Part 3 on the four-day school week
Significant declines on state
assessments - 2018
to 2024
A few years ago, before we had seen the
current national research on the impact of the four-day school on student
outcomes, the Colorado Department of Education’s “Four-Day School Week Information
Manual” (since removed from CDE’s website) included these two sentences:
The general feeling is that students do no
worse on the four-day week than on the traditional schedule. If student
performance is judged by satisfaction, then the results are very favorable.
Few
districts have changed from five to four days with the expressed purpose of
improving student achievement; it has not been a significant issue. (Bold mine)
Today we know better. AV #280 shows why it is a significant issue. I
present a few key indicators of the academic performance in the largest
Colorado district to convert to a four-day school week. Look no further than the
next page to see the declining scores in District 27J after six years on a
shorter week and a shorter school year (this year, just 150 days).
|
A. Grades 3-8 B. Grade 4 C. Grades 9-11 Why this report? The COVID factor |
Also helpful: Colorado has given the same two
assessments for reading/writing and for math for grades 3-8 (CMAS) and 9-11
(PSAT/SAT) all this time.
Here are test scores from 2017-18 (before the switch) through 2023-24 (the sixth year that District 27J has been on a four-day school week).
Results show a significant
decline over these seven years in the academic performance of students in
grades 3-8, and in the math performance of high school students.
Given what both Colorado’s Keystone
Policy Center[ii]
and recent national studies have shown us about the four-day week, we can no
longer claim that Colorado’s “reduced calendar” (CDE’s recent euphemism) in 120
districts has no effect on student outcomes. What follows makes that painfully
clear.
A.
Grades 3-8 - CMAS – 2018-2024 – Gap widens with state scores
We all wish our boys and girls a good start. The decline in
scores seen here suggests the four-day week might be especially harmful for the
academic performance of our youngest students.
First, CMAS data for District 27J, grades 3-8.
Then a look specifically at trends for grade
4 in 27J. Last year’s 4th graders spent their first five years of
school on a four-day week. Last spring they scored well below how 4th
graders performed back in 2018. Can these students, this year's 5th grade, catch up – on just a four-day week?
Two points:
1. Literacy and math scores declined in all grades, 3-8,
since 2018. This has often been the case statewide, in large part thanks to
COVID*. But note how much greater the decline has been for students in 27J.
Often declines of over 5 % pts. See the significant decline for grade 4.
2. Because of the greater decline in District 27J’s scores,
2024 data shows a significant gap between its scores and the statewide average in
all grades. Often a gap of 10 or more points.
|
READING & WRITING |
|||||||
|
Reading & Writing -
% Met or Exceeded Expectations |
GAP – 27J vs. state in 2024 |
Decline in 27J – ’18 to ’24 |
|||||
|
District 27J |
State Average |
||||||
|
CMAS ELA |
2018 |
2019 |
2023 |
2024 |
2024 |
||
|
Grade |
5-day week |
4-day week |
|
|
|
||
|
35.4 |
39.4 |
30.5 |
32.6 |
42.1 |
-9.5 |
-2.8 |
|
|
4 |
43.9 |
41.4 |
37.3 |
31.3 |
42.0 |
-10.7 |
-12.6 |
|
5 |
42.0 |
45.3 |
37.0 |
36.5 |
47.3 |
-10.8 |
-5.5 |
|
6 |
30.4 |
34.5 |
28.2 |
27 |
44.0 |
-17.0 |
-3.4 |
|
7 |
30.7 |
34.5 |
31.7 |
26.5 |
46.3 |
-19.8 |
-4.2 |
|
8 |
34.7 |
33.6 |
26.7 |
28.7 |
42.8 |
-14.1 |
-6.0 |
|
|
|||||||
|
MATH |
|||||||
|
Math - % Met or
Exceeded Expectations |
|
|
|||||
|
MATH |
5-day week |
4-day week |
State Average |
GAP – 27J vs. state in 2024 |
Decline in 27J – ’18 to ’24 |
||
|
2018 |
2019 |
2023 |
2024 |
2024 |
|||
|
3 |
38.8 |
40.0 |
38.8 |
33.9 |
41.7 |
-7.8 |
-4.9 |
|
4 |
36.0 |
28.9 |
24.6 |
24.3 |
34.1 |
-9.8 |
-11.7 |
|
5 |
35.8 |
34.1 |
29.1 |
28.0 |
37.3 |
-9.3 |
-7.8 |
|
6 |
20.8 |
22.9 |
15.6 |
15.1 |
29.2 |
-14.1 |
-5.7 |
|
7 |
18.0 |
19.3 |
15.2 |
17.5 |
29.8 |
-12.3 |
-0.5 |
|
8 |
29.0 |
22.4 |
16.2 |
17.8 |
32.5 |
-14.7 |
-11.2 |
|
Highlighted in BLUE when decline is over 5 % pts;
in YELLOW when decline
is in double digits. |
|||||||
Source - https://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/cmas-dataandresults
* The COVID factor - Assessing a strategy or
practice that took place during the COVID years. See page 10.
