The Pros And Cons Of Shorter School Days

In Peetz Colorado a debate is going on four a four day school week. I believe that if we go to a four day school week that it would help the kids physically, mentally, and financially. This would help not only our school but also the parents if they cant afford the gas. These will be some pros of a four day school week.

This would allow the instructor to better connect with his or her pupils. Also, according to the Columbia Journalism School’s Teacher Project, some of the schools who have switched “ have seen marginal increases in standardized test scores.” This is yet another piece of evidence to suggest that the four-day school week provides more adequate academic performance for our ever evolving world. Additionally, another eyewitness testimony by the Superintendent of the Lathrop school district Miami R-1 from Missouri stated “ Our ACT scores are the best they’ve been in 10 years, and our teachers love it.” Once again, the four-day school week has proven its’ ability to conduct education for young adults in an effective manner. This same Superintendent also announced that a community poll conducted approximately half way through the first year showed that 70% of the parents supported the four-day schedule. This poll helps to show that it appears that the majority of the community in small, rural districts such as Miami R-1 or even perhaps Colby where childcare is not an issue would benefit greatly from the four-day school schedule. As one can see, the four-day schedule is widely accepted with a strong base of support from the community if it is in a rural area such as Missouri or

Though some people say that four days in a school week will help students in certain classes especially in math, this test only worked on 4th and 5th graders. So it is illogical to think that a four day week will help other grade levels. My main concern is that most kids will not be able to focus by the end of the day because the school days will be longer,and so there would be no point in trying to teach at the end of the day. I say this because we would have to start

School has played a predominant role in young Americans’ lives for centuries. While parents worked a full five-day week, children were able to learn, socialize, and be safe while their parents were away. The same is true of today’s society. However, some schools are introducing a new concept -- a four-day school week. Although much controversy is raging over this topic, the overall acceptance has been high. Therefore, New Castle Schools should become part of this growing trend and go to a four-day school week.

Should schools go to a 4 day school week instead of 5 days? This has been a hot topic especially the states that don’t have as large of an economy. A poll where 2,700 random people were polled about 67% favoured a 4 day school week(university of Scranton). The reason why school districts are going to a 4 day school week is to save money and the states that you see switching to a 4 days are states that have economic problems such as Oklahoma. You won’t have to run the electricity or pay for buses. The only question is does it hurt students education but the statistics are showing that is clearly not the case one bit. 4 day school week would be better for schools without a doubt because you save money and kids will be more refreshed and not burned out also their behavior is showed to become better.

The article Should School Stay Earlier? by elenam112 states “This means the school would be open longer, resulting in larger electrical and heating bills.” Schools would need to stay open later at night for after school activities and stay open early in the morning for students who are dropped off early. Schools may even have to purchase lights for after school activities. Schools would also have to change their bus transportation systems which are designed to run as efficiently and inexpensively as possible. The average national cost that schools need to pay for each student’s bus transportation is $459. Changing the system could result in many more

There are approximately 300 children enrolled in California Elementary School under the age of eight. These 300 would have to find some alternative to school on Fridays if the Moniteau County R-1 School District’s schedule changed from a five day week to a four day week. Additionally student involvement and safety would suffer. Changing the Moniteau County R-1 School district’s schedule to a four-day week would be detrimental to students’ safety and involvement in activities.

Changing school start times will increase attendance and money brought in. Changing the times could increase attendance by 1%, which could bring in $40 million more.(Lewis) In Bonneville, Idaho the school started later in the day which resulted in absences dropping 15%. In the Article by Lisa Lewis, it also talks about how delaying school by 1 hour “produces the same benefit as shrinking class size by one-third or replacing a teacher in the 50th percentile of effectiveness with one in the 84th percentile.”(Lewis)

This eventually leads to better standardized testing scores district wide. Merryville High School in Louisiana, “has seen average ACT scores school wide rise from 18.7 to 20 in just four years of having the four day schedule. Honor roll students in middle and high school have also doubled” (Chmelynski). Also, according to the table on page 82 of Yarbrough’s article, test scores on the CTBS improved after moving to the four day school week in both the 3rd and 9th grade levels that were tested (see last page of paper). These improvements do not just happen over a long period of time, school districts have seen immediate improvement in scores. “Webster County School district ranked 115th in Kentucky’s state test scores. The year after moving to a four day week, they improved to 61st” (Weldon 32). Not only are schools seeing improvement in test scores, but they are also seeing overall improvement in all aspects of their district.

Schools are facing many issues today. Some are facing the debate about whether to keep standardized tests or not. Other schools are worried about academic performance. But others are worried about when kids should be in school. One issue that schools face today is what kind of school schedule there should be throughout the year. With the long break of summer, many people prefer the short breaks of year round schools. Year round schools, can actually benefit students in the long run. There should be year round schooling because it can help students learn more and forget less, other classes are included and childcare is provided, teachers get more time to plan and teach lessons.

Have you ever thought about a four day school week? I thought a four day school week would be awesome. But when I thought about the cons of a four day school week. There would be longer school days. An example from Examining the Pros and Cons of a Four Day School Week says that “ Many schools are adding thirty minutes to both the beginning and the end of a school day.”

There are many changes with switching the school days. The schools who did switch the expenses reduced by 20%, transportation would reduce also by 20%, and the average district could have saving of 5.43% total budget. Bisbee Unified School District (AZ) saved $154,000, Duval County Public School (FL) saved $7 million, and Lake Superior School District (MN) $200,000. These schools save all this money from just switching to a shorter week. (5) Most costs that were reduced were Operations and maintenance, heating and cooling, janitor supplies. School administration, associates with principalś office also went down. Saving on utilities school buses, and long term building wear and tear.

A four day school week may cause less absences because of doctor appointments and other things similar to that, but recent studies have shown that even though they miss less days, their academics have decreased. Students’ academics have decreased because they don’t have all five of those days to learn and understand the subjects they are supposed to be learning. Also because of shorter weeks, students have to go further into the summer, every school is required to have so many hours and days of school. That means the

“ Approximately 120 districts in 21 states around the country, most of which are small, rural communities in the western states, that have cut Friday (or Monday) from the school schedule.” Both parents and teachers are concerned that as the years go on with this four day schedule the students will begin to drop in their testing and academic performances. “Parents are scrambling to find child care for the extra day, in the Minnesota school district.” Four day school weeks may work for some schools but many should stick with the five days.

I think students should not have an 8 hour school day. Most kids do not want to go to school longer than 8 hours. On debate.org a poll named “Should School Days be Shorter” show me that 89% of students said yes and 11% said no. My first reason is that “Students would get home much faster and they’ll have more time for homework and other activities after school.”Also, having a shorter school day would get students to have enough sleep and be energized the next day. My second reason is that the school district will save money and this is a quote from education.seattlepi.com. My third reason is that teachers would work fewer hours and therefore, would get less pay.” So I believe having a shorter school day could benefit the school district to save money and use it for field trips and sports. Students and the school district can be successful with a shorter school day.