Schools Look to Save Money With Four-Day Week (2/2)

But he sees other benefits, too. Students get more instructional time. And activities that used to interfere with classes are now held on non-school days.He says that in the future, the growth of online classes could make it possible to require even fewer days in school. High fuel prices are driving college students to take more online classes. And in some states, high school students can take them, too.

A four-day school week sounds like a great idea for students and teachers. But working parents may have to pay for child care for that fifth day. In agricultural areas, though, it can mean an extra day of helping on the family ranch.

In New Mexico, the first school district changed to a four-day week in nineteen seventy-four because of the Arab oil boycott. Now, seventeen out of eighty-nine districts use it. The Lake Arthur School District has just one hundred sixty students. Lake Arthur used a four-day schedule" class="hjdict" word="schedule" target=_blank>schedule for twelve years. But a few years ago it went back to five days.

Michael Grossman heads the district. He says two studies there failed to show any real educational improvement using the four-day week. And he says not much instruction was taking place during the last hour of school, because teachers and students were too tired.