When there is a debate about improving the educational system, one of the first ideas that is proposed is to increase the days of class because it is believed that the more days in school, the more students will learn and have better results.
Curiously, research found quite the opposite, according to data from Georgia State University and Montana State University, shortening the weekly shift from five to four days would have a positive impact on the academic performance of elementary school children.
Children who attended school four times a week had longer school days in order to meet the minimum hours required by the academic curriculum, and their math and reading scores were compared to the scores of children who attended school. to the usual routine of five days a week.
would have a positive impact on the academic performance of primary school children
Shortening the school week to four days a week would have a positive impact on elementary school children’s math performance and would not affect their reading scores.
The researchers believed they would find negative results. But to their surprise, those who only attended four times a week enjoyed a statistically significant benefit in math scores and their reading scores did not deteriorate.
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“What’s interesting about our results is that they were completely opposite to what we anticipated. We thought that, especially for elementary school children (…), longer days in a shorter school week would affect their academic performance because their attention spans are shorter. Also that longer weekends would make them forget what they had learned.¨ Said Mary Beth Walker, dean of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at the University of Georgia.
Why did reducing one day in the school routine improve math performance?
gave teachers more time to better plan and develop classes
This is the first research to demonstrate the benefits of four days of school and therefore, although the authors do not have enough data, they speculate that having longer school days gives teachers the opportunity to use different pedagogical approaches that benefit to the kids. Likewise, the four-day-a-week schedule also contributes to reducing school absenteeism. For example, “if a child needs to go to the dentist, her parents will make the appointment for Friday, when the child does not have to go to school. Another hypothesis that the authors use is that the initiative motivated and gave teachers more time to plan and develop classes better. Children are less exhausted and enjoy their free time more.
These results are fantastic. Can I propose them in educational institutions?
We go little by little. Let us first highlight the fact that the authors explain that these results are only applicable in small educational contexts located in rural regions (where they evaluated the four-day schedule). Secondly, and as expected, more studies are still needed to allow us to understand how the four-day program will work in urban educational institutions.
The idea has a very seductive force for children and teachers in the cities who dream of only four days of classes a week, but it surely will not be so for the parents who will have to see what they do with the children at home.
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