Four day school weeks are becoming very popular in many parts of the United States. School weeks are ranging from either Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday in about 900 school districts in America. In recent years, the amount of school districts switching from five day weeks to four has significantly increased. Rather than the extra day, schools now need to add time to their school days to make up for the days they are missing. 

This could be great for children, but what about their parents? Parents still have to work on the day that students are off of school. Consequently, many parents have nowhere for their children to go on the day they get off every week. This is an inconvenience for parents that work full time because it throws off their everyday routine. They now have to worry about their children due to them not being at school. However, four day school weeks can be beneficial for districts. They save extensive amounts of money on cooling and heating the school and can improve students’ mental health. Despite this, there are also many downsides of having four day weeks. Do four day school weeks really benefit students? While having a four day week may improve students’ mental health, there is a higher chance of test scores decreasing. Studies find that students with five day weeks have higher scores and show more achievement than students in school districts with four day weeks. 

Overall, four day weeks are beneficial for districts in some ways, but not as beneficial for students. Four day school weeks take away classroom time, causing students to do worse academically. Numerous districts around the United States, mainly the western part of the United States, have changed their number of days in a school week to four, influencing other districts across the country. There are many districts that still have not changed to four day weeks, but that may be the better choice due to the aforementioned reasons.