Four Period School Day Controversy

Having a three day weekend and more time to learn is a huge win win, and with the extended school day that could happen. The extended school day is a controversial issue that has been argued over for awhile. Whether or not we should increase the length of the school day itself and give students a three day weekend or just keep the school days normal. Schools should definitely increase the length of the school day and give students more down time and freedom by giving them a three day weekend, more quality time with teachers in school and dramatically help the struggling students.

One reason CHS should go to a four day school week is that students are more ordered and have more time to do homework. They get a whole extra day to do homework. Having their homework done on time results in better grades and being more organized. Going four days a week also helps kids learn better, it give the child's mind more time to rest. According to an educational website “ researchers found present of students scoring either proficient or with advanced proficiency in reading went up at schools on a four day schedule and were higher than their peers

The average school period is one hundred and eighty days with small breaks in between and a three-month break during summer to ease students’ minds and let them relax. The Board of Education should make all schools in the United States year-round to increase educational time and decrease the loss of knowledge over the breaks. It gives students the same time to relax and plan family vacations periodically throughout the year, but never creates the stress of changing sleep schedules that summer break changes. Not only is it a good way to enhance education, but it also is better for planning family events, positive effects on budget, academic achievement, and could decrease the absence rate of students.

What is your least favorite class, the one you dread most? Picture yourself walking into that class, taking a seat, and watching the clock move slowly as you suffer through the next 90 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly. Imagine being stuck in your least favorite class for an hour and a half! This is a reality that many high school students experience every day. It is block scheduling. “Unlike traditional bell schedules - which typically comprise six to eight class periods per day, lasting anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes - block schedules contain just four daily class periods, with each one lasting an average of 90 minutes” (Block Scheduling in Schools 1). Although designed to increase student achievement, block schedules carry a number of disadvantages that make them an inadequate method for offering high school students a successful learning environment. Despite its few benefits, block scheduling works in direct conflict with most human attention spans, creates more scheduling problems than it solves, and lacks any solid evidence of improving student learning. In a world where educational practices come and go, block scheduling is a fad that should never have arrived in the first place.

All primary and secondary schools in the United States need to change from the traditional schooling system to the newer educational system of a year-round schooling system. A traditional school system is one where students go to school for nine months out of the year and receive a three month summer vacation, whereas students in a year-round school system follow a cycle of forty-five days in classes followed by a fifteen day period of rest, for the entire calendar

Educational debates are a widespread in today’s society. Currently, one of the largest debates in education is the debate of whether schools should stay with the traditional school calendar or change to a year-round calendar. The main focus of the debate is centered around the idea that using the year-round calendar will provide kids with a more consistent learning schedule, which in turn creates better grades within the school and cuts back on summer learning loss. Year-round calendar and traditional calendar are far different. Traditional school calendar provides ten weeks of summer break and year-round calendar provides a shorter summer break but more frequent breaks throughout the year. The frequent breaks provide families the

The overall logistics run much smoother in schools that have four day weeks compared to the five day week. “Some districts had experienced a decline in dropout rates, decreased disciplinary referrals, improved attendance, fewer class interruptions, more positive attitudes about school, and better staff development” (Yarbrough and Gilman 81). Another logistical benefit to having four day school week is that students have more time to get involved in extracurricular activities due to more availability

The first session will be forty three days on with thirteen days off. The second will be forty five days on with eleven days off. The third will be forty nine days on with nine days off. The fourth will be forty three days with thirteen days off. Every four years there will be a longer break using the extra 56 days not used during the past years. This lets kids experience both types of schooling. During the school years kids, teachers, and staff will be interviewed on their opinion of the scheduling that year. Kids will be tested on intelligence while teachers will be tested on the convenience of when they taught. If their lessons were easier or harder during what part of the year and each year. The information can be analyzed to determine which type of schooling is the most effective.

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.

Some schools might start school earlier and get out earlier than other schools, and some maybe start later and end later than others. Some might not even last seven hours like most schools do. Whatever the schedule is you’re gonna learn something from that day no matter what you think, such as Math, Social studies, Language Arts, Science, or Writing. Some schools might not even have 7 periods and some might have more than 7 periods. Some schools might not even have periods and just have

In the article “Schools scrutinize block scheduling” Groves (2015) addresses the effects of block scheduling in Alamance-Burlington School System. He claims that implementing block schedules did not help this school system, and in fact has been detrimental to the students. Groves (2015) argues that before changing student schedules, enough research should be completed to determine whether this change will be helpful. With a traditional schedule, he says, students can slowly learn the information, instead of cram it in all at once. He believes that teachers and students should have a say in which schedule the school adopts. Groves (2015) concludes that block scheduling is an unnatural, ineffective way for students to learn.

School-related stress has its roots in many different places. On a national scale, surveys and research have in fact confirmed that “school-related pressures were the primary source of stress for the majority of younger and older children” (qtd. in Blazer 2). Not long ago, kindergartens were places for children to play and learn basics, like the alphabet, but now all of it has changed to teaching kids about test taking, doing reading/writing exercises, and even homework (Blazer 4). In an article titled, “Success with Less Stress,” Jerusha Conner, an Assistant Professor of Education at Villanova University, and his partners conducted a study to find what students say about the causes of school stress. The research revealed that standardized tests, large assignments, and college admissions were very frequent answers. Exceeding competition has also caused stress among students because they feel the need to build the best résumé, and this leads to over-scheduled days (Redding). The modernization of the Collin’s theory states that, “the ‘overscheduling hypothesis’ embodies a more recent belief that it is the volume of activities that provides a boost in the application process and that students need

St. Labre were having thoughts about changing the school days by shorting a period from 8th to 7th period. Most people, including myself, believe that shorting a period is a bad idea. Some people say that they wouldn’t get enough work done, or don’t like the feeling of losing a class. Other people would say it’s good that there’s one less of a class. However, I want to explain to you why they should keep the schedule as it is.

Another reason to change the school schedule is to help reduce the stress for the teachers and students. "Mary Brown, a middle-school teacher in Wake County (where three-week breaks occur every nine weeks), says she doesn't see that as a problem at her school. "Our schedule offers the kids a break from school right when they need it," she says. Earlier this year, after their first three-week break, she says, the kids seemed refreshed. "They didn't have the bored, glazed-over look of kids who had been in school for weeks on end with no break in sight."

“States’ new budgets are providing less per-pupil funding for kindergarten through 12th grade than they did six years ago often far less. The reduced levels reflect not only the lingering effects of the 2007-09 recession but also continued austerity in many states, despite some improvements in overall state revenues, schools in around a third of the states are entering the new school year with less state funding than they had last year” (Leachman and Mai). In the United States, school funding has been significantly decreased, because of the limit of funding school districts are looking for solutions. One of the most talked about solutions is a four day school week.