How much time should students spend in the classroom each week? And each day?
We are among those who believe that the four-day week creates a larger teacher and administrator hiring pool and lowers district costs, particularly for smaller districts in rural locations in the state. We are also among those who feel that seat time is critical in the lower grades, and that extending the school day in response to one day fewer does not make for adequate learning. As to the latter, the shortcomings of a long day that begins early, that has been documented.
But much of the above is loosely anecdotal, gathered from sources large and small and, frankly, sometimes heard over coffee.
Durango continues with a five-day week, while Bayfield, Cortez and Mancos are four.
The recent report by the Keystone Policy Center, a well-regarded nonpartisan center with northern Colorado in its name, has challenged our thinking. The four-day week may not be an aid in hiring, and it may not be saving a district money, it reports. And as to whether academic learning suffers without the fifth day in the classroom, that seems to depend on other factors. We suspect there are plenty of general ideas in academic circles as to what activities could take place off school grounds on day five that have learning value, but nothing has been formalized. Districts are in towns and cities with different resources, some wealthier and thus with more options, and leadership, varies. Youth-oriented community nonprofits and imaginative nondistrict leadership may not exist in every situation.
(Sixty percent of the state’s districts are on a four-day schedule, dropping either Friday or Monday, according to the Keystone Policy Center, but that represents only 14% of the state’s students.)
And, in the home, there is certain to be either parents with work requirements that have to take precedence over their children’s day-five activities, and parents, likely one, who has the time to chauffeur to make participation in local field trips, art and recreational youth programs, possible.
Other parents, a few, may have occupations that middle or high school students can participate in on that day, strengthening relationships, as well.
Are parents as effective and as diligent as they could be in nurturing their children’s academics and in encouraging reading and writing, whether on day five or all week? That is certain to vary.
Few would argue against five days of the proper length, we suspect, delivered by adequately paid teachers with a classroom size that allows for plenty of interaction and personal attention. Colorado lags in providing that funding.
For the four-day districts across the state, we look forward to learning more about what that fifth day should consist of, and what it would take to return them to five days.
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A few words of praise for Montezuma-Cortez High School theater director Nicholaus Sandner who has been named Colorado Theater Teacher of the Year by the state Thespians.
Sandner has been theater director since 2011, and points to his stage experiences gained at Durango High School and with the Durango Lively Arts, and at Fort Lewis College where he graduated.
In an article in the Aug. 28, 2024 Journal, Sandner said he enjoys teaching in a smaller school where he and his students have to be imaginative in creating production materials.
While most of the attention on school performance is focused on math and reading scores and the delivery of the sciences, student theater has great value. The self confidence it develops in those on stage and behind it, the exposure to historical writing and the arts, and as Sandner says the creativity that is often required, makes participation in drama productions exceptionally worthwhile.
Congratulations to Nicholaus Sandner, who will receive his award in Denver this month.
