The Benefits of a Four-Day School Week Did you know that going to school four days a week instead of five actually has incredible benefits? Four-day schooling allows cost savings in multiple areas, amazing academic achievements, and a big change in overall morale and attendance, these advantages show that four-day schooling is a good way to go. The biggest reason most schools decide to switch to a four-day schedule is for the cost saving benefits. Langley School District has been using the four-day schedule for three years to save costs, savings amounted to two percent of the school systems budget, this is equivalent to $200,000 a year. “This savings came from reduced transportation, overtime hours for support staff, compensation costs, and …show more content…
Twelve Mondays each year are used for teacher planning, this allows them the benefit of not having to meet after school very often. During these Mondays teachers have time for meetings just within the grades they teach, and they have time to form research teams and other committees (Yarbrough and Gilman). These teacher planning groups are add-ons that some schools maybe wouldn’t get the opportunity to have if not for the extra planning day. There’s proof in the pudding; the more time teacher’s have to plan, the better they are at doing their jobs. One district compared their tests on comprehension from the spring of 2002-03, when they were doing a five-day schedule, to the spring of 2004-05, when they ran a four-day week. These tests showed that scores for 3rd and 9th graders improved in all areas tested. Out of all academic achievements ACT scores definitely have the most riding on them. “Merryville’s district spokesperson Daniele LeMarie said, ‘ACT scores are above state averages and have raised from 18.7 with the five-day week to 20 with the new schedule.’” (Chmelynski). Just this news seemed to boost parents attitudes towards the switch, and it even had a positive effect on the kids thoughts on the …show more content…
Switching to four days instead of five showed a huge boost in students overall morale and even increased attendance. “A lot of districts that switched showed a decline in dropout rates, decreased disciplinary referrals, improved attendance, fewer class interruptions, and more positive attitudes” (Yarbrough and Gilman). An exceptional amount of teachers noticed the difference in absences, and that students behavior had become better. They also noticed that they had more time to teach due to less of their time going to transition periods
Extended class periods and block scheduling will improve student’s grades and can diminish their stress level significantly. A normal day in block scheduling consists of only four classes a day, alternating each day. These classes would last 120 minutes each, with the same 5 minute passing periods in between classes. This scheduling gives teachers more time to explain their lesson. It also gives students time to recover from the late nights due to sports and other activities because they only have four classes a day. Their homework for these classes isn’t due for another day, so they don’t have to stress over getting it done. 120 minute classes combined with blocked scheduling increases the amount of time teachers have for instruction and will overall increase the student’s knowledge, in turn, raising their grades.
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...
Attending a year round school will help students retain the information they are taught with greater ease due to the shortness in breaks between times they attend school. An Indianapolis fourth-grade school teacher says, “In this calendar, my goodness, (it takes) two weeks at most.”, referring to the six weeks it normally takes to review the previous year’s lesson to get the students up to speed from the summer break (Johnson). If you are to add twenty days to t...
A four day weekend gives everyone a day off, including most of the staff, which means that the school doesn’t have to pay certain staff one day, which means the school saves money. With one day without school, the district doesn't have to transport students to and from school, which saves money on gas. With one day times 32 weeks, that adds up to a
... we just keep them stressed and tired everyday [rhetorical question]? If more schools switched to block scheduling, people would notice a difference in the student’s grades and also the teacher’s attitudes. N.L. Dorwin states that teachers are even happier with the new scheduling. Flexibility in the classroom, less homework for students and fewer classes being prepared for, teachers found the classroom to be a more relaxing environment. Teachers find it helpful that they are able to finish their lesson plans on time and that they can answer students’ questions as well.
But the students are not the only ones benefitting from this. Oh, no. Teachers will have more time to grade work, overall reducing that stress. Also, teachers will get more times for vacation and spending time with family. So, with no school on Friday, teachers are also presented with advantages.
