scholarly journals Does Shortening the School Week Impact Student Performance? Evidence from the Four-Day School Week

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Mark Anderson ◽  
Mary Beth Walker
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Day School ◽  
School Level ◽  
School Students ◽  
Level Data ◽  
School Day ◽  
School Week ◽  
And Performance ◽  
And Mathematics

School districts use a variety of policies to close budget gaps and stave off teacher layoffs and furloughs. More schools are implementing four-day school weeks to reduce overhead and transportation costs. The four-day week requires substantial schedule changes as schools must increase the length of their school day to meet minimum instructional hour requirements. Although some schools have indicated this policy eases financial pressures, it is unknown whether there is an impact on student outcomes. We use school-level data from Colorado to investigate the relationship between the four-day week and academic performance among elementary school students. Our results generally indicate a positive relationship between the four-day week and performance in reading and mathematics. These findings suggest there is little evidence that moving to a four-day week compromises student academic achievement. This research has policy relevance to the current U.S. education system, where many school districts must cut costs.

scholarly journals The Four-Day School Week

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Hewitt ◽  
George S. Denny
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Day School ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Colorado Student Assessment Program ◽  
Student Academic Performance ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Mean ◽  
School Week ◽  
And Mathematics

Although the four-day school week originated in 1936, it was not widely implemented until 1973 when there was a need to conserve energy and reduce operating costs. This study investigated how achievement tests scores of schools with a four-day school week compared with schools with a traditional five-day school week. The study focused on student performance in Colorado where 62 school districts operated a four-day school week. The results of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) were utilized to examine student performance in reading, writing, and mathematics in grades 3 through 10. While the mean test scores for five-day week schools exceeded those of four-day week schools in 11 of the 12 test comparisons, the differences were slight, with only one area revealing a statistically significant difference. This study concludes that decisions to change to the four-day week should be for reasons other than student academic performance.  

Effects of Student Interests on Engagement and Performance in Biomechanics

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 360-367
Author(s):  
Erika M. Pliner ◽  
April A. Dukes ◽  
Kurt E. Beschorner ◽  
Arash Mahboobin
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Underrepresented Students ◽  
Summer Program ◽  
Pedagogical Techniques ◽  
Student Interests ◽  
And Performance ◽  
And Mathematics

There is a need for pedagogical techniques that increase student engagement among underrepresented groups in engineering. Relating engineering content to student interests, particularly through biomechanics applications, shows promise toward engaging a diverse group of students. This study investigates the effects of student interests on engagement and performance in 10th grade students enrolled in a summer program for students underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. The authors assessed the effects of interest-tailored lectures on student engagement and performance in a 5-week program with bioengineering workshops, focusing on the delivery of biomechanics content. A total of 31 students received interest-tailored lectures (intervention) and 23 students received only generic lectures (control) in biomechanics. In addition, the authors assessed the effects of teaching method (lecture, classroom activities, and laboratory tours) on student engagement. The authors found interest-tailored lectures to significantly increase student engagement in lecture compared with generic lectures. Students that received interest-tailored lectures had an insignificant, but meaningful 5% increase in student performance. Students rated laboratory tours higher in engagement than other teaching methods. This study provides detailed examples that can directly assist student teaching and outreach in biomechanics. Furthermore, the pedagogical techniques in this study can be used to increase engagement of underrepresented students in engineering.

Module Development for STEM Education Achievement: A Case Study at the Secondary School Level

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 1085-1089
Author(s):  
Zarith Sofiah Othman ◽  
Nurhuda Ismail ◽  
Ahmad Khudzairi Khalid ◽  
Norbaiti Tukiman
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
School Level ◽  
School Students ◽  
Education Development ◽  
Development Plans ◽  
Education Achievement ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Strongly Agree ◽  
Module Development

