Essay On 4 Day School Week

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.

    An article from The Wichita Eagle really focuses on one family and how the change to longer school days has impacted them and their first-grade son. It also has some views from a few other parents and a couple of teachers and board members.

A downside to four-day school weeks is that the money comes directly out of the wages paid to bus drivers, janitors, and food-service workers, creating a financial hardship for them. On the other hand, transportation and food costs decrease

Over 87% of teenagers don’t get enough sleep and go to school tired. Teenagers have constant expectations to live up to, but with the amount of sleep they’re getting it can be seemingly impossible. The question has been brought up time and time again, should the school day start later? Because of the risks of not getting enough sleep, trying to keep up with their their busy schedules, and being in their adolescent years, having the school day start later would help teenagers around the world immensely.

Can you imagine getting up on a Friday morning and not having to get up and go to school. This is becoming more than just a really good dream in some places across the country. This is happening as close as Hot Springs School District in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Many school officials around the country are switching to the system because they believe it is better financially and better for the kids. A four day school week will be better for the children and financially because it saves the school money, student and teacher morale are better, and better test scores.

Now you see that a four day school week. Is better than a five day school week. Because there are less children getting in trouble. Kids are getting better grades in school. Schools are saving money by not having to spend money on bus

The pros of four-day school are good for saving districts money. The one day off saving money on the service they pay to help the student such as transportation. The four day school week improve student and teacher attendance. On the extra day off they could schedule dentist appoint it and other appointments that need to be done, This means fewer substitute teachers. A teacher with the day off come back to school refresh and focus on the week. On the day of student and teacher can spend time with their families. They could go to a museum or go hiking and bond together.

Attendance may also improve with a four day week. There is a district in Montana that reported a 19% increase in attendance. Also many teachers see an improvement in discipline.

It is very common for students in the fall to have at least six weeks of review because they have forgotten so much. Michelle Obama stated in Education today, “Our children could score higher on every measure of testing if they didn’t have such a long break between grade levels.” Many countries outscore America on math tests. This might be because math needs to be used continually or the equations are forgotten. Ms. Obama also stated, “Many poor parents cannot afford daycare, so they have to leave their children with older siblings while they are at work.” Public schools are paid for the government and they would be taking care of the children except for Fridays. The elementary students would be safer in class than at home without adequate supervision. Lastly, Ms. Obama declared, “Extended weekends mean that families would have more time together and might take fewer vacation days during school

Is the traditional school calendar really the best option for your local school system? Maybe, having a year-round schooling system would be best. Year-round education is when schools operate on a 180 day school calendar with frequent breaks. Year-round calendars also don’t include a long summer vacation(Melissa Kelly, February 21,2017). A traditional school in America has a 10-month school calendar, but, many are switching to the year-round calendar. Some are switching to maintain more consistent instruction. A few others are switching in order to save money(Grace Chen, July 2017, Public School Review). There are over 3,000 year-round schools in the United States today. Year-round schools first started in major cities or towns like, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Cleveland, Buffalo and Detroit. But, Los Angeles has the most year-round schools, over 500, in the nation. And there are only 10% of public school students who attend a year-round school. This can be beneficial for both teachers,students and even the families involved. The dropout rate is 2% lower than traditional schools( Niche ,2016). The absence rate is also lower, about 1% lower to be exact. This type of system can increase the school building capacity which means there’s no overcrowding. More education would be provided to lower income families or a child that is disabled. Studies also show that year-round schools have higher test scores than traditional schools. Changing the traditional school calendar

That unscheduled day can provide them time to get a tutor, and that improves their scores drastically, proving that help from outside of school can help students and their grades. A day off also means more time added to classes, which means that students have more time to learn. It had been proven that students also have a longer attention span, and that they could focus better with a four-day school week. It has also shown that they are better well-behaved, and are more respectful to others. Both teachers and students have been keeping their attendance at a higher level, which rises the school's overall attendance grades. Schools that have shorter weeks have students that perform 18% above the average academic

Studies show that the amount of discipline referrals issued go down. The Chattooga county school district saw a 73% drop in discipline referrals(Vittana). This is because the students had an extra day off and don’t have to focus for five straight days on school. In addition to being more rested from the extra day off. Students that are more focused and rested learn better. So it increases the value of class time where a 5 day school week by Friday students can be unfocused and not rested. That leads to unhappy students who aren’t learning and probably gonna distract other students to keep them from learning. So

Studies show that the amount of discipline referrals issued go done. The Chattooga county school district saw a 73% drop in discipline referrals(Vittana). This is because the students had an extra day off and don’t have to focus for five straight days on school. In addition to being more rested from the extra day off. Students that are more focused and rested learn better. So it increases the value of class time where 5 day school weeks by friday students can be unfocused and not rested. That leads to unhappy students who aren’t learning and probably gonna distract other students to keep them from learning. So even though you have less days your class time is more

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

Financial problems have arose in many schools. Many schools believe that “One day less means one day less of heating the school, fueling buses, feeding students and paying certain staff members” (Anderson). Little things like that can save schools a lot more money. More money means more equipment for learning and new schools objects. “An informational poll on edutopia.com indicates that 67% of over 2700 polled favor this as a solution to school districts financial hardship” (Hadfield). A lot of people want the four day week to be a “thing” so that financial problems can no longer be a problem. Teachers and schools would say “Their budgets has been stretched tighter than a drum and has finally reached a breaking point that cannot be ignored” (Occupy Theory). A sign that teacher and student are getting a bit tired of the stress being put on them because of financial problem. There are more benefits along with the resolution of financial problems and it is academics.