Thomas Jefferson High School in Bloomington was constructed to support a new curriculum offering. This curriculum used a
Modular Scheduling approach to scheduling, based loosely on a lecture attendance and test attendance policy. Students were required to attend a certain number of class lectures a week, as well as test-times. This approach called for a number of large 'lecture hall' type rooms, which could be subdivided if necessary. The 'mod' approach was cancelled, beginning with the 1979–1980 school year, leaving a school ill-constructed for a more traditional subject-based classroom. In response, many of the large rooms were repartitioned into smaller class-rooms with thin, somewhat flexible walls. These walls did not block noise well, but created a perception of smaller classrooms, and were in use at least until the late 1990s. Many of the teachers who came to Jefferson on its inception to be part of the new curriculum stayed on as it transitioned to a more traditional approach. In 2011–2012 Jefferson switched from a traditional block schedule to a new 6 period schedule on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and 3 periods on Wednesday, and Thursday. This new schedule offers students the opportunity to take early bird classes that commence before school starts, 6:50–7:40. In the 2014–2015 school year, the school inserted five weeks of a modified block schedule called "Superblock." On Mondays and Tuesdays, students have 3 periods a day, each being two hours long. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, students still have 3 periods, but they are only an hour-and-a-half long and students are released early on these days. Friday follows the normal 6 period day. This schedule is used to accommodate state-mandated testing, such as the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) and MAP exams. ==Class sizes==