Four-Day School Weeks

We hear many things in the news: teacher lay-offs, student performance, budget deficits, and the booming summer camp industry.  I heard about four-day school weeks for the first time a few months ago on NPR and have been thinking a lot about the pros and cons of this drastic change in scheduling. Four-day school weeks mean a longer school day for children and teachers, with an extra weekend day.


Many companies are experimenting with four-day work weeks  and have found that they are able to save on energy costs, and employees save tremendously on fuel costs by not having to drive to work a fifth day. My mother's company switched to a similar model, the 8 day/ 80 hours cycle, last fall and she has found that the extra few hours at work actually makes her much more productive while she also gets an extra long weekend every other week.

Critics of the Four-day school week say that teachers just do a "dog and pony show" for the extra hour and a half each day, but I doubt that these people have actually spent much time in an classroom. Perhaps I am just ignorant and haven't noticed the "Dog and Pony Show Teaching Methods" course in my course catalog.  You be the judge, but I think that besides the energy savings there is myriad educational value in a four-day school week:

• more time for subjects like social studies, art, and science.
• more time for student-centered, project based learning.
• more time to delve deeper into the content.
• more time for authentic reading experiences.
• more time to plan and implement student-centered community service projects.
• more time for small group instruction, one-on-one tutoring, and pull-out services like ESL and Special Education.

As well, we all know that teachers spend a great deal of their spare time attending professional development workshops and planning for instruction. A four-day school week would give them one full extra day per week to focus on planning, attend professional development workshops, and collaborate with their professional learning team or other education specialists. Not to mention, having a full day for planning also means the teacher might actually get some rest, relaxation, and time with his or her family on the weekends.

While many parents will face challenges finding child care on that fifth day, with the booming summer camp industry, combined with many workplaces going to the four-day model, this may be just what our country needs to bridge the international achievement gap while also increasing productivity in the workplace and providing time for families to connect.