Next school year, Westview will offer an on-campus, college-accredited Cultural Anthropology course in partnership with Palomar Community College. Students will attend classes during first period on Tuesdays and Thursdays in order to meet the minimum requirement for college instructional minutes, and will be off-roll for the remaining three days of the week. After attending biweekly classes for 10 weeks, Cultural Anthropology students will be eligible to receive 10 college credits.
This model shows the plausibility of completing a college-level course in less time than it would take to complete a high school course, which highlights the excessive amount of time that Westview students currently spend in the classroom.
Considering this, Westview — and, on a broader scale, the state of California — should consider the benefits of moving away from the current five-day school week schedule.
Currently, 26 states have recognized that learning cannot be measured solely by the number of days and minutes logged inside the classroom. More than 2,100 schools in the U.S. have shifted to a four-day school week while still abiding by state minimums for instructional minutes, and a study of public schools in Idaho, New Mexico, and Oklahoma — the three states to first implement four-day school weeks — revealed that the schedule change resulted in an increase in attendance and had no statistically significant negative effect on average test scores. Students across all three states reported high levels of satisfaction with their schedule, commenting that an extra day off gives them more time to work on assignments outside of class or the opportunity to participate in more extracurricular activities. Parents also noted that the day off allows them to schedule mandatory appointments, such as doctor’s visits, without the fear that their child may lose out on a day of learning.
Aside from benefiting students, a reduced school week gives educators the means and the incentive to stay in their profession. According to a RAND corporation study of Idaho, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, surveyed teachers stated they observed long-empty teaching vacancies at their schools being filled after an abbreviated schedule was adopted. A shorter school week means more time for teachers to attend to personal commitments and keep on track with grading student work, overall reducing the school’s need for substitute teachers.
While California is one of 24 states that mandate that all public schools must operate on a five-day school week schedule, the state has made exemptions to this rule for Leggett Valley Unified in Mendocino County and Big Sur Unified in Monterey County, recognizing that the five-day schedule is not the most beneficial for all students. The state justified the truncated four-day school week in the two school districts by citing its aforementioned positive impact on students and faculty alike.
Westview, too, could reap similar benefits from having a four-day school week. We’ve seen an apparent rise in chronic absenteeism since 2021 and we’ve experienced increased student and faculty fatigue from the surplus of 1,311 instructional minutes we accumulated last year: the truncated school week model potentially addresses these two concerns.
Even Westview itself has acknowledged the benefit of having a four-day school week. During the 2020-2021 school year, asynchronous Fridays offered relief from daily Zoom meetings with teachers. They provided an opportunity for students to complete assignments on their own time, showing that it’s entirely realistic for students to get through current Westview class content with one less day of direct instructional time.
The Cultural Anthropology class schedule offers one more example that education is not a one-size-fits-all experience that should be defined only by the amount of time spent in the classroom. Instead, with the virtues of having a four-day school week, California legislators should amend the Education Code in order to allow schools to determine what learning model works best for their students.
