More Iowa schools seek four-day week.
The AP (9/29) reports, “An increasing number of Iowa school officials want to shorten the school week to four days to reduce costs.” The policy “has caught on in other states,” and “seems to have its biggest supporters in small districts, where enrollment has shrunk and budgets have been beaten by increasing fuel costs.” The fifth day is accounted for by increasing the length of the school day by two hours, to eight. Although “not everyone is sold on the idea,” according to school “officials in Arizona and Colorado…the shorter week has resulted in fewer absences by students and teachers.” Additionally, it has proven to be “a good tool to recruit teachers.” Arizona educators noted “that change hasn’t affected student achievement, and that some districts have used the day off to offer tutoring students or teacher training.”

Iowa’s Des Moines Register (9/28, Hupp) noted that education officials in some districts “want a waiver from the mandatory state schools calendar so they can switch to a four-day week as soon as next year,” while “other educators who aren’t completely sold on the idea want state lawmakers to free them from the calendar’s confines, just in case.” Heather Chikoore of the National Conference of State Legislatures pointed out that, “in many cases, state laws give school districts the freedom to decide.” In terms of Iowa, Jeff Berger, the education department’s legislative liaison, said that “one approach is to set a minimum number of hours in the school year instead of days.”

In the Classroom
Some Wisconsin schools end class ranking.