As more districts adopt four-day weeks to cope with budget crunches, one rural Iowa district says it is embracing the practice for a different reason: to squeeze more time out of the school calendar for student enrichment and teachers鈥� professional development.
Starting this school year, students in the 550-student WACO community school district will attend school Monday through Thursday, spending an hour longer in class each day so that no classes will need to be held on Fridays. Students in the district鈥攚hich serves the communities of Wayland, Crawfordsville, and Olds鈥攈ave the option of attending remedial or enrichment classes every other Friday or to enroll in college-level classes.
This new plan for the school year follows the June 2013 passage of Iowa鈥檚 House File 215, which officially defines the state鈥檚 school year length requirements in both days and hours. Under the new law, a full school year is defined as having at least 1,080 hours, or an equivalent 180 days, of instruction, but it鈥檚 up to districts to inform the state of which metric they will use to measure their school year鈥攊n hours or days.
Iowa isn鈥檛 alone in this shift. More states nationwide are altering their definitions of the school year from days to hours to allow more scheduling flexibility, according to Kathy Christie, the chief of staff at the Education Commission of the States, based in Denver. More than 20 states have districts operating on four-day weeks, according to the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University Bloomington.
Cost-Cutting Measure?
According to Ms. Christie, districts鈥�especially those in rural areas鈥攁re typically lured to the four-day week as a possible form of relief from budget woes. They see the condensed schedule as a way to reduce costs associated with busing and utilities.
In rural southern Idaho, for example, officials of the Wendell school district say budget concerns are driving their district鈥檚 move to a four-day week this academic year. The 1,200-student district hopes that the new schedule will cut down on transportation and utility costs and on student absences, since schools receive much of their funding based on how many students attend.
Superintendent Gregory Lowe said: 鈥淲ith the cuts we had here in Idaho, we thought this would lead to savings for our struggling budget, but we also felt like it was a good thing for students.鈥�
However, like Iowa鈥檚 WACO district, Wendell isn鈥檛 planning on letting its Fridays go to waste. It will use those days for teacher professional development, to provide extra help for students through a program called the Success Alliance, or for enrichment activities, depending on the week.
The Fridays set aside for professional development will be focused on instructional strategies for the Common Core State Standards.
Results in Practice
Meanwhile, another rural district, the MACCRAY school system, which serves Maynard, Clara City, and Raymond in Minnesota, is entering its fifth school year with a four-day week. For the most part, community feedback on the switch has been positive, according to the 650-student district.
鈥淧arents really like it,鈥� said Gary Simms, the principal of MACCRAY Senior High School, 鈥渁nd because we have one less day, we save on busing, on utilities, on maintenance time. We save a bit on food service.鈥�
The district decided to cut Monday out of its school week to reduce absenteeism as well, since parents can now schedule doctor or other appointments for their children on that day, and now absenteeism rates are 鈥渕aybe a little better than before,鈥� according to Mr. Simms.
While child care is one concern often brought up with four-day-week districts, Mr. Simms said the MACCRAY district hasn鈥檛 heard many complaints.
鈥淚f parents know when they will need a babysitter, 99 percent are responsible enough to get one,鈥� he said.
Even though belt-tightening is driving many of the switches to four-day schedules, Ms. Christie of the ECS said that 鈥渃ost-saving is not a reason to make the switch.鈥�
That鈥檚 because calculations of the savings produced by the schedule change have shown them to be minimal, she said.
Reducing the school week from five days to four doesn鈥檛 automatically translate to big savings, according to analysts.
Potential Benefits
- Increased attendance rates for teachers and students
- Boosts morale among teachers and students
- Additional time available for professional development and teacher planning
- Savings on transportation and heating and cooling costs
- Decreased need for substitute teachers; savings in substitute- teacher wages
- More efficient use of classroom time
- Fewer discipline problems
Potential Drawbacks
- Difficulty finding child care on fifth day
- Actual savings often less than anticipated savings
- May have negative effects on at-risk students and those with special needs
- May be difficult for younger students
- Decreased wages for cafeteria workers and bus drivers, who lose one day of work per week
Unknowns
- Effectiveness and appropriateness in large/urban school districts
- Impact on student achievement
Source: Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, Indiana University Bloomington
Moreover, the educational value of the time added on to each day, to account for the lost day of instruction, hasn鈥檛 been examined in depth. 鈥淢ost of the research is anecdotal,鈥� Ms. Christie said.
A report from Indiana University鈥檚 CEEP says that there is no strong evidence that a four-day week has either a positive or negative effect on achievement.
In Iowa, the state education department appears to concur with Ms. Christie鈥檚 assessment of the fiscal benefits of such a change.
鈥淭he state has taken the stand that if a district is doing this just to save money, that鈥檚 not something they鈥檙e OK with. Historically, they haven鈥檛 approved those calendars,鈥� said WACO Superintendent Darrell Smith. 鈥淎nd I鈥檓 OK with that. Education shouldn鈥檛 be about money.鈥�
Looking to Improve
Though WACO wasn鈥檛 the first district in Iowa to make the request to the state for such a schedule change, it was the first to gain approval, largely because the district鈥檚 motivation has not been budget-based.
鈥淚n fact, it could end up costing us money,鈥� said Mr. Smith.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires that districts make 鈥渁dequate yearly progress鈥� on state academic tests. But, Mr. Smith said, 鈥渨hen we looked at our data, it was flat.鈥�
So the district decided a four-day week might offer an opportunity to improve learning through additional assistance and educational enrichment opportunities for students and professional development for teachers.
For 13 Fridays throughout the school year, beginning this week, students in all grades will have the opportunity to attend a half-day, when all teachers will be on hand for office hours, during which students can get remedial tutoring or opportunities for credit recovery.
For students seeking an additional challenge, the district鈥檚 schools will also offer enrichment classes, such as music, engineering, or exploration science classes, on those Fridays or will allow for concurrent enrollment through the local community college, giving students the opportunity to acquire college credits.
All other Fridays will be used for professional development, allowing teachers time to meet with fellow department members and collaboratively plan their lessons, or learn how to bring technology into their classrooms.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e looking at is the opportunity to change the way our teachers teach,鈥� said Mr. Smith. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really interested in using technology as an instructional tool, and in putting it in the hands of kids. But we have to get our teachers ready first.鈥�
As of last week, 95 percent of WACO鈥檚 students had expressed interest in coming into school for the Friday programs.
Mr. Smith said the district may use the time to bone up on computerized textbooks to develop more flexible curricula and digital assessments that will give teachers better feedback on what their students are learning and what knowledge they鈥檙e still lacking.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to waste time teaching students what they already know. We want to teach what they don鈥檛 know,鈥� he said.
The WACO district plans to follow the schedule for at least three years to fully weigh its effectiveness based on student results from state and district assessments and teacher feedback.
鈥淸This plan] puts everybody on the same wavelength,鈥� Mr. Smith said. 鈥淚t takes everybody working toward the same thing to make something work.鈥�
