4-day school week gains momentum amid recession.
The next article about mentioned that students need to spend more time in school. However schools are now looking at shortening the school week and extending the day?
I am not against this or for it. I think depends on the economic strength of the families living in the district. If the majority of the families have a stay at home parent or relative why not have off on Friday, Monday or Wednesday. But during these economic times I wouldn't put pressure on the community to fork out more money to someone to watch their child for an extra day, or a lot of children will be left on their own and that can cause trouble.
Now I have heard of one private school that a friend of mine child goes to that has off on Wednesday. Why mid-week it does help to have a break at mid-week for extra study time, large projects and group projects can be worked on. Also it seems to help the children to take a day and they have seen an increase in retained learning, because the students aren't exhausted by Friday. The old study method study for awhile take a break then go back to it you retain more of the information. Now this is a private schools the parents sending their child their know it and have made that option. They also have extra activities going on at the school on that Wednesday, so if the parent cannot take off the day or pay for childcare it is an option. This activity day Wednesday is the day the sports programs practice, academic programs honors math, spelling etc. practice. It is also times for open gyms with rotating teachers that has sport games basketball, volleyball and even dance instruction. The Library is open from 12- 2 that has it open for a place to work on projects, homework help and research. Also the other classes rotated almost like a club day art club, foreign language, and I think others that are all I could remember. So really the students if needed could be at school all day but with open ended and organized activities, but it is optional. Some kids came for an hour for a specific activity others most of the day. This free day also eliminated a lot of afterschool activities since Wednesday was the activity day, and this left more family time after school. All in all this worked. As for the public school from what the article stated this wouldn't be the case this is to save money not enrich education. If the public schools switched to this it would probably boost test scores and increase attentiveness, and maybe save a little money.
In his first major speech on overhauling the country's education system, President Barack Obama broke with members of his own party and urged states to open more charter schools and expand programs that pay teachers based on performance. The president also called on states to stop "low-balling" academic standards and end the use of "off-the-shelf" student testing. "We have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us,"
- "off-the-shelf" student testing
- "low-balling" academic standards
- open more charter schools
Good let's see how this plays out in the next 4 years I hope it just doesn't become a big mess.
From the article:
Obama Details Plan for Overhauling Education
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