Many schools across the country are switching to 4-day school weeks for many reasons, but is it turning out like they hoped? Schools making the switch were hoping to save on expenses like water consumption, cafeteria expenses and bus prices. Some believe there was not much money being saved because student sports teams are using buses and drivers for away games and they are now paying teachers more for the time added on to compensate for the lost day. Alongside schools not saving money over the years, test scores and student success are also plummeting with one less school day. Sources believe kids are at work, running errands, or are with family on the day off, but juvenile crime has hit a high. Overall, schools had high expectations for the…show more content… Document 1 states that "Several years after adopting a four-day schedule, the researchers found, those districts saw slower rates of student progress than similarly situated districts that retained a five-day schedule". This could be because they now have a day off and are not using it towards education like they would if at school, or because some schools have been found to have up to 58 fewer school hours a year with a 4-day week than a regular one. Some districts have found a positive with an increase in test scores, but this change is primarily hurting students of color, with disabilities, and of low income. Document 3 says "Crime rates jumped the most on Thursdays; the researchers theorized that students treated that evening like an additional weekend night". They have found that when the kids are in school and supervised, they are much less likely to be committing crimes and causing trouble. When it comes to a student's performance, the 4 day week has been nothing but detrimental. Most schools originally made the switch because they were facing budget crunch and believed they would save money with one less day. They are now seeing the extra cost that the 4-day week is causing