STEM Education through the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013–2025 (PPPM 2013–2025) is an important agenda in the transformation of education to prepare the younger generation for the challenges of the 21st century. Over the years, STEM was carried out, but there are still some issues which contribute towards the failure in achieving a policy percentage set of 60% science and 40% literary studies in secondary schools. The target to increase the number of Science students was not achieved. Therefore, this study was conducted to produce a STEM@IDEAS module as an alternative to increase students’ interest and understanding in solving the synopsis of learning in science, technology and mathematics (STEM). The module STEM@IDEAS focuses in competition design and generating prototype products through a variety of synopsis statements. STEM practices provide students with various trainings such as application of knowledge, skills and assessment to solve synopsis. This study has five (5) STEM practice steps and a total of three (3) modules which will be applied using the STEM elements. Furthermore, the STEM@IDEAS module was tested on several groups of four secondary school students around Pasir Gudang, Johor. A questionnaire was used to evaluate if STEM@IDEAS modules are in line with STEM and its impact on students. This survey uses a Likert scale of 0 to 4 to evaluate starting from 0 (strongly disagree) up to 4 (strongly agree) for each question submitted in each section. The STEM@IDEAS module and the above study are expected to be a source of interest and an alternative way for schools to support the nation’s education policy in strengthening the education development plans towards the nation’s progress.

scholarly journals Three Midwest Rural School Districts’ First Year Transition to the Four Day School Week

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Turner ◽  
Kim Finch ◽  
Ximena Uribe-Zarain
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Parental Support ◽  
Day School ◽  
First Year ◽  
Rural School Districts ◽  
Free And Reduced Lunch ◽  
Elementary Aged Children ◽  
School Week ◽  
Special Education Identification

The four-day school week is a concept that has been utilized in rural schools for decades to respond to budgetary shortfalls. There has been little peer-reviewed research on the four-day school week that has focused on the perception of parents who live in school districts that have recently switched to the four-day model. This study collects data from 584 parents in three rural Missouri school districts that have transitioned to the four-day school week within the last year. Quantitative statistical analysis identifies significant differences in the perceptions of parents classified by the age of children, special education identification, and free and reduced lunch status. Strong parental support for the four-day school week was identified in all demographic areas investigated; however, families with only elementary aged children and families with students receiving special education services were less supportive than other groups.

Computer Anxiety of Rural Middle and Secondary School Students

1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Jo Campbell
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Computer Anxiety ◽  
School Level ◽  
Rural School Districts ◽  
School Students ◽  
Secondary Grades ◽  
Home Availability

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of sex and school level on the computer anxiety of rural middle school and secondary students when home availability and school use of computers are controlled. A total of 1,067 students in middle and secondary grades in six rural school districts participated in the study. The instrument used was the Computer Anxiety Scale with Cronbach's reliability coefficients ranging from .83 to .91, depending on the school level of the students. Sex and school level differences were found in home availability, but not in school use of computers. The findings suggest computer anxiety is not affected by sex or school level when home availability and school use of a computer is statistically controlled.

scholarly journals Politics of Law on School Days Policy: Legal Reform on Indonesian Education Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24
Author(s):  
Maria Dita Kristiana
Keyword(s):  
Character Education ◽  
School Policy ◽  
Day School ◽  
School Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
High School Level ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
School Day ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

The research is aimed to identify, analyze, and examine concerning to: (1) what is Permendikbud Law No. 23 of 2017 on the political politics of School Days? And (2) how is the implementation of Permendikbud Number 23 of 2017 concerning School Days in Semarang City? The method of this research is qualitative with the type of sociological juridical legal research. The research explored some information through interviews and observation in some schools in Semarang as well as Education Unit in Semarang Government. The research highlighted that the law politics of School Day in Semarang City included the substance of Permendikbud Number 23 of 2017, namely the strengthening of character education at the high school level, provisions on school days and hours, and implementation of school day provisions. The philosophical reasons for five days of schooling are come up from Pancasila values and the opening of the 1945 Constitution to strengthen character or character as the spirit of the national spirit. Juridical purposes for the five-day school policy are sourced from laws and regulations that every child has the right to education, the provision of learning that is democratic and fair and non-discriminatory, as well as the fulfillment of the obligation to total teaching hours for teachers as employees of the state civil apparatus. The research concluded that the implementation of Minister of Education and Culture Regulation No. 23 of 2017 concerning School Days by State High Schools in the City of Semarang is supported by four aspects of communication, disposition, human resources, and bureaucracy.

