The 4-Day School Week in Missouri: What Do We Know?

By Courtney Vahle, Ed.D.

As more school districts across Missouri adopt a four-day school week (4DSW), the debate over its effectiveness continues. Here, we summarize what we’ve learned about the 4DSW in Missouri.

Number of Regular Local Districts Participating in a 4DSW in Missouri, by School Year (Source: MO DESE)

1. 4DSWs have rapidly increased in popularity over the past decade.

Four-day school weeks have spread widely in Missouri since the 2010-11 school year, nearly doubling between the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years and again between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school year after returning to school following the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the 2024-25 school year, 179 regular local school districts educating over 110,000 students participated in the 4DSW across the state. This represents 32% of the local education agencies (LEAs) in the state, but just 13% of Missouri’s K-12 students.

Nearly 91% of 4DSW districts are located in rural contexts. The largest concentration of 4DSW districts is in the Southwest region of the state, where there are 49 districts with a 4DSW calendar. The smallest concentrations of 4DSW districts are in the St. Louis and Kansas City regions, where there are 3 and 5 participating districts, respectively.

2. The 4DSW may aid teacher recruitment efforts in some contexts, but does not seem to affect teacher retention or staffing shortages across the state.

Our research indicates that while rural districts who adopted a 4DSW in the 2019-20 school year experienced greater success filling teaching positions with qualified applicants, statewide, the adoption of a 4DSW did not significantly impact districts’ teacher recruitment efforts. In the 2021-22 school year, 4DSW districts experienced larger staffing shortages than traditional districts across the state.

However, a case study of the Independence School District, who adopted a 4DSW in the 2023-24 school year found that 63% of job applicants rated the shortened weekly schedule as one of their top three priorities for applying for a job in the district.

Although the adoption of a 4DSW may aid in drawing applicants to some districts, it does not seem to have significant impacts on keeping teachers in districts. One study found that, at best, the 4DSW had small and imprecise positive effects on some districts in Missouri.

May 2024 Polling Data Showing the Responses to: “How do you believe a four-day school week would impact…student attendance?”, broken down by Current 5DSW Parents and Current 4DSW Parents

3. The 4DSW does not seem to have significant impacts on school attendance, but parents think that it does.

In a poll of Missouri parents, 58% of 5DSW parents and 63% of 4DSW parents believed the 4-day week would improve or has improved student attendance. However, our research does not support this belief, with the adoption of 4DSW showing no significant impact on student attendance.

May 2024 Polling Data Showing the Responses to: “Would you support/do you support your child’s school district in adopting a four-day school week calendar”, broken down by Current 5DSW Parents and Current 4DSW Parents

4. Support for the 4DSW is mixed among stakeholders.

Interestingly, parents whose children are already enrolled in 4DSW schools are largely supportive, with 75% favoring the shorter week. In contrast, parents of 5DSW students are more divided, with only 50% support.

Likely Missouri voters were less supportive, with fewer than one in three voters (30%) supporting the reduction to a four-day week across the state in August 2024.

With the passage of SB 727 in Spring 2024, the state legislature financially de-incentivized the move to a four day week, offering extra funds to be used to support teacher salaries to districts maintaining a 5-day week.

CONCLUSION

As the 4DSW continues to gain traction, it's clear that opinions and research are still divided on its overall effect on education. Districts should carefully weigh the costs and benefits of a 4-day school week, and consider the priorities of all stakeholders when considering a switch to the school calendar.