Imagine a world where the weekend starts from the last the school bell rings on Thursday, and the children take advantage of Friday to broaden their horizons outside the classroom.

This concept is already a reality for students in some school districts as they embark on the experimental transition. As workplaces continue to flirt with the idea of ​​reducing one day per week, some might wonder if the five-day school week is also outdated.

But what is the real justification for this change?

Fox News Digital spoke with Melissa Loble, chief academic officer at education technology company Instructure, to get insight into what she’s heard personally from districts.

“The four-day school week, when I talk to districts and teachers, we see some benefits, is the opportunity to have other types of life experiences on the fifth day, which could be a deeper week .focus on sports. It could be internships, work-study opportunities. It could be a day to focus on particular areas of interest. Maybe you’re an entrepreneur. as a high school student and you want to do these kinds of things that make you a more well-rounded kid as you think about where you want to go next,” she said.

MORE AND MORE SCHOOLS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES ADOPT 4-DAY LEARNING WEEKS

As workplaces continue to flirt with the idea of ​​reducing one day per week, some might wonder if the five-day school week is also outdated. (iStock)

This could be college or work, depending on the path each student decides to follow.

Loble, who has years of experience in education, says the confines of a classroom might not provide the most conducive setting for students to discover their passions and discover the role they want to pursue in life. Imagine, for example, how different the learning outcomes might be for students learning about government in a civics class, as opposed to gaining practical, real-world experience during an internship in a local congressional office or shadowing someone in the field.

Writing for a newspaper – whether the school’s own publication or one aimed at the broader community – could give a student greater insight into how writing skills learned in English lessons can be applied in the real world.

“This gives students time to do more group or independent work,” Loble added.

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“So you might notice that whatever day it is (when students are not in school), it gives you the opportunity to say, ‘We’re going to work more collaboratively together and tackle these projects, spend more time on practical things instead of spending 30 to 40 minutes in class and then doing homework every evening.

Typically, schools remove Fridays from their schedules, but some have chosen to remove Mondays instead, she noted.

Although Loble says districts haven’t released much data to offer insight into the results, some may have opted for a truncated school week to help mitigate significant costs — think diesel for buses, air conditioning and heating or perhaps even additional water and electricity costs. .

The advantages, however, have their share of disadvantages.

OHIO SCHOOL DISTRICT MOVES TO FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK: ‘WE’RE BURNED’

A school bus arrives at George Mason Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia on August 21, 2023. Some school districts may have chosen to cut a day from the learning week to reduce costs such as fuel for students. buses or public services. (Craig Hudson for the Washington Post via Getty Images)

While some districts have asked children to come to class only four days a week, most parents continue to go to work on the day their children are home. That’s created a problem for some families, Loble said, especially those who rely on their child’s school for more than just a learning space.

“As I’ve heard, there are challenges in some areas where there’s not as much flexibility for parents, and so it’s difficult to find child care or find activities and schools have to have seats on the fifth day (to let kids in let’s say parents can’t be home or structure a safe environment, (and) there needs to be ways for districts to support that, so that you could come to school on those days You could go to the library and there could be some opportunities where they rotate volunteers or some teachers or some teachers.

Rural and low-income areas may be hit harder, particularly if many children rely on school breakfasts or lunches to be fed each day at these meal times.

“There are families whose parents depend on feeding their children five days a week from their own resources or income, but they cannot. So districts realize that they still have to think about provide a supplement for families who can’t really leverage,” Loble continued.

“I would say it’s in some of the either rural communities where there is more emphasis on five-day blue-collar work or in areas where there is a larger student population, both parents work, and there is not much income in the family and where school really offers them more than just studies. This will vary by district, but it’s one of the things I don’t think they (districts) anticipated, at least the few I’ve spoken with. »

SIX-YEAR-OLD GEORGIAN Pleading with “GOVERNMENT” FOR FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK

Some students rely on school meals for nutrition. (Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

Some school districts have chosen to implement a four-day school week to attract educators, some reports sayespecially as the persistent teacher shortage creates challenges for public schools across the country, particularly for small, rural schools.

However, many fear that reducing teaching time could hinder student progress.

The results are mixed, according to The Journalist’s Resource, a news outlet focused on college coverage.

“The impact on students, however, has not been as positive. Although peer-reviewed research on the topic is limited and focuses only on a single state or a small group of states, there is evidence that some student groups learn less on four. “A five-day schedule rather than a five-day schedule,” the news outlet said in a report published in 2018 and updated last year.

An analysis included in the article suggests that reading progress declines for students who attend the course. four days a week instead of five, at least in six states.

At the same time, however, the data seems to suggest that the results depend largely on the group studied, as rural students saw little or no change compared to others.

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