Shortening the school week to four days would have a significantly positive impact on pupils’ academic performance, particularly in maths, according to a new study.
Researchers at Georgia State University and Montana State University in the US compared fourth-years’ reading and fifth-years’ maths test results for primary students who participated in a four-day school week, versus those who attended the traditional five-day one.
Results showed how a four-day school week had a statistically significant impact on maths results for the fifth-year students, while reading scores were not affected.
The study highlighted how there was little evidence that moving to a four-day week would hinder student academic achievement which, the researchers added, is an important find for education as it would effectively help to cut costs.
A number of school districts in the US have already moved away from the traditional Monday to Friday schedule to a four-day week – as a way of saving money to reduce overhead and transportation costs – with Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming already said to be benefitting from the move.
Dean of the School of Policy Studies at Georgia State, Mary Beth Walker, highlighted how over one-third of the school districts in Colorado have adopted a four-day schedule, which is also being considered across the country in Oregon, Missouri, Florida, and Georgia.
Reflecting on the study, Ms Walker explained how she was surprised with the results as she originally thought the longer days on a shorter week would have hurt younger students’ academic performance because they have shorter attention spans.
As well as this, she said a longer weekend would give them more opportunity to forget what they had learned.
However, once the study was complete, Ms Walker said: “Although the shortened school week did not have a measurable impact on reading outcomes, the idea that the change in the calendar did not have negative effects we thought was an important result.”
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In order for a four-day week to take place, school districts would be required to lengthen the teaching day to meet minimum instructional hour requirements, whereas previously, Ms Walker said there was a lack of information on whether the measure would affect student performance.
Overall, the dean believed the measure would give teachers an opportunity to use different kinds of instructional processes, and also lower absenteeism. She said: “Students who had dentist appointments or events might be able to put those off until Friday and not miss school. We thought there might be less teacher absenteeism.
“My own personal hypothesis is teachers liked it so much – they were so enthusiastic about the four-day week. They did a better job.”
The researchers have been speculating on why the shortened week affected students so positively and, with there not being enough data to draw definite conclusions just yet, the dean has suggested further study.