Not only is the year round school schedule cheaper for the family, but it is also cheaper for the school. Over-crowding is another problem that can be solved this way. The reason for that is between the short breaks that students get, the students move to a different classroom. They also stick with the same teacher so all the students are on the same page with the teacher. This all seems pretty easy to adjust to. Is year round school really the answer though? "However, a number of recent studies have found no significant connection between year-round schooling and improved student achievement. For example, a review of 39 studies found that modified school calendars have a very small, insignificant, effect on achievement" (Education Projects in Education Research Center 2004.) A way to go the extra mile is summer programs that revolve around exceeding academically. Educators are working on making these programs available to parents and students who usually can't afford to go to such camps. A wonderful camp that has been made to help with the lower income families assist the children in getting college degrees is Rainier Scholars. "...Rainier Scholars, a year-round enrichment program that accepts 60 to 65 highly motivated low-income minority students annually from almost 600 applications" (PBS 2015). This program also functions solely through
Students actually gain more time to work in the classroom with four day school weeks. “The lost day, spread out over the fours days, result only in about 10 extra minutes per class period. It is also pointed out that students have extra time to complete homework and do projects over the extended weekend” (Alliance). Not only do teachers get extra time on that fifth day, so do the students. The students get to work on homework or projects that never seem to get done at school. Who really wants to work on the weekends? No one, so that extra day would be great to get things done in a timely manner. So, there is financial stability, extra time in classrooms, but that is not
Teachers in Ohio, claim that when they switched to a year round schedule, students can pick up right where they left off after break. I think this will help a lot because that way you can get right to their lessons once again. These teacher have also notice that the kids are willing to come back to school after a month off. This must help a lot, because if the students are willing to get to work, the teachers won’t have to push their students. California, Illinois, Texas, and Florida have a schedule that works great for them. This schedule includes forty-five days of school, which is followed by a fifteen day break, with a thirty day summer vacation. They claim that this type of schedule minimizes the amount of time students have to lose ground. However in Montana, they have a holiday every three months. Which includes three weeks in December, all of April, and August. Some schools just eliminate fifteen minutes of the student passing time and they think that has helped rather than switching all of their schools schedule. Then there are three basic models of year round schools. One is stretching the one hundred and eighty day school year, by lengthening spring and winter breaks but then shortening the summers. Another idea is adding twenty to thirty days of instruction to the one hundred and eighty day calendar. The last basic model is having
There is a lot of talk about a 4 day school week and a 5 day school week in our school district. People also have very good arguments for or against the system that they like or don’t like. In my opinion the 5 day school week would aid of time in school a lot more.
However, I understand that there are some downsides into having these 8 period school days. There may be students that may want to stick with the 4 period schedule because they enjoy one class in particular over the
Many people in this world do not enjoy school, and the stress that comes with school. School is very difficult in many ways. In the life of a teacher and a student, there is a lot of stress that comes with it. A four-day school week would not add as much stress on to the students and teachers work day. Also, the days would help prepare students for a regular life; such as business and college.
Would you agree to stay in school an extra 2 hours but have Friday all to yourself? Some believe that it will benefit everyone, but it’s not the most beneficial choice. It would take toles out of everybody and people should care because if they have kids they will be affected greatly. We shouldn’t move to a four day school schedule because the cost of school will go up, grades will drop, and parents will register their kids somewhere else.
There are many improvements shown in academics and attendance.(Macdonald 2015) Going to school for four days can have benefits for students, teachers, and parents. Students seem to have the most benefits. (o) One benefit to having a shorter week is having positive results for several activities. From going to a five to a four day week the scores of students did not change.(A
If school days were shorter students wouldn’t feel as stressed. A lot of students need to spend a great amount of time studying independently. In a lot of classes there is time where students aren’t doing anything because the teacher is done teaching their lesson. If each class was a few minutes shorter students would have more time that they could use towards studying subjects that they are unsure about. This would make them less stressed because they could be more confident that they know all of their subjects well. Huffington post says “by shortening the school days, students wouldn’t be as distressed about going to school and their grades would be higher” (huffingtonpost.com).