Addendum A – Evidence
that declining scores in District 27J exceed any statewide decline, 2018-2024.
Addendum B – Contrast:
27J and state figures – students scoring in lowest two categories on CMAS ELA
assessment.
B.
District 27J scores and state average – grade 4 – 2018-2024
Decline highlights concern about the impact
of a 4-day week on learning in the early grades
|
District 27J – 2023-24 Pupil membership Hispanic/Latino 11,275 -
51% White 8,856 -
38% Two or more races 898 - 3.9% Asian 821 - 3.5% Black/African-American 652
- 3% |
White and Hispanic students make up a far majority of students in District 27J. For both groups, results for 4th graders in 2024 were well below their 2018 scores.
And for all 27J 4th graders, scores declined far more than they did for 4th grade students across the state.
|
|
2018 |
2019 |
2023 |
2024 |
Decline from ’18-’24 |
|
|
5-day
week |
4-day
week |
|
||
|
District
27J scores |
|||||
|
READING/WRITING |
% Met/Exceeded Expectations |
|
|||
|
4
– All Students |
43.9 |
41.4 |
37.3 |
31.3 |
-12.6* |
|
4
- White |
52.9 |
48.8 |
50.1 |
40.9 |
-12 |
|
4
- Hispanic |
33.1 |
31.7 |
25.9 |
22.4 |
-10.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MATH |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
– All Students |
36.0 |
28.9 |
24.6 |
24.3 |
-11.7 |
|
4
- White |
45.8 |
34.0 |
34.5 |
35.9 |
-9.9 |
|
4
- Hispanic |
23.2 |
21.0 |
15.6 |
14.6 |
-8.6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Colorado
– State Average scores |
Change
from ’18-’24 |
|||
|
READING/WRITING |
2018 |
2019 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
|
4
– All Students |
46.1 |
48.0 |
43.8 |
42.0 |
-4.1 |
|
4
- White |
56.7 |
59.0 |
55.5 |
54.7 |
-2 |
|
4
- Hispanic |
30.0 |
31.3 |
25.8 |
22.3 |
-7.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MATH |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
– All Students |
33.9 |
33.6 |
32.7 |
34.1 |
+0.2 |
|
4
- White |
44.2 |
43.8 |
43.3 |
45.8 |
+1.6 |
|
4
- Hispanic |
18.4 |
18.4 |
16.3 |
16.4 |
-2.0 |
Scores for white 4th graders statewide
declined 2.0 % pts., but in 27J scores declined 12.0 % pts.
In 2018, Hispanic 4th graders in 27J scored higher than Hispanic students
statewide.
After 2018,
scores for Hispanic students in 27J have matched the statewide decline.
MATH – CMAS – 4th
grade – 2018 – 2024
In 2018, white 4th
graders in 27J scored higher than white students statewide.
Since then the state
average has held steady, but 27J scores have declined.
In 2018, Hispanic 4th
graders in 27J scored higher than Hispanic students statewide. After 2018, scores for Hispanic 4th graders across the state declined
2.0 % pts., but in 27J declined 8.6 % pts.
C. Grades 9-11
High school math scores (PSAT/SAT)
decline even
more than the decline we have seen statewide, 2018-2024.
PSAT - 9th grades scored 17 pts. below state average in 2018. Gap widens: 33 pts. below in 2024.
PSAT - 10th graders scored 25 pts.
below state average in 2018. Gap widens: 30 pts below in 2024.
SAT - 11th
graders scored 28 pts. below state average in 2018. Gap widens: 35 pts below in
2024.
