Four-day week does wonders at this school
Source: Agencies |
June 5, 2010, Saturday
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DURING the school year, Mondays in the rural Georgia community of Peach County are for video games, trips to grandma's house and hanging out at the neighborhood community center.
Don't bother showing up for school. The doors are locked and the lights are off.
Peach County is one of more than 120 school districts across the United States where students attend school just four days a week, a cost-saving tactic gaining popularity among cash-strapped districts struggling to make ends meet.
The 4,000-student district started shaving a day off its weekly school calendar last year to help fill a US$1 million budget shortfall.
It was that or lay off 39 teachers the week before school started, said Superintendent Susan Clark.
"We're treading water," Clark said outside the headquarters of her seven-school district. "There was nothing else for us to do."
The results? Test scores went up.
So did attendance -- for both students and teachers. The district is spending one-third of what it once did on substitute teachers, she said.
Graduation rate
And the graduation rate likely will be more than 80 percent for the first time in years, Clark said.
The four days that students are in school are slightly longer and more crowded with classes and activities. After school, students can get tutoring in subjects where they're struggling.
Experts say research is scant on the effect of a four-day school week on student performance. In fact, there is mostly just anecdotal evidence in reports on the trend with little scientific data to back up what many districts say, said University of Southern Maine researcher Christine Donis-Keller.
"The broadest conclusion you can draw is that it doesn't hurt academics," said Donis-Keller, who is with the university's Center for Education Policy, Applied Research and Evaluation.
Many districts that have the shortened schedule say they've seen students who are less tired and more focused, which has helped raise test scores and attendance. But others say that not only did they not save a substantial amount of money by being off an extra day, they also saw students struggle because they weren't in class enough and didn't have enough contact with teachers.
Don't bother showing up for school. The doors are locked and the lights are off.
Peach County is one of more than 120 school districts across the United States where students attend school just four days a week, a cost-saving tactic gaining popularity among cash-strapped districts struggling to make ends meet.
The 4,000-student district started shaving a day off its weekly school calendar last year to help fill a US$1 million budget shortfall.
It was that or lay off 39 teachers the week before school started, said Superintendent Susan Clark.
"We're treading water," Clark said outside the headquarters of her seven-school district. "There was nothing else for us to do."
The results? Test scores went up.
So did attendance -- for both students and teachers. The district is spending one-third of what it once did on substitute teachers, she said.
Graduation rate
And the graduation rate likely will be more than 80 percent for the first time in years, Clark said.
The four days that students are in school are slightly longer and more crowded with classes and activities. After school, students can get tutoring in subjects where they're struggling.
Experts say research is scant on the effect of a four-day school week on student performance. In fact, there is mostly just anecdotal evidence in reports on the trend with little scientific data to back up what many districts say, said University of Southern Maine researcher Christine Donis-Keller.
"The broadest conclusion you can draw is that it doesn't hurt academics," said Donis-Keller, who is with the university's Center for Education Policy, Applied Research and Evaluation.
Many districts that have the shortened schedule say they've seen students who are less tired and more focused, which has helped raise test scores and attendance. But others say that not only did they not save a substantial amount of money by being off an extra day, they also saw students struggle because they weren't in class enough and didn't have enough contact with teachers.
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