Evaluating the effectiveness of an online module for increasing financial literacy

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Wolla
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Financial Knowledge ◽  
School Level ◽  
School Students ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Level Data

Purpose Financial literacy is lacking across all age groups, but less than one-third of young adults have even basic financial knowledge. Research has demonstrated that online learning is effective. As such, online learning strategies may be a useful tool for improving the financial literacy of high school students. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This study uses student-level (N=3,061) and school-level data (n=100) to examine the effectiveness of Soar to Savings, an online learning module that teaches key personal finance and economics concepts. Findings The findings show large, positive, and statistically significant gains in learning from pretest to posttest for the student-level and school-level samples. Originality/value The results provide evidence that Soar to Savings is an effective tool for increasing financial knowledge.

scholarly journals Revisiting the media generation: Youth media use and computational literacy instruction

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 212-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Jenson ◽  
Milena Droumeva
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
School Students ◽  
Knowledge Based Economy ◽  
Youth Media ◽  
Digital Knowledge ◽  
And Performance ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Computational Literacy

An ongoing challenge of 21st century learning is ensuring everyone has the requisite skills to participate in a digital, knowledge-based economy. Once an anathema to parents and teachers, digital games are increasingly at the forefront of conversations about ways to address student engagement and provoke challenges to media pedagogies. While advances in game-based learning are already transforming educative practices globally, with tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google taking notice and investing in educational game initiatives, there is a concurrent and critically important development that focuses on “game construction” pedagogy as a vehicle for bringing computational literacy to middle and high school students. Founded on Seymour Papert’s constructionist learning model and developed over nearly two decades, there is compelling evidence that game construction can increase confidence and build capacity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This project is a research-based challenge to the by now widely questioned but surprisingly persistent presumption that students in today's classrooms are all by default “digitally native” and that those “digitally native” children are learning just by playing digital games. Through a survey of 60+ students at a largely immigrant middle school in Toronto, Canada, we present some important updates on youth’s media and technology competence and its relationship to baseline knowledge of computer programming and performance in a computational literacy game-based curriculum.

scholarly journals Examining educational inequalities: insights in the context of improved mathematics performance on national and international assessments at primary level in Ireland

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasios Karakolidis ◽  
Alice Duggan ◽  
Gerry Shiel ◽  
Joanne Kiniry
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Achievement ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Mathematics Performance ◽  
School Level ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
School Students ◽  
Socioeconomic Characteristics ◽  
Performance Differences ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background Evaluations of effectiveness of educational reforms are often based on the level of improvement in student performance from one cycle of a particular assessment to the next. However, improvements in overall performance do not necessarily translate to improved equality. Indeed, improvements that favour certain subgroups of students can exacerbate educational performance gaps and thus, inequality. This research examines changes in equality of mathematics achievement and subgroup performance differences in Irish primary school students over time. Ireland constitutes an interesting case study due to the introduction of a new National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy in 2011, the initial implementation of which has been linked to significant improvements in student mathematics performance. This paper aims to investigate whether these improvements have been accompanied by improvements in equality. Methods Using data from the Irish National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading (NAMER) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) from the period before and after the introduction of the Strategy, the study examines (i) deviations in student scores, (ii) variability in achievement at student and school levels and (iii) performance gaps based on demographic and socioeconomic factors over time. Bivariate analyses and multilevel regression models were used to identify student- and school-level variables related to mathematics performance. Results The results showed a decrease in variability in students’ mathematics performance after the introduction of the Strategy; this decrease was statistically significant only for TIMSS. Additionally, there was a considerable decrease in variance in mathematics performance attributed to between-school differences over time. These findings constitute evidence of increased equality as performance differences between students and schools tended to shrink. Regarding performance gaps and variance in mathematics performance explained by background characteristics, this study provided mixed results. In NAMER, subsequent to the introduction of the Strategy, the performance gaps and variance in mathematics achievement explained by selected demographic and socioeconomic characteristics decreased considerably. However, this was not the case for TIMSS. Conclusions The evidence provided by this study suggests that Ireland has made reasonable progress in addressing inequality. However, there is room for improvement, as a significant proportion of the variance in student mathematics performance is still explained by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

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