One of the primary motivations for adopting the four-day week is financial savings for the school district. Anticipated savings are in transportation, food and food service workers, hourly workers and utilities. Savings on school buses and long-term building wear and tear have also been reported. After analyzing Colorado schools operating on four-day school weeks, (Dam) reports that transportation costs can be reduced by 20%. He goes on to say that in order to realize that level of savings, schools must severely limit transportation for activities or programs not conducted on regular school days. The capital, insurance, maintenance, and administrative costs remain relatively constant. Fuel, oil, salaries, and supervisory costs can be reduced. Transportation employees will also have a reduction in net pay (Dam, 2006). In food service, (Dam) finds that if districts are funding their food service from the general fund, 20% of that subsidy may be saved since the program runs only four days. However, he does go on to say that certain fixed costs within this category will remain the same. Utility savings, he observes, may be comparable to those of a three-day weekend if the buildings are closed and actually placed on weekend cycle. However, he notes that most school buildings are left open for extra activities and the use of staff (Dam, 2006). (Hewitt and Denny) indicate savings achieved with a four-day school week vary greatly from district to district, depending on the constancy they adhere to cost saving measures. If the school facilities are completely shut down on the non-school day the saving will be greater than if buildings are left open for student and staff use. While financial savings are the main factor motivating the initi...
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...11). The four-day school week: impact on student academic performance. Retrieved from ERIC Institute of Education Sciences website: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ987605.pdf
Dam, A. (2006). The four-day school week. Retrieved from ERIC Institute of Education Sciences and Colorado Department of Education website: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED497760.pdf
Dixon, A. (2011). Focus on the alternative school calendar: year-round school programs and update on the four-day school week. Retrieved from Southern Regional Education Board website: http://publications.sreb.org/2011/11S01_Alt_Cal.pdf
Herring, C. (2010, March 8). Schools’ new math: the four-day week. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.online.wsj.com
Sheehy, K. (2013, November 20). The 4-day school week a work in progress. US News & World Report. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com
Silva, Elena. "Revising the Current School Calendar Has Many Implications." Year-Round Schools. Ed. Adriane Ruggiero. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. At Issue. Rpt. from "On the Clock: Rethinking the Way Schools Use Time." Education Sector Reports. 2007. 1-9. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 May 2014.
The United States has a long and proud history of providing public education to its citizen’s children. The fundamental idea behind the creation of this educational system was that it be available to all, regardless of geographical location or family status. In the era that this initiative was generated many of America’s families lived and worked on farms, and children were a vital part of this lifestyle. The founders of the United States’ public schools had to create a plan that included all children, even those who were expected to perform agricultural work in the harvest season. Thus, the nine-month school calendar was brought into use, allowing farming children a three month break from school in the summer to aid their families in the crop yield. In time, youth participation in farming became outdated and obsolete, and this arrangement slipped from necessity to simply being a tradition held on to through the years. In our modern era, a year-round school calendar would benefit the teachers, students, and finances of America’s public schools.
Anne. A. “Balanced School Calendars: Pros and Cons.” June 2010. Vancouver Board of the education of the students. Web.
The traditional school calendar has been in effect for more than a century. By the middle of the nineteenth century rural areas the school year lasted for five to six months, based on the harvest schedule. In contrast, many schools in urban areas were open for eleven or twelve months. A uniform calendar was established in 1847 that is the traditional calendar of today. (Shields, 2000) There was resistance to this calendar from the beginning; people in urban areas had to go to school from much longer to receive the same education. YRE began in a premature form in 1904 in Bluffton, Indiana with a four-quarter schedule. (Speck, n.d.) YRE began to be popular in states like Texas, New Jersey, North Dakota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. It ceased during WWII because national uniformity was felt to be essential to the war effort. Hayward, CA implemented at official YRE programs at Park Elementary School in 1968 to become the first YRE school after WWII. (Speck, n.d.) YRE schools began to sprout up all over the country after that. In 1969 the first multiple tract school was established in Missouri. Since the late 70’s YRE has picked up in popularity and is a continuing trend. According to the National Association for Year-Round Education, more than 2 million students attend close to 3,000 year-round schools in 41 states and 610 school districts, which is a dramatic increase compared to the early 1990’s. There have been a variety of YRE schedules and currently there is the choice of single or multi-track, options within both of those, and an extended school year.
While growing up, I attended a traditional school. This is a schooling method many individuals are probably familiar with. A student attends school for nine months out of the year, and then has a three month break during the summer. However, in my immediate hometown surroundings, nearby traditional schools are assessing the idea of transforming into year-round schools. Year round schooling is one subject debated in high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools nationwide. Are schools that operate 365 days a year academically better than traditional schools? What are the cost differences between the two? How would a year-round school effect families? Changing the schooling technique from traditional to year-round has numerous variables that need to be taken into consideration before any grade school or secondary education institution fully commits. Year-round schooling schedules should not be implemented and traditional schooling calendars should be maintained.
