Do four-day school weeks make sense?

11-01-2011

Blog by Valerie Strauss/Washington Post

Many millions of dollars have been spent this year on experiments with teacher evaluation systems, standardized tests and the expansion of charter schools. But when it comes to finding the resources to keep schools open five days a week and classes at a reasonable size, well, not so much. Four-day school weeks in a small but growing number of school districts are a result of the economic crisis around the country, according to this story by my colleague Lyndsey Layton. More than 290 school districts — up from an estimated 120 two years ago — now have four-day weeks with extended hours to make up for the lost day. Though that is a mere fraction of the 15,000 districts in the country, it reveals the extremes some school systems feel they must go to to deal with their financial woes. Other bad remedies include expanding class size to 40, 45, 50 or even more students, cutting afterschool programs, etc. (more...)

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Do four-day school weeks make sense?

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