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What Teachers Are Saying About the Four-Day School Week
posted by: Melissa | March 27, 2019, 02:03 PM   

Across the country, more and more schools and districts are moving from a five-day school week to a four-day school week. The movement started in rural districts looking to save money. With high costs associated with bussing and electricity, it was thought that you could cut costs by closing the building to students one additional day a week. Since then, it’s spread quickly. This year, approximately half of all school districts in Colorado alone have a four-day week.


As the practice has spread, districts have noted additional benefits: students and teachers were less stressed, fewer student and teacher absences, dedicated time for extra-curricular activities and trips, more meaningful professional development, and higher teacher retention.


It’s still in the early days of trying this practice out and none of the above claims have been studied in the long term. It’s worth taking a moment to review what teachers are saying about the possibility.


A recent Reddit thread explored the issue. Teachers expressed the following:


“Cramming grading and lesson planning into four days can be rough, but if you are good at time management it is totally doable.”


“I LOVE it. I don’t have to touch work at all on Sat and Sun! It’s amazing. I can be a real person again. I can also make vet appointments, oil changes, etc. for Monday.”


“Our days are loooong. Our contract hours are 7:30-4:30, but for students it’s 7:50-3:30. But in the flip side of that, we get all our PDs and committee meetings and whatever else done after school and on that half Monday.”


“Pretty much every curriculum is designed for a 5-day week, so planning out our curriculum takes some interesting thoughts.”


“That three-day gap between Thursday and Monday feels LONG when I want my high schoolers to retain information. And it’s frustrating when a lesson needs just 10-15 extra minutes, but it’s Thursday and you can’t finish it until Monday.”


Do you teach a four-day week?

Share below!


Comments (2)Add Comment
...
written by JoAnne, New Jersey, July 10, 2019

Four days a week of school is better than the traditional 5 days a week. It gives both teacher and students adequate time to regroup from being in school 5 days a week for 8 plus hours a day.
High School Teacher
written by Susan Deming, Circle MT, April 05, 2019

I love the four-day school week. We have fewer absences for sports and other extra-curricular activities, fewer days needing subs, and a longer instruction time. I believe the last item is the most important because we have enough time each day to have a meaningful debate, work on a project, or complete a test. I love it!

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