Effects of a four-day school week in rural areas

Effects of a four-day school week in rural areas
Many districts in smaller, rural areas of the U.S. have switched to four-day school weeks with lengthened school days, to ease financial pressure on districts. To examine the effects of these four-day weeks on student achievement, researchers at Georgia State University and Montana State University compared the Colorado Student Assessment Program's (CSAP) fourth grade reading and fifth grade math scores one year before the schedule change to the following three years after the change. One-third of Colorado's districts implement a four-day school week. 

Results showed that after switching to the four-day week, the percentage of students scoring proficient or better in math actually increased, while scores in reading were not affected. They also found that the shortened week lowered teacher and student absenteeism. Researchers noted that these results were for rural areas only, and that more research would need to be done to determine if urban areas could benefit from such a change. 

Johns Hopkins University 

Research in Brief

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