Four Days of School

I've been told that this 4-day school week is the newest educational controversy... school districts do have to find a way to cope with the higher prices of gasoline and heating bills, so expect this to be an issue for small rural districts first.

Brownsville PA is exactly that. They are looking at switching to a four-day school week to save energy costs, and they are making plans to have longer school days in order not to lose overall instructional time. (article) But Superintendent Lawrence Golembiewski wants to cut Mondays, unlike the Fridays suggested in other districts.

To accomplish the switch, he'd add about 15 minutes to each class period to cover the same amount of material over four longer school days. He favors Monday as the day to close, figuring it would be counterproductive to close on Friday but keep schools heated for sporting events on Friday nights.

"We live in Western Pennsylvania," he said. "You cannot touch King Football."

This makes a lot of sense, financially. What are parents going to do with their kids on that new day off? And will No Child be Left Behind? It's hard to predict... if it has never been done before. But it has.

Financial problems prompted the East Grand School District, about 80 miles northwest of Denver, to adopt the four-day week in 1982, business manager Flo Glenn said. District officials heard many of the same objections about longer days and child-care problems, but she said the district has realized savings in transportation and heating costs.

Good. But academic performance?

Teachers report that they now cover about 20 percent more material each year because classes are longer and students have more time to remain engrossed in discussions. Test scores also went up "a little bit," but he said other factors contributed to that increase.

I assume this is an 8-period day, not block schedules. I wouldn't want my students for 2 hours at a time.

Student participation in school activities has increased because students believe they have more time to balance extracurriculars with homework, Creal said. Teachers, too, like having an extra day to plan lessons and projects.

I'll bet they do. I am about ready to forward this to my own superintendent.

The East Grand website includes several great sources of information, including the Colorado Department of Education 4 Day Report. Please check these out.