The Four-Day School Week
The Four-Day School Week
By: J. Cameron Anglum, Ph.D. & Aaron Park
To address challenging budget constraints and mounting labor pressures, K-12 school districts across the country have pursued several policies to reduce costs and increase labor retention and effectiveness. District adoption of one such policy reform, the four-day school week (4DSW), has doubled over the past decade including in 61 Missouri school districts. Amid this growth, important policy considerations must be addressed, including: What motivates districts to forgo a traditional five-day school week in favor of a 4DSW? And to what effect on student learning and teaching practices? As the 4DSW expands, Missouri offers an excellent context to study its effects.
National Figures
As of the 2017-2018 school year, over 1,500 schools in 25 states follow a 4DSW, predominantly in small, rural districts in western states, as shown in Figure 1 below. Among their respective traditional public school districts, Colorado (55%), New Mexico (43%), Idaho (38%), Oregon (32%), and South Dakota (23%) contain the largest share of 4DSW districts. Some charter schools in these states operate 4DSWs as well.
Figure 1: 4DSW across the nation, 2017-2018 school year
Image by the Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE).
To compensate for the lost fifth day of instruction, 4DSW districts increase the length of the school day by one hour and eight minutes, on average. Colorado 4DSW districts, for example, average 144 school days and seven and a half-hour school days, as opposed to traditional 180 school days and six-hour days. On the fifth day, teachers may engage in professional development, lesson planning, and grading while students may engage in advanced learning, intervention, and internship opportunities. Currently, however, only a third of districts offer student engagement opportunities on the fifth day. Furthermore, fifth-day opportunities may not persist over the long term due to cost and lack of enthusiasm.
Motivations and Effectiveness
Recent research suggests that primary rationales for adoption of the 4DSW are cost savings, student attendance, and rural labor pressures. There exists little rigorous evidence, however, documenting the effects of the 4DSW on these outcomes. Initial evidence suggests 4DSW districts may reap up to 2.5% expenditure reductions driven by savings in operations and maintenance, transportation, and food services. In Missouri, for example, Dr. Amy Britt, superintendent of Bakersfield R-IV School District, reported initial cost savings of two percent in the early stages of the district’s policy adoption amid its efforts to improve teacher recruitment and retention.
How might the 4DSW affect student learning? The existing research paints a mixed picture. In Colorado, fourth and fifth graders exhibited positive effects on their math and reading achievement. On the other hand, similar research in Oregon found negative average effects in math and reading achievement among third through eighth graders. Oregon’s largest negative effects were observed for black students, boys, students who receive free- or reduced-price lunch, and students who receive special education services. Furthermore, in Colorado, researchers found that the implementation of the 4DSW led to an increase in youth crime, particularly property crime. Evidence from a broader array of state and local contexts may help policymakers and practitioners better understand the effects of the 4DSW, particularly in contexts where it expands.
Growth in Missouri
The 4DSW has spread rapidly across the state of Missouri. First permitted by Missouri law in 2010-11, a limited number of districts adopted the policy in the early 2010s. As the policy gained popularity in recent years, 28 new school districts adopted the 4DSW this school year, as shown in Figure 2. This brings the total to 61 districts, or over 10% of all Missouri districts, as mapped in Figure 3. Over this period, only one school district reverted to a five-day school week, while an additional four-day district merged with adjacent districts.
Figure 2: Missouri 4DSW policy adoption, by school year
Figure 3: Missouri 4DSW districts, 2019-20 school year
The initial response to the policy change has been largely positive among surveyed staff, parents, and community members in a small sample of Missouri’s 4DSW districts. Most staff members and parents indicated support of the 4DSW, though parents of elementary school students and children who receive special education services were less supportive. Response among community and business leaders, however, was mixed, with nearly half of respondents preferring a move back to the traditional five-day school week. Future research should evaluate the impact of the 4DSW on student and labor outcomes in districts which recently adopted the policy.
Conclusion
The number of school districts following a 4DSW is rapidly expanding across the nation. Evidence on the effectiveness of the policy, however, remains scant or mixed. With this in mind, emerging research may help guide districts considering policy adoption or contemplating changes to their 4DSW practices make evidence-based decisions. As many districts strive to realize cost savings and improve teacher recruitment and retention, rigorous research may weigh the efficacy of the 4DSW in achieving these outcomes as well as the impact on critical student outcomes. In light of its recent policy expansion, Missouri offers a particularly important policy setting in which to study these effects in the coming years.