurs and by which credits are awarded. Sessions may be interrupted by vacations or other events.

UDM Documentation Contents

Explore the Ed-Fi Unified Data Model:

Bell Schedule Model