Kids Can’t Afford an Extra Day Off
Cost-cutting US school districts are increasingly moving to abbreviated weekly schedules. Students pay the price.
Classrooms shouldn’t be empty three days a week.
Photographer: Allison Dinner/AFP/Getty Images
Considering how much ground US students lost during the pandemic, it would seem self-evident that they should be spending more time in the classroom to catch up. Yet a growing number of school districts across the country are doing the opposite, by moving to a four-day school week. Advocates claim the change can help schools save money and attract and retain teachers. It’s also bound to leave students even further behind.
The vast majority of students are still required to attend school Monday through Friday, but four-day weeks are gaining in popularity. As of last year, at least 1,600 public schools in 25 states had adopted four-day weeks, a sixfold increase since 1999. Prior to the pandemic, the practice was largely limited to rural areas — more than half of Idaho’s school districts use four-day weeks — but has since spread to cities and suburbs, as schools have expanded remote learning and experimented with hybrid schedules. In Texas, more than 60 districts allow four-day weeks, including in suburbs outside Dallas and Houston.