Around the country, more school districts have transitioned into a four day school week. Most districts use a schedule of Monday through Thursday, but some have weeks that are Tuesday through Friday. The extra day off is used as a teacher development day or tutoring for students who need additional help. Because the weeks are shortened, the hours in the day are increased in order to maintain the same amount of learning as five day school weeks.
One major impact of the reduced school week is the amount of money that is saved on transportation, food, and energy costs. These savings come from the buses running one less day, food services not having to provide five days a week, and the amount of energy used is drastically decreased. The maximum amount of money a school district can save with four day school weeks is 5.43%. The average percent of money saved on school districts is 0.4% to 2.5%. Although it is not the biggest impact four day weeks have on schools, the cut costs are beneficial to all districts across the country.
The main effect of shorter school weeks is the amount of teachers attracted to the job due to the benefits of four day weeks. With the recent increase in the demand for teachers, short weeks seem to be a helpful option to gain teacher interest. This is especially true in rural districts because teachers and staff travel from further away in order to get to work. A school district in Independence, Missouri recently transitioned to a four day school week and saw a 360% increase in staff applicants. They also added 20 new positions for staff to fill. When the new staff was interviewed, their top reason for applying was because of the school week change. The next reasons being location and seeking a new job and opportunity.
The benefits of shorter weeks have influenced many districts to adapt to the new schedule. More schools should consider transitioning to four day weeks, especially since the students receive the same amount of learning hours each week and there are shown improvements in school districts.
