Four-Day School Week: Research Shows the Impact of a Condensed Schedule Varies by School Location and Student Grade Level

By Denise-Marie Ordway

We updated this piece on the four-day school week on Aug. 27, 2025 to include new research and other information. We have updated it several times since we first published it in June 2018.

More than 2,100 public schools in 26 states have switched to a four-day school week, one of the leading researchers on the topic, Paul N. Thompson, estimates. Many make the change hoping to recruit more teachers, save money and boost student attendance.

In Texas alone, the number of schools adopting the condensed schedule has soared — from 30 schools during the 2020-21 academic year to 506 in 2024-25, The Texas Tribune recently reported.

Small, rural schools facing significant teacher shortages have led the trend, usually choosing to take off Mondays or Fridays to give employees and students three-day weekends every week. To make up for the lost day of instruction, school officials typically tack time onto the remaining four days.

In some cases, teachers still work five days a week, but students only come to school for four. One day a week is set aside for planning, grading and professional development, which many teachers on a traditional school schedule have to do in the evenings after school and on their days off.

After Missouri’s largest school district made the switch, job applications jumped more than 360%, Kansas City’s public radio station reported last year. Joe Erickson, superintendent of the North Iowa Community School District, told the Des Moines Register earlier this year that its four-day schedule has helped with recruiting.

“When we go to a career fair, every student that stops by wants to talk about the four-day school week,” Erickson said. “That’s one thing that’s putting us on the map.”

Beyond such anecdotes, it is tough to know whether the change has drawn more teachers and other employees to these schools — or helped schools hold onto the ones they have. There is little research on the topic. However, a new working paper from the Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, a project of the American Institutes for Research, finds no evidence that adopting a four-day schedule improves teacher recruitment or retention in Missouri.

A 2024 working paper from the same organization finds that teacher recruitment in Colorado improved slightly at suburban schools with four-day schedules.

The impact on students

There is limited peer-reviewed research on how moving to a four-day school week affects students. The research to date focuses on students in specific grade levels in a single state or small group of states, namely Oregon, Oklahoma and Colorado. Schools in rural areas have been studied more rigorously than suburban schools.

But the studies conducted thus far generally find that adopting a four-day school schedule lowers student achievement, notes Paul N. Thompson, an assistant professor of economics at Oregon State University. He stresses the importance of teachers spending as much time teaching students during a four-day schedule as they did when students came to class five days a week.

“Most of the evidence finds that the four-day school week reduces student achievement mostly due to reductions in the amount of time students are in school,” Thompson wrote in an email to The Journalist’s Resource on Aug. 26. “For schools that maintain adequate levels of instructional time close to what they were under the five-day school week, there is often no change in achievement, but we see noticeable declines for four-day school weeks with very low levels of time in school. Thus, implementation design of the four-day school week matters considerably for achievement outcomes.”

A new analysis from researchers at the University of Oregon examines the 11 highest quality studies of student impact in areas such as academic achievement, attendance and discipline. That analysis finds that:

• The impact on students varies based on the location of the school and student grade level. But, overall, there is “no evidence of large positive effects.”
• One study indicates that fourth graders attending schools in rural areas of Colorado earn higher test scores in reading on a four-day schedule. It also suggests fifth graders at rural schools in Colorado earn higher math scores on that schedule.
• A study in Oregon indicates a four-day schedule might reduce high school dropout rates but increase absenteeism among students in grades 9 to 12.
• A study of Oklahoma high school students suggests a four-day week “probably reduces bullying, fighting, and school bus incidents,” the University of Oregon researchers write. But it appears to have little to no effect on reports of vandalism.
• Three studies examine changes in student achievement for students in kindergarten through eighth grade in several states. All indicate that a four-day schedule may lower students’ performance in math and likely lowers their performance in reading, regardless of whether they attend school in a rural or suburban community.

The University of Oregon’s HEDCO Institute for Evidence-Based Educational Practice has created an interactive database that journalists and others can use to sift through dozens of research papers and reports on four-day school weeks. It’s worth noting the majority are student papers, including theses and doctoral dissertations.

Looking for more research on K-12 schools? Check out our other collections of research on private school vouchers, student vaccine exemptions, student discipline and how school nurses can help fight chronic absenteeism.

Guidance for journalists

Emily Morton, another leading scholar in the field, points out that several misconceptions show up in news stories about four-day school weeks. Journalists should make clear that cutting the school week by a day does not mean schools will cut class time by 20%.

All public schools must provide a certain number of hours of instructional time every week, as outlined in their state’s laws, notes Morton, a lead research scientist at NWEA, a nonprofit research and student assessment organization.

“In reality, four-day week schedules vary a lot — there are ‘hybrid’ schools that use the schedule for only part of the year, and the amount of instructional time that schools add to school days to make up the time on the fifth day can vary substantially,” Morton wrote to The Journalist’s Resource on Aug. 26.

Another common misconception centers on standardized test scores. If standardized test scores do not fall, that does not mean the four-day schedule does not hurt student performance, Morton adds.

