Schools' New Math: the Four-Day Week
Shortening the school week to four days to save money sounds like a terrible idea. Here's a much better one: lay off the weakest teachers (NOT by seniority), which will raise overall teacher quality and offset the impact of larger classes. Contrary to union mythology, high-performing charter schools do NOT achieve their success via small classes, but more often big classes with top teachers. For example, in the past week, I've visited Harlem Success (average class size of 28 for very young children) and The Equity Project (classes of 31 for 5th graders).
A small but growing number of school districts across the country are moving to a four-day week, in a shift they hope will help close gaping budget holes and stave off teacher layoffs, but that critics fear could hurt students' education.
State legislators and local school boards are giving administrators greater flexibility to set their academic calendars, making the four-day slate possible. But education experts say little research exists to show the impact of shortened weeks on learning. The missed hours are typically made up by lengthening remaining school days.
Of the nearly 15,000-plus districts nationwide, more than 100 in at least 17 states currently use the four-day system, according to data culled from the Education Commission of the States. Dozens of other districts are contemplating making the change in the next year—a shift that is apt to create new challenges for working parents as well as thousands of school employees.
posted by Whitney Tilson at 9:01 AM
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