*This
past fall the Colorado State Board modified the qualifying score in math to
meet graduation guidelines. For the graduating classes of 2025 and 2026, it will
be 480, not 500.
Why this report?
1. To assist policymakers assessing the pros and cons of the four-day school week
A number of us in Colorado have been disappointed to see a policy that is so essential to the majority of our school districts given such little study.
Five years ago The Colorado Sun’s headline read: “Colorado now has more school districts on four-day weeks than any place in the nation — with little research on the benefits.”[iii]
In 2024, finally, no longer true. The Keystone
Policy Center’s “Doing
Less with Less: How a four-day school week affects student learning and the
teacher workforce” (August 2024) gives us a comprehensive look at this trend,
now in place in over 120 districts. The report concluded:
One of Colorado’s overarching policy goals in public education is to prepare students for life after high school, be that higher education, vocational training, or employment. But, as the data and perspectives presented in this report show, the trend toward four-day school weeks in Colorado does not provide a net benefit to the state’s public school students. In fact, student achievement is not even the top consideration when districts make the switch.
I hope my report adds to concerns raised by
the Keystone study. I hope it encourages policymakers, all of whom say they want
to see higher student achievement, to review a practice that Colorado has
allowed to grow unchecked. (As previously noted, in just this past decade CDE
has enabled another 40 districts to operate on the four-day week and a much
shorter school year.)
AV #279 asked if, given what we now know, the
Colorado Department of Education can remain neutral on such a significant issue.
The question here is broader: given what we now know, can state policy be neutral on this issue?
2.
To assist District 27J assessing the decision to convert to the four-day
school week
What we heard from District 27J in
2019 - “if scores were to drop immensely”
In 2019 Tracy Rudnick, District 27’s director
of communications at that time, told The Colorado Sun: “If scores were
to drop immensely, obviously that is something we would have to look at, but we
are not expecting that to happen. It’s going to take a couple of years to
really create the concrete data.”
In AV #207 I compared data from District 27J’s Performance
Frameworks for 2018 (five-day week) and 2019 (four-day week)[iv].
I focused on results for our most vulnerable students: English Learners,
Free/Reduced Price Eligible, Minority Students, and Students with Disabilities.
Scores for these students dropped in virtually every category, from 2018 to
2019.
I shared
my findings with Rudnick. “One year’s data doesn’t make a trend,” she insisted.
She reminded me that there are many factors that can lead to a decline in
student performance.
Agreed. But we now have six years of “concrete
data.”
Little in this newsletter will be new to district leaders in 27J. This past
fall I have shared with them most everything you see here. Still, it is not what
staff reports have told the school board. One recent report from district staff
on achievement and growth begins with data from 2020 and tracks results over
four years. The other, the School Academic Dashboard given to the board on
September 25, 2024, is remarkably detailed - 46 pages (1.3 School Academic Dashboard). However, it focuses on scores from
the past three years: 2021-22 to 2023-24.
If internal progress reports do not look back (a) to scores pre-COVID,
and (b) to scores prior to the switch to the four-day school week, I believe
the board is missing critical information. I am sure it wants to understand key
factors behind the disappointing results on achievement and growth in their
district. One factor has to be the decision, made in 2018 by a previous board,
to convert to the four-day school week.
Today’s board must
ask if the shorter school week and year is helping the district fulfill its central
mission.
3.
To correct misinformation from former Superintendent Chris Fiedler
All of us eager to understand the impact of the four-day school week on
student achievement were hoping we could learn from District 27J’s experiment. For
most of the last six years, statements by former superintendent Chris Fiedler
(he retired this past June), did not acknowledge the decline in student
performance since the conversion to the four-day week.
One outside study, “How Do Homeowners, Teachers, and Students Respond to a Four-Day School Week?” (Annenberg/Brown University, Jan. 2023), concluded:
“student
performance decreased by 0.2 to 0.3 standard deviations on math and language
arts standardized exams after 27J implemented the 4DSW” [four-day school week][v]
Chalkbeat Colorado followed up on that study.
“District Superintendent Chris Fiedler disputed the findings, citing higher-than-ever graduation rates and lower overall teacher turnover” (“Four-day school week hurt housing market, academics in the 27J district, study suggests,” by Yesenia Robles, Feb. 7, 2023[vi]).
