A heartfelt thank you to the Keystone
Policy Center for producing its report on the four-day school week. And a
sincere thanks to the media for its follow-up reporting. After waiting years
for Colorado to take a hard look at a school schedule that has expanded with
little clarity about its impact on students and learning, we finally have hard
data and a careful overview of this practice. The Keystone report gives us the opportunity
to ask hard questions that we have brushed aside for too long.
It is a complex
issue, but as we know, the only thing worse than a difficult debate is no
debate at all. We see other states where policymakers and educators have wrangled
over this issue and what is best for students. In the past, many of these states
have looked to evidence from Colorado to guide their decisions. Sadly, we had
little of any value to report.
I hope this study will spur a thoughtful reassessment
of a practice that most districts across our state have embraced. It won’t be
easy. But a review is long overdue.
Doing Less with Less: How a
four-day school week
affects student learning and the
teacher workforce
Written, researched and organized
by Alan Gottlieb, Maya Lagana and Van Schoales
https://www.keystone.org/our-work/education/fourdayschoolweek/
Four-day school weeks have exploded
across Colorado districts — and are setting students back - Erica Breunlin, The Colorado Sun - https://coloradosun.com/2024/08/14/four-day-school-weeks-colorado-results/#:~:text=
More guardrails
for Colorado districts that want 4-day weeks, report urges - Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado - https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2024/08/13/keystone-4-day-school-week-report-recommends-expert-panel
Is the four-day school week in many Colorado school districts helping students and teachers? - Jenny Brundin, Colorado Public Radio - https://www.cpr.org/2024/08/13/colorado-four-day-school-week-study/
Kudos
to all for excellent reporting. I merely add three points.
1. Colorado no longer alone: among states with many 4-day
districts, now we, too, have data
The Colorado Sun produced the last in-depth analysis of the four-day school week in our state.
Aug. 27, 2019
– “Colorado now has more school
districts* on four-day weeks than any place in the nation—with little
research on the benefits”
Money moved more than 100 districts to
forge ahead with the largely untested strategy. Parents and teachers learned to
love it, but nobody knows its impact on kids and learning.[i]
Aug. 29, 2019 – “Colorado made kindergarten a priority. But when it
comes to four-day school weeks, lawmakers don’t see a problem.”
While many are
uncomfortable with the trend of districts adopting four-day school weeks, it receives
surprisingly little attention in a state where education has long been a
top political issue.[ii]
For its review, the Keystone report looked at
many studies (see “What national research shows”). I would also point to several
state reports done for Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Oregon – see
Addendum A. Colorado is late to this discussion. For this reason, I hope
state leaders feel a sense of urgency about digging into this issue.
My efforts over several years to advocate
for such a report included a critique of the studies on the website of the
Colorado Department of Education (Addendum B). Only last year did CDE take down its dated “research”
of Colorado’s four-day week.
Note the report’s strong recommendations for
CDE. Another View will soon build on one: “Create a rigorous
process for state approval of four-day school weeks…” The 2023 School
Performance Frameworks show 19 districts on Performance Watch; 16 use a four-day
schedule.[iii]
2.
“Though a
shorter week, overall class time is the same.” A compelling argument?
The Keystone report included a key phrase from
national research on “the degree of impact” on achievement and academic growth:
it “varied based on a range of factors including school setting, gender, and
amount of instructional time.” (Emphasis mine.) It quoted one
study showing achievement did not suffer if the total amount of time students
spend in school in a four-day week was equal to that in five-day week
schools.[iv]
Colorado’s policy would appear to address
this concern. Districts seeking waivers on the 160-day minimum must show their
“planned teacher-pupil instruction
and teacher-pupil contact” meets these targets: 1,080 hours for secondary
schools, 980 for elementary. How is this attainable? Eight-hour school days. This
is a critical factor. We cannot only think in terms of holding school an “equivalent
amount of time.” The report rightly recommends: “Study how instructional
time is used to enable students to reach state standards …” My specific concern: Let’s
find out how well our youngest boys and girls are learning between 3:00 and
4:00 pm.
