Should the School Week Be Shorter?

Imagine if you had a three-day weekend every week of the school year. For students in Independence, Missouri, that’s the reality. They go to school Tuesday through Friday—and always have Mondays off.

Independence is one of a growing number of school districts across the country reducing their school weeks to just four days. As of 2023, nearly 900 school districts in 26 states had made the switch. That’s up from 650 districts in 2020. 

Why cut a day? The United States is facing a teacher shortage, making it hard for schools to hire enough staff. Many districts are shortening the school week as an incentive to attract and keep teachers. To make up for the missed time, some districts—including Independence—lengthen the remaining four school days. 

Not everyone supports a four-day school week though. Critics point out that the purpose of school is learning—and that losing out on class time can harm students’ education.

You can’t have school without teachers. Yet 86 percent of public schools struggled to hire teachers this school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Shortening the school week can help districts attract educators.

That’s why Independence switched last fall. “It was 100 percent driven by us wanting to attract and retain the best staff,” says Superintendent Dale Herl. The district has had nearly four times the job applicants since then. 

Families also benefit, supporters say—especially in rural areas. In those communities, for example, students often have to travel far for routine doctor’s visits, causing them to miss class. Now appointments can be scheduled for days off.

In addition, cutting a day is a hit with students. Most high schoolers in four-day schools favor the schedule, according to the research firm 

Rand Corporation. The day off gives them time to do homework, catch up on rest, and hang out with friends. 

Eighth-grader Ryan Buehler from San Rafael, California, goes to school five days a week. He would love a shorter week, he says, so his weekends wouldn’t be as packed. “Four days just seems a lot less stressful,” Ryan explains. “You could sleep in more, just chill, and unwind.”

Giving up one day of school a week can have harmful effects, critics say. The change often reduces classroom learning time by as much as four hours a week. That can affect test scores, says Paul Thompson, a professor at Oregon State University. He researches four-day school weeks. 

In a 2021 study of 11th-graders in Oregon, Thompson found that those on a four-day schedule performed worse on standardized math tests than those who attended school five days a week. “The amount of time that students are in the classroom matters,” Thompson says.

On top of that, many students depend on schools for meals. About 19 million kids in the U.S. receive free lunch at school and about 11 million receive free breakfast, according to the School Nutrition Association. Losing those meals, even just one day a week, can force them to go hungry. 

Plus, the shorter week creates scheduling challenges. Parents and guardians who work struggle with what to do with their kids on the extra day off. Some end up paying for camps or child care. Others have to leave their kids unsupervised. 

Callahan Pruente is an eighth-grader in Independence. She says having longer hours on the days she goes to school cuts into her after-school sports. “It’s less practice time,” she says. “I don’t really like having longer days.”