Pros and Cons of 4 day school week| The 4-day school is a phenomenon that has spread throughout the United States. This was a fringe educational program that was only utilized by rural school districts when I was a teacher many years ago.
They changed to 4-day school weeks for what reason? The idea that schools might save a tonne of money by running Monday through Thursday, which in principle would cut their operating expenses,
was a knee-jerk reaction to shrinking education budgets. What are the advantages and disadvantages of 4-day school weeks? I appreciate you asking. We shall thoroughly examine this query in this essay.
Pros and Cons of 4 day school week
Pros of the 4-day School Week
Adds flexibility to teachers’ schedules. Teachers claim that the four-day work week’s flexibility allows them to accomplish more. They are ardent supporters of the 4-day school week because of its increased flexibility.
Increases student attendance. Since implementing a 4-day school week, rural communities claim that student attendance has increased. Since many families in these areas own farms, families have more time throughout the week to complete work. Students can volunteer without having to skip class as a result.
School districts save money. The district adds around 40 minutes to the 4-day school week plan to compensate for the time missed on the typical 5th day. Some school districts claim to have saved over $1 million on labor, transportation, and utility costs.
Easier to recruit employees. The 4-day school weeks add flexibility to the teachers’ schedules, which shows. As a result, this makes their jobs more manageable in ways of work. Because of this method or system, school districts do not have a hard time attracting qualified applicants.
You may Like: Pros and Cons of homeschooling| Best or worst
Cons of the 4-Day School Week
A potential decline in academic performance for vulnerable groups. According to research, students who are low-income, minority, or have special needs do not academically fare well in this setting. At first, at any rate. It takes schools around four years to get these pupils back on track academically. For me, risking the futures of our most vulnerable pupils is not worth the minuscule benefits of four-day school weeks.
Potential for juvenile crime to increase. When schools adjusted their school schedules from 5 to 4 days, juvenile criminality surged by 73% in Colorado. These incidents occurred all week long, not just on weekdays when youngsters were not in school.
It might help school districts save money. The Oklahoma Department of Education studied the economic impact of implementing a four-day week in 16 school districts. What they discovered surprised them. They discovered that while seven school districts saved money under the new setup, nine districts actually spent more.
A 4-day school week is misleading. Many school districts believe that decreasing operational expenditures on the fifth day will save them a lot of money, but they forget that they will still be open and running programs on those days off. Administrative employees must be present. Sports teams may need to practice. Professional development workshops may be held, and so on. Furthermore, because special populations fare poorly in this design, remediation expenses begin to eat into the budget.
Do 4-day school weeks positively affect student outcomes?
As you can see, the 4-day school week has a number of benefits and drawbacks, but it is yet unknown how it will affect students’ academic performance in the long run. Numerous studies have shown that the 4-day school week improves students’ arithmetic and reading test scores.
On the other hand, some studies revealed no discernible difference between districts with four and five school days in terms of overall academic achievement. According to studies, certain groups do not flourish in this setup.
We just don’t have enough time, information, or research to reach a firm conclusion because the four-day school week is so new (around a decade old).
Conclusion.
If you were also looking for 4 days school week, then you can go through this post because we have covered all the essential points in this post, so do not miss the details read.
And, if you like the post, then make sure to share it with your friends and families.
