The mission statement of the Pennsylvania Department of Education seems at odds with the outdated educational practices used in today’s classrooms. Without systemic changes, current practices will never, “ensure that every learner has access to a world-class education system that academically prepares children and adults to succeed as productive citizens.”
Class schedules, curriculum requirements, codes of conduct, and even the length and amounts of instructional time have not been changed since the 1940s when originally designed to produce farmers and factory workers.
After hearing about these new trends in education, Dallastown journalism classes invited Superintendent Dr. Josh Doll to discuss the current school schedule and what the pros and cons would be to changing this traditional format.
Doll shared the reasoning behind the current 180 day schedule: When it was developed, parents needed their children home to help harvest crops in the summers.
“How many of your families still need to harvest crops in the summer? Lots of the systems in our society are outdated and irrelevant,” Doll said.
He also explained that changing a system that’s been in place for so long is not an easy task, nor it is currently on the Dallastown agenda, but as headline media touts more and more stories about America’s “Educational Crisis,” it is becoming clear to me that a change needs to be made.
In December of 2023, a bill named Act 56 was passed in Pennsylvania, permitting schools to require a minimum of 180 days or 990 hours of instructional time at the secondary level, instead of requiring both. This has caused a number of American schools to start exploring four-day school weeks.
Currently, Dallastown has 1350 hours of school, 360 more hours than required. If the school switched to the four-day work week, students would continue to attend classes an extra 54 hours. These hours, along with the five FID (Flexible Instruction Day) days allowed by the state, ensure this schedule accounts for snow days without extending the school year.
As of now, approximately 2100 schools in the US, mostly in the west and Midwest have moved to four day weeks, and none in the state of Pennsylvania have made the switch yet,
Those against the idea of a four-day school week argue that longer hours could lead to student fatigue and reduced productivity, pose childcare challenges, end in less instructional time, or cause financially-challenged students to lose out on nutritional opportunities.
There are many ideas of what that could look like and how to address these concerns.
Retired gifted education teacher Mrs. Connelly shared some of her ideas for a more flexible four-day schedule for Dallastown students that addresses many of these potential issues.
According to Connelly’s plan, some students could come to school for more personalized help with studies while others could attend specialized courses during a few extended hours on Friday. In addition, students who qualify for financial assistance could benefit from lunches served at school.
Other students could use the time off to work, do community service, or visit colleges, preventing the need for missing direct instructional time.
The proposed four-day schedule would also benefit both students and teachers with a better work-life balance. This extra day would allow students to move at their own pace and provide opportunities for focused-study and topic exploration while teachers could utilize the time for lesson planning and grading, freeing up their personal time.
The plan would most likely reduce absenteeism by providing students an extra day to schedule activities.
With fewer students coming to school, amenities such as electricity, food, and other costs would be limited, reducing the school’s environmental footprint by producing less trash and carbon emissions from transportation.
The normal four-day work week presented the issue of younger students requiring more childcare. This adapted schedule decreases the need for this as parents of elementary school students have the option to continue to send them to school for more personalized time with their teachers.
While the four-day week proposition has pros and cons argued from both sides of the debate, it is clear that the educational system is in need of change, and that it is students who will need to lead the charge to drive this change.
The superintendent made it clear a schedule change is not on any school board agenda at this time.
If students want to see a change, they will have to be the driving force. It is important that students stand up for the change they want to see.
“You need to learn to advocate for yourselves, for what you think is right and wrong,” Doll said.
Even if a proposal were to be taken to the school board, the district would probably not see significant changes for another 2-3 years at the earliest. This means that current Dallastown students would graduate before benefitting from any advocacy for a four-day schedule, every change must start somewhere and with someone.
Perhaps it is time for students to take Dr. Doll’s words to heart and begin the important discussions that could lead to better educational processes and outcomes for the next generations of Wildcats.