AV #280 provides results from our state assessments, 2018-2024. I am glad to have any errors corrected. We need to learn from the District 27J story. For that, we need accurate information.
“results … have been pretty flat”
2022 - “The Latest Perk Schools Are Using to Attract
Teachers: 4-Day Weeks,” by Elizabeth Heubeck, June 29, 2022.
[Superintendent Chris] Fiedler says the
pandemic has made it difficult to gauge the impact of the condensed schedule on
student academic outcomes. The district hasn’t had full-blown statewide
assessments since the spring of 2019; results from internal assessments, he
says, have been pretty flat.
“I’m pleased with flat, given all the other distractions of the pandemic,” Fiedler said. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/the-latest-perk-schools-are-using-to-attract-teachers-4-day-weeks/2022/06
“student achievement has been ‘neutral’”
2024 -“Doing Less with Less: How a four-day school week affects student
learning and the teacher workforce,” Keystone Policy Center, by Schoales,
Gottlieb, Lagana (August 2024).
“Overall,
Fiedler said, the impact of the four-day week on student achievement has been
‘neutral – it’s not any better or any worse.’ Regardless, Brighton student
achievement is low, with just 23 percent of students demonstrating proficiency
in math during the 2022-23 school year, and 32 percent demonstrating
proficiency in English Language Arts.”
https://www.keystone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/KPC-023-4-day-School-Report_fa2.pdf
The COVID factor
|
To
assess any district’s performance since 2018, one cannot overlook the impact
of the pandemic. |
With public education, how do we measure
progress from 2018 to 2024, in light of the pandemic? How do we assess the impact
of new strategies or programs, given the well-documented learning loss due to
COVID? Furthermore, we know that student achievement suffered most in urban and
suburban settings, like District 27J, where many students did not attend
classes in-person for many months.
But this is not the fall of 2021. We have the
results from three post-COVID years.
Moreover, I have attempted to
use statewide averages to show why the four-day week, and not COVID, seems to
be the main cause of the significant decline in scores in District 27J.
For grade 4 (pages 4-6) and for grades 9-11 (page 7), I have shown that the
gap between District 27J scores and the state average grew over the past six
years.
And for grades 3-8 (page 2), I showed the large gap between District 27J scores and the state average in 2024. Addendum A has more details. The gap in ELA scores in 2018 was clear, but in 2024 it is much greater. District 27J MATH scores in 2018 were better than the state average in three grades, but in 2024 the gap with the state average is significant for all grades 3-8.
There is no question
that the COVID-effect hurt student achievement in most Colorado districts, District
27J included. But the majority of Colorado students between the fall of 2018
and spring 2024 did not attend schools that had converted to a shorter school
week and a shorter school year. For students in District 27J, that has been the
key difference.
Addendum A
CMAS – District 27J and state average
– Gap widens between 2018 vs. 2024
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS (ELA)
2018
|
CMAS ELA |
27J |
State average |
GAP |
|
Grade |
5-day week |
|
|
|
3 |
35.4 |
40.4 |
5.0 |
|
4 |
43.9 |
46.1 |
2.2 |
|
5 |
42.0 |
47.4 |
5.5 |
|
6 |
30.4 |
42.8 |
12.4 |
|
7 |
30.7 |
46.6 |
15.9 |
|
8 |
34.7 |
43.8 |
8.1 |
|
Note that by 2024, the state average was
similar to what it was back in 2018, pre-COVID. |
2024
|
27J |
State average |
GAP |
|
|
Grade |
4-day week |
|
|
|
3 |
32.6 |
42.1 |
9.5 |
|
4 |
31.3 |
42.0 |
10.7 |
|
5 |
36.5 |
47.3 |
10.8 |
|
6 |
27 |
44.0 |
17.0 |
|
7 |
26.5 |
46.3 |
19.8 |
|
8 |
28.7 |
42.8 |
14.1 |
MATH
2018
|
CMAS MATH |
27J |
State average |
GAP |
|
Grade |
5-day week |
|
|
|
3 |
38.8 |
39.1 |
State higher: 0.3 |
|
4 |
36.0 |
33.9 |
27J higher: 2.1 |
|
5 |
35.8 |
35.5 |
27J higher: 0.3 |
|
6 |
20.8 |
30.4 |
State higher: 9.6 |
|
7 |
18.0 |
28.8 |
State higher: 10.8 |
|
8 |
29.0 |
28.2 |
27J higher: 0.8 |
2024
|
CMAS MATH |
27J |
State average |
GAP |
|
Grade |
4-day week |
|
|
|
3 |
33.9 |
41.7 |
7.8 |
|
4 |
24.3 |
34.1 |
9.8 |
|
5 |
28.0 |
37.3 |
9.3 |
|
6 |
15.1 |
29.2 |
14.1 |
|
7 |
17.5 |
29.8 |
12.3 |
|
8 |
17.8 |
32.5 |
14.7 |
Addendum B – Growing number of 3-8 students
struggling with literacy skills: 2018-2024.
