Many school districts have moved on from five-day school weeks to four-day school weeks in recent years. The primary causes of this switch are a shortage of teachers, decline in student performance and lack of school budgets.
Staying away from five-day school weeks has attracted and retained new teachers. Teachers rarely said they prefer five-day weeks over four-day weeks. With this extra day off, teachers have had additional time to prepare lessons, grade assignments and enjoy their personal lives. This additional off day has improved work-life balance.
Students were more likely to attend class in districts with four-day school weeks with the motivation of one less day. Students with four-day weeks had an average 93.4% attendance rate. Attendance in five-day week systems was 92.9%. Even though this was a minimal increase of 0.5%, every 200 students is one more kid that shows up to class. This is more kids than it sounds if looked at over the course of a school year.
“I think I would have better attendance with a 4-day week because it would mean a three day weekend,” senior Hashim Ahmad explained. “It would feel closer to a 50-50, which would then change my mindset to not feeling like I’m in school all the time.”
Over the past few years, standardized and classroom test scores have declined. Research showed mixed results. Some showed a positive correlation between shorter school weeks and test scores, while others did not.
“Test scores would decrease if school weeks are shortened because students will not focus at home,” said senior Prajay Gutti.
“I think test scores would increase because students will have more time to study on their own and have less stress,” said junior Sumedh Rajurkar. “They won’t get burnt out, and can also teach them real life skills such as managing their time better.”
School budgets have been the biggest reason schools have made this change. Transportation costs could decrease by 20% with a shortened school week. Because of this, schools can reduce the overall budget by 1-3%.
The transition from 5-day school weeks to 4-day school weeks has many positives to it. Although this shift had mixed results, it helped school districts meet their teachers’ needs, improve student attendance and reduce spending.