In the
report Durango superintendent Karen Cheser’s emphasized days, not hours. “It has just not been apparent to us in any way that
the best thing for students would be to reduce the number of days.”
Durango has 169 “student contact days”[v]; in
many four-day school districts it’s less than 150. (Examples - Addendum C.
Note how Colorado compares to the rest of the nation.) Inviting a broader
question. The four-day structure may work well in 100 districts; but are 145
school days good enough?
3.
Another View’s ongoing review of student achievement in District
27J. September issue.
The report’s “Stories
from the Field” included the contrasting views of superintendents in District
27J and Adams 12. Chris Fiedler, recently retired superintendent in 27J, is
quoted as saying “the impact of the four-day week on student achievement has
been ‘neutral – it’s not any better or any worse.’” Another View has been
reporting on declining scores in District 27J since before the pandemic.
I ask readers to look for my update with 2023 and 2024 data.
New
leadership in both District 27J and Pueblo 60 provides an opportunity for these
larger districts to take a fresh look – at the Keystone report, and at results
on our state tests. Neither district should feel defensive about decisions made in
2017-18. But both are responsible for next year.
A common (and
cynical) refrain about the four-day school week is that no district, having
made the switch, reverts to a five-day schedule. But that line suggests school
districts allow inertia, not honest self-examination, to be their guide. We are
better than that.
To Keystone:
again, THANK YOU! On a critical issue for our state, we much better informed.
Addendum A
Studies done on
other states with many schools on the 4-day week
Minnesota
“An Examination of the Four-Day School Week Schedule in Select Minnesota School Districts,” St. Cloud State University, Dec. 2017. https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/edad_etds/39/
Missouri
“4-day school week has neutral impact in Missouri,” Feb 2024. https://www.k12dive.com/news/4-day-school-week-impact-student-learning/707340/#:~:text
“Interpreting the Impact of the Four-Day School Week: An Examination of Performance before and after Switching to the Four-Day School Week,” 2017. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED580751
New Mexico
"Instructional Time and Four-Day School Weeks,” State of New Mexico - Legislative Education Study Committee, by Kevin Force and Abigail, August 16, 2018.
https://www.nmlegis.gov/handouts/ALESC%20081518%20Item%209%204%20day%20school%20calendar%20brief.pdf
Oklahoma
“Effects of Four-Day School Weeks on School Finance and Achievement: Evidence From Oklahoma,” August 13, 2020, AERA. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20948023
Oregon
“Is four less than five? Effects of
four-day school weeks on student achievement in Oregon,” Journal of Public Economics, Jan. 2021. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272720301729#:~:text=Using%203rd%20through%208th%20grade,the%20four%2Dday%20school%20week.
Idaho, New Mexico, and Oklahoma
One of the most recent studies (and
one of the most hard-hitting) looked closely at the impact of the four-day week
in Idaho, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
“A Four-Day School Week? Here Are the Costs and Benefits,” Rand, Aug. 31, 2023. https://www.rand.org/pubs/articles/2023/a-four-day-school-week-here-are-the-costs-and-benefits.html
Addendum B
Another View - 2020-2023
AV #207 - March 12, 2020
Alarming Results in Year One:
District 27J Schools’ shift to 4-day school week brings drop in academic
performance
A chance for other districts to learn what NOT to do if they want better
academic results
… what
we know today compels us to ask: Is this the best we can do? To have most
districts, now even urban districts, offer just four days of school each week?
We all want Colorado schools to be #1 – in something we can be proud of. A
shorter week is not it.
AV #236 - August 31, 2021
Why we must have a study of the 4-day week in Colorado
Are we proud of this:
to be #1 in the country in a practice without knowing its impact on students?
In Colorado, no debate—true? Any attempt to insist on
research to gauge the impact?
AV #236 included six
pages on the research on Colorado schools using the 4-day week schedule:
“dated and of dubious value”
The
research often referenced about Colorado districts and schools on a 4-day
schedule is neither recent (data gathered are from 2011, or earlier) nor
reassuring.