The state’s
CMAS-ELA scores fall into five categories: Exceeds Expectations, Meets
Expectations, Approaching Expectations, Partially Met Expectations, and Did Not
Yet Meet Expectations.
To highlight how many students in grades 3-8 need additional support, it
can be useful to examine how many score in the bottom two categories (well
below grade level): Partially Met Expectations and Did Not Yet Meet
Expectations. Not even Approaching Expectations.
COVID led to a decline in ELA scores across the state. But by 2024, note
that the percentage of Colorado students in grades 5 -7 scoring in the bottom
two categories was similar to 2018.
STATE – 2018 to 2014
|
|
Total % Scoring in
Bottom Two Categories |
Change |
|
|
Grade |
2018 |
2024 |
|
|
35.9% |
37.6% |
1.7% more |
|
|
4 |
27.8% |
33.5% |
5.7% more |
|
5 |
26% |
26.1% |
0.1% more |
|
6 |
29.4% |
30% |
0.6% more |
|
7 |
30.1% | 30.9% | 0.8% more |
|
8 |
31.8% |
35% |
3.2% more |
However, in District 27J, we see a significant increase in the number of students scoring Did Not Yet Meet Expectations or Partially Met Expectations. (Of special concern: nearly 50% of 7th and 8th graders scored well below Meets Expectations in 2024.)
DISTRICT 27J – 2018 to 2024
|
|
Total % Scoring in
Bottom Two Categories |
Change |
|
|
Grade |
2018 |
2024 |
|
|
3 |
37.9% |
45% |
7.1% more |
|
4 |
28.1% |
41.1% |
12% more |
|
5 |
26.7% |
28.8% |
2.1% more |
|
6 |
36.4% - 481 students |
43% - 647 students |
6.6% more |
|
7 |
41.9% - 541 students |
49.2% - 700 students |
7.3% more |
|
8 |
41.6% - 461 students |
48.1%- 710 students |
6.5% more |
The contrast between District 27J and
statewide figures is significant.
CMAS – ELA (READING &
WRITING) – 2018-2024
|
|
Growing percentage of
students performing well below grade level, 2018-2024 |
|
|
Grade |
DISTRCT 27J |
STATE |
|
3 |
7.1% more |
1.7% more |
|
4 |
12% more |
5.7% more |
|
5 |
2.1% more |
0.1% more |
|
6 |
6.6% more |
0.6% more |
|
7 |
7.3% more |
0.8% more |
|
8 |
6.5% more |
3.2% more |
CDE - https://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/cmas-dataandresults
[i]
[i] AV #207,
“Alarming Results in Year One: District 27J Schools’ shift to 4-day school week
brings drop in academic performance” (March 2020).
[ii]
“Doing Less with Less: How a four-day school
week affects student learning and the teacher workforce,” Keystone Policy
Center, by Schoales, Gottlieb, Lagana (August 2024).
https://www.keystone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/KPC-023-4-day-School-Report_fa2.pdf
[iii] The Colorado Sun, by
Jennifer Brown, https://coloradosun.com/2019/08/27/four-day-school-weeks-in-colorado/ (August 2019).
[iv] AV #207,
“Alarming Results in Year One: District 27J Schools’ shift to 4-day school week
brings drop in academic performance” (March 2020).
[v] How Do
Homeowners, Teachers, and Students Respond to a Four-Day School Week?” EdWorking
Paper No. 23-721, Annenberg/Brown University, Jan. 2023, https://edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai23-721.pdf.