One of the main reasons why schools are switching to block scheduling is because students receive higher test scores on standardized tests. Having only forty-five to fifty minutes of class is difficult to take a test meant for one hour and thirty minutes. With the new scheduling, students are able to take their time on tests and not rush through them. Many students have a problem focusing during tests, and with the extra time students don’t have to worry about not finishing in time. Chance W. Lewis and R. Brian Cobb, a part of the School of Education at Colorado State University, along with two others, have conducted an investigation on how block scheduling effects high school scores on the ACT. The results indicate that students with block scheduling actually have the higher scores on the ACT in mathematics and reading than students with regular schedules. This proves that students concentrate more on their academic subjects, become more producti...
Students who are enrolled in a year-round school attend school for 180 days, the same number of days as students on a traditional calendar schedule. A year-round school calendar is formulated into nine-week quarters. Each quarter is separated by a three-week break called an intersession. There is still a summer vacation , but at four or five weeks, it is less than half that of a traditional school summer break, and does not provide enough time for students to completely forget what they learned all year. This solution actually reduces the problem. This school system has been proven to have positive effects on student achievement, especially for students with learning disabilities. The goal of year-round schooling is to create continuous or extended learning by adding hours to the days and days to the year. According to the benefits of year round education article, “Fifty years ago, most American households were supported by a working father, while mothers were expected to stay at home. However, the women’s movement of the 1970’s combined with the rise in divorce rate and the high cost of living, lead to a decline of stay at home mothers.”First, The shorter vacations implemented by year-round education and intersession are helpful to today’s working parents because it is a less expensive alternative to daycare or summer camps. Also, parents and teachers can schedule vacations
Family vacations, pool memberships, and corn de-tasseling; these have been the experiences of traditional Midwestern summers. For centuries young American children have attended school during the winter months, during farming off seasons when their families could afford to be without them. Families have grown accustomed to a traditional school calendar that provides time for bonding throughout the year. Students have grown accustomed to an eight week break during the summer months where they are allowed to refresh their minds before returning for a new school year. Unfortunately, these traditional experiences and practices are now in jeopardy. In today’s race to improve student achievement, traditional school calendars have become a point of contention. Today more and more school districts and parents alike have begun to debate the pros and cons of an alternative school calendar.
Have you ever felt like weekends go by too fast? Do you become tired of going to school five times a week?School can be exhausting and it often seems as though it is not worth the trouble. This is especially true when school is dragged on for five days at a time with only small breaks in between the next school week. Although a four-day school week may not sound appealing, students and teachers at Sturgis Williams Middle School could greatly benefit from it.
Imagine students becoming stressed with the abundant amount of homework they have to accomplish, complaining about the lack of time and fun enjoyable tasks they have to leave out. Currently, District 211 has a five day school week but having a four day school week eradicates these problems, which could have a positive mental and physical effect. Currently, the four day school week is being used in more than 120 school districts across the country, in states including New Hampshire, Colorado, and New Mexico. Use of the four-day school week also extends to several provinces in Canada, France, and Britain. Considering the amount of districts that are executing a four day school week, it is most reasonable to assume that they have significant benefits towards both students and teachers.
“BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!” The teenage student slams on the snooze button and struggles to get out of bed for the early school day. Teens on average need 9 ¼ hours of sleep (Backgrounder: Later School Start Times). Teens currently average fewer than 7 hours of sleep (Backgrounder: Later School Start Times). Hectic schedules, poor sleep habits, homework, and family obligations are the problem (Backgrounder: Later School Start Times). Schools are considering starting their school days later in the morning. For example, one Minneapolis school considered pushing back their start time from 7:15 to 8:30. Another Seattle school considers pushing back the school day start reported Jean Enersen. Would this benefit the students or harm the students? Is this for the better or for the worse? These are questions many superintendents and school board members are asking themselves. They all want to do what is best for their students, so the topic takes a lot of thinking, planning, and conversations. School starting later can be a very controversial issue.
Today however, the role of the modern public school is beginning to change. The United States is no longer an agrarian society. As a result, people feel that the traditional school calendar is too old-fashioned a...
Taking a closer look at dropout rates; discipline worries; low test scores; excessive grades of C, D and F; and a lack of interest among the majority of exceptional students confirms that the status quo of nine month school systems are not the answer. Experience teachers seemed to reach consensus that these negative trends were reduced when schools had more frequent breaks. Social fact deals with traditional family vacation time. The majority of working parents were permitted approximately two weeks of vacation time per year. Researchers varied their definition of year-round education school systems. The majority of the school plans maintained the usual 180 school days (Bradford) with short one or two week breaks throughout the year. Employment of a multitrack or single-track program was based on school needs. If excessive population or reducing the budget was the primary concern, multitrack was chosen for increased school size by assigning students and teaches to targeted groups. Each time these tracks or groups went on break, the classrooms were just simply used by other groups and teachers. Highlighting a few of the plans, the most popular one according to (Weaver), was the 45-15 method. Fourth-five days of formal instruction followed with 15 days of vacation, repeated four times during the school year. (Glines) defined school calendars consisted of the same principle but
Day or School Year: A Systematic Review of Research." Sage 80.3 (2010): 401- 36. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
In a traditional school, much time is wasted. The students need time to change classes, get out their homework, pass out papers, etc. Even getting to school is a long trek for some students. In a home schooling setting, these trivial tasks are greatly reduced. For example, the first day of school in a public or private traditional school normally means a lot of paperwork and administrative tasks. Students spend most of the day getting lockers and filling out emergency cards so t...