The
four studies of Colorado schools on a four-day schedule were published in 2011
(two reports), 2015, and 2016. NOTE: Student achievement and growth data in
these reports are at least ten years old, and come from a state
assessment we stopped using in 2014. Study #1) CSAP results in 2000-2010; #2) CSAP
results in 2008; and #4) CSAP results in 2010 and 2011 (proficiency and
growth).
Based
on my review, I do not see how anyone can make the case, in 2021, that we have
evidence that the four-day school week is proving beneficial to student
achievement in Colorado.
AV # 256 – February 2023
The 4-Day School Weak – Who
Believes One Day Less is More?
Almost 70% of Colorado districts now
on a 4-day school week. Will we ever stop?
My
newsletters opposing this trend have proved futile. Do school leaders and
policymakers care about the impact on student achievement? I see no evidence.
Addendum C – How many days in the
school year? – a comparison
|
State* |
#
of days |
Colorado** |
|
Kansas Gr. K-11 – 186/ Gr. 12 - 181 |
4-day week districts |
|
|
Illinois |
185 |
10 examples – Fewer than 150 days |
|
North
Carolina |
185 |
|
|
Alabama |
180 |
Otis
RE-3 - 148 |
|
Alaska |
180 |
Las
Animas - 148 |
|
Arizona |
180 |
Garfield
16 – 148 K-11/ 144 Seniors |
|
California |
180 |
Centennial
RE1 - 147 |
|
Connecticut |
180 |
Hanover
28 - 146 |
|
District
of Columbia |
180 |
West
Grand 1-JT - 145 |
|
Florida |
180 |
Ellicott
22- 144 |
|
Georgia |
180 |
Burlington
RE-6J – 144 MS-HS/ 142 Elem. |
|
Hawaii |
180 |
Moffat
County - 143 |
|
Indiana |
180 |
La
Junta – 143 Jr-Sr High/ 141 Interm-Primary |
|
Iowa |
180 |
|
|
Maine |
180 |
**
From my collection of districts’ calendars on their website. Any errors are
mine. Most
from 2024-25; some from 2023-34. |
|
Maryland |
180 |
|
|
Massachusetts |
180 |
|
|
Michigan |
180 |
|
|
Mississippi |
180 |
|
|
Nevada |
180 |
|
|
New
Hampshire |
180 |
|
|
New
Jersey |
180 |
|
|
New
York |
180 |
|
|
Oklahoma |
180 |
|
|
Pennsylvania |
180 |
|
|
Rhode
Island |
180 |
|
|
South
Carolina |
180 |
|
|
Tennessee |
180 |
|
|
Utah |
180 |
|
|
Virginia |
180 |
|
|
Washington Gr. 1-12: 180
days/K- 180 half-days |
NOTE In most of the other 13 states the number of days is
either not specified in state policy or is set by the local school board. |
|
|
West
Virginia |
180 |
|
|
Louisiana |
177 |
|
|
Vermont |
175 |
|
|
Wyoming |
175 |
|
|
Kentucky |
170 |
|
|
Minnesota Gr. 1-11 – 165/ all-day K – 850
hrs. |
|
|
|
Colorado |
160 |
|
|
*From
Education Commission of the State- https://reports.ecs.org/comparisons/instructional-time-policies-2023-02 |
||
Endnotes
[i]
https://coloradosun.com/2019/08/27/four-day-school-weeks-in-colorado/, by Jennifer Brown, with Kevin Simpson.
[ii]
https://coloradosun.com/2019/08/29/four-day-schools-politics/,
by Brian Eason.
[iii]
“CDE 2023 Final District Ratings (XLS)- December 13, 2023,” Colorado Department
of Education, https://www.cde.state.co.us/schoolview/datafiles
[iv]
“… the evidence suggests that the four-day school
week is not detrimental for achievement per se, but that four-day school weeks
implemented in districts with low overall time in school are likely to have
meaningful negative consequences for student academic progress. Thus,
maintaining adequate overall time in school should be a key consideration for
school districts thinking about adopting this type of alternative school
schedule.”
“Only a matter of time? The role of time in school on
four-day school week achievement impacts,” Paul N. Thompson, Jason Ward, Economics of
Education Review, Volume 86, February 2022. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272775721001138?via%3Dihub
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