The four-day school week is increasingly popular, particularly in rural districts, with roughly 900 school districts having adopted such a truncated schedule as of 2023. Districts often turn to the four-day schedule in the hope of reducing costs, improving attendance, and increasing teacher recruitment and retention. While the first goal is often achieved (though savings are small), evidence regarding the latter two is mixed.
A recent working paper sheds more light on how the four-day schedule affects student attendance and teacher shortages.
Using panel data from Colorado, where many districts were early adopters of four-day school weeks, researchers Emily Morton and Emma Dewil use a synthetic control difference-in-differences design to investigate how this schedule impacts three outcomes: the percentage of teachers with shortage credentials (a temporary alternative or emergency teaching license), teacher attrition rates, and student attendance rates. The first outcome, shortage credentials, is used as an indicator of teacher shortages, as they are issued when schools face difficulty filling teacher positions and are typically valid for just one to two years. Over the fourteen-year period studied (2009–10 to 2022–23), more than 500 of the 2,000-plus public schools in the sample adopted a four-day week, increasing the share of students on this schedule from just under 3 percent to over 12 percent.
Overall, they found that four-day school weeks increased the share of teachers with a shortage credential by a small but statistically significant 0.11 percentage points. This increase was mostly driven by non-rural schools, where four-day schedules boosted the share of teachers with shortage credentials rather than a traditional licensure by 0.25 percentage points, or 0.07 teachers per school. In rural schools, the average impact of four-day school weeks on shortage credentials was negative and not significant.
Perhaps more importantly, the study found no evidence that adopting a four-day schedule significantly reduces teacher shortages over time, either overall or among recent adopters. This is especially noteworthy, as many recent adopters implemented the four-day week specifically to attract and retain teachers.
When examining teacher retention, the researchers found no evidence that the new schedule reduced attrition. Rural schools showed slightly more favorable results, but they were not significant.
The study also found no significant effects on student attendance, either. However, in large rural districts, they estimated a 0.76 percentage point decrease in average daily attendance, concentrated mainly during the pandemic years.
One key limitation of this study is the use of shortage credentials as a measure of teacher shortages. While issuing shortage credentials suggests a staffing need, it doesn’t directly capture teacher vacancies. In other words, some schools may have more teachers with shortage credentials but few actual vacancies. This means four-day school weeks could help recruit new teachers with temporary licenses, but we should still question the quality of teachers these schedules attract.
In short, the findings provide even more reasons to be skeptical of the four-day school week. Combined with tons of research showing that these shorter schedules negatively impact student achievement, it’s hard for anyone to make a case for the policy. In a time of unprecedented learning loss and widespread chronic absenteeism, it’s indefensible.
SOURCE: Emily Morton and Emma Dewil. “Impacts of Four-Day School Weeks on Teacher Recruitment and Retention and Student Attendance: Evidence from Colorado,” CALDER Working Paper (Sept 2024).
