Education news: 4 day school week sweeping the country

On the surface it appears to be a good idea. But I would need to see how these experiments turn out over a long period of time before I would support this option. Obviously, a longer school day would be implemented. I would guess the school year would have to be lengthened as well. What would become of the various week off vacations? I guess we will find out soon.


US schools switching to 4-day weeks to save money amid sluggish economy

During the school year, Mondays in this rural Georgia community are for video games, trips to grandma's house and hanging out at the neighborhood community center.
Don't bother showing up for school. The doors are locked and the lights are off.
Peach County is one of more than 120 school districts across the country where students attend school just four days a week, a cost-saving tactic gaining popularity among cash-strapped districts struggling to make ends meet. The 4,000-student district started shaving a day off its weekly school calendar
last year to help fill a $1 million budget shortfall.
It was that or lay off 39 teachers the week before school started, said Superintendent Susan Clark.
"We're treading water," Clark said as she stood outside the headquarters of her seven-school district. "There was nothing else for us to do."
The results? Test scores went up.
So did attendance — for both students and teachers. The district is spending one-third of what it once did on substitute teachers, Clark said.
And the graduation rate likely will be more than 80 percent for the first time in years, Clark said.
The four days that students are in school are slightly longer and more crowded with classes and activities. After school, students can get tutoring in subjects where they're struggling.

Link:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/04/schools-switching-day-weeks-save-money-amid-sluggish-economy/?test=latestnews