Achievement Gap and Students

¶ … four-day school week means that kids have a longer school day during the days in which they are in the classroom. I feel that the school day is already too long as it is. I would like to see the number of hours in which kids are in school mandatorily reduced by half. Kids who want to stay after and partake of additional schooling may do so, with teachers being paid to accommodate this desire. It would take initiative on the part of the student (or it may solve the problem of adults needing daycare or supervision for children) -- but it would allow students who are advanced to get more of a real-world education outside the classroom for the rest of the time.

There are thus many problems with changing the way school is today -- whether reducing a day and adding time on the front end, or reducing time all the way across the board and expecting more from students in terms of accountability, responsibility, and initiative. As Occupytheory (2015) states, a four-day week could lead to happier students and teachers having an extra day off, but if the aim is just to give both more time off from the classroom, then ending the days at 12 noon would have the same effect. Reduced time in school would also force educators to really focus on those topics that are essential, such as the three R's -- and anything else could be additional. This would help to separate serious students from non-serious ones. It would probably not help to close the achievement gap, but perhaps there are bigger issues that need to be addressed in society first, before such a gap can be closed -- such as the issue of family instability (Kim, 2008; Barton, Coley, 2010; Yaffe, 2013). Thus, my reasoning is that schools should approach the endgame differently and shake-up how they expect students to be more pro-active and responsible. In my opinion, eliminating the amount of mandatory time for students is the first step towards really helping them. Give them the opportunity to show that they want to be there -- and do that by cutting school time in half.

As for the flipped classroom, it is a great idea to help students and families come together by allowing them the opportunity to view the same lesson online over and over again. It also frees up the teacher in the class to be more available to individual students who may require special attention. By giving students the opportunity to view the lectures at their leisure in the class or outside it, and to watch the videos with parents or family members, educators can tackle various outcomes at once -- the giving of information, the making themselves available to all, the giving of special attention in class, and the engagement of parents or guardians in the students' formation. All of this is a positive and does not need to be especially situated to classes like math (Graham, Walker, 2013).