“District leaders may not see changes in their state test scores after adopting the four-day school week, but that observation unfortunately does not prove that the schedule is not harming achievement,” Morton wrote. “The question they really want answered is how scores would have changed if they had stayed on a five-day week relative to how they changed when they adopted the four-day week. When we compare the performance of four-day week schools to five-day week schools, we find test scores at four-day week schools are improving less over time than those at similar five-day week schools.”

Thompson encourages journalists to report on how the four-day week impacts students’ health, nutrition and safety.

“I would say the biggest piece people may miss about the four-day school week is that this isn’t just a story about cost savings and teacher recruitment versus student achievement,” he wrote to The Journalist’s Resource. “The four-day school week affects a whole other host of things, such as lost access to school meals, physical education opportunities, and childcare that schools traditionally provide five days per week. Thus, probing questions about how communities are wrestling with the needs of parents and students in the wake of the four-day school week along these dimensions is also extremely important to the overall story and one that may not necessarily be at the forefront of everyone’s minds.”

Keep reading to learn more about four-day school weeks. Below, we have summarized several peer-reviewed papers on the subject. We update this collection of research periodically.

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A Multi-State, Student-Level Analysis of the Effects of the Four-Day School Week On Student Achievement and Growth
Emily Morton, Paul N. Thompson and Megan Kuhfeld. Economics of Education Review, June 2024.

Summary: This study looks at how switching to a four-day school week affects student achievement over the course of the school year in six states: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming. Researchers find that, on average, students on a four-day schedule in those states learned less during the school year than students who went to class five days a week. However, students in rural areas fared better on that schedule than students in “non-rural” areas.

Researchers studied how well students in grades 3 to 8 scored on an assessment called the Measures of Academic Progress Growth, which is administered each fall and spring to gauge how much kids learned over the course of the school year. The analysis uses 11 years of test score data in reading and math, collected from the 2008-09 to the 2018-19 academic year.

Researchers found that students who went to school four days a week, as a whole, made smaller gains in reading during the academic year than students who went five days a week. They also earned lower scores in reading on the spring assessment, on average.

When researchers looked at the data more closely, however, they found differences between students attending rural schools and students attending schools located in towns and suburbs — communities the researchers dubbed “non-rural.”

Although adopting a four-day schedule had little to no impact on kids at rural schools, student performance fell considerably at schools in non-rural areas. Those children, as a whole, made less progress in reading and math during the academic year than children attending non-rural schools that operated five days a week. They also earned lower scores in both reading and math on the spring exam.

“The estimated effects on math and reading achievement in non-rural four-day week schools are ‘medium’ and meaningful,” the researchers write, adding that the difference is roughly equivalent to a quarter of a school year worth of learning in the fifth grade.

Researchers also discovered that student performance at schools with four-day schedules varied by gender and race. At schools using a four-day-a-week schedule, girls made smaller gains in reading and math than boys, on average. Hispanic students made less progress in math than white students, who made less progress in math than Native American students.

“The estimated effects on math and reading gains during the school year are not ‘large’ by the developing standards used to interpret effect sizes of education interventions, but they are also not trivial,” the researchers write. “For the many districts and communities who have become very fond of the schedule, the evidence presented in this study suggests that how the four-day school week is implemented may be an important factor in its effects on students.”

Impacts of the Four-Day School Week on Early Elementary Achievement
Paul N. Thompson; et al. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2nd Quarter 2023.

Summary: This study is the first to examine the four-day school week’s impact on elementary schools’ youngest students. Researchers looked at how children in Oregon who went to school four days a week in kindergarten later performed in math and English Language Arts when they reached the third grade. What they found: Overall, there were “minimal and non-significant differences” in the test scores of third-graders who attended kindergarten on a four-day schedule between 2014 and 2016 and third-graders who went to kindergarten on a five-day schedule during the same period.

When the researchers studied individual groups of students, though, they noticed small differences. For example, when they looked only at children who had scored highest on their pre-kindergarten assessments of letter sounds, letter names and early math skills, they learned that kids who went to kindergarten four days a week scored a little lower on third-grade tests than those who had gone to kindergarten five days a week.

The researchers write that they find no statistically significant evidence of detrimental four-day school week achievement impacts, and even some positive impacts” for minority students, lower-income students,  special education students, students enrolled in English as a Second Language programs and students who scored in the lower half on pre-kindergarten assessments.

There are multiple reasons why lower-achieving students might be less affected by school schedules than high achievers, the researchers point out. For example, higher-achieving students “may miss out on specialized instruction — such as gifted and enrichment activities — that they would have had time to receive under a five-day school schedule,” they write.

Effects of 4-Day School Weeks on Older Adolescents: Examining Impacts of the Schedule on Academic Achievement, Attendance, and Behavior in High School
Emily Morton. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, June 2022.

Summary: Oklahoma high schools saw less fighting and bullying among students after switching from a five-day-a-week schedule to a four-day schedule, this study finds. Fighting declined by 0.79 incidents per 100 students and bullying dropped by 0.65 incidents per 100 students.

The other types of student discipline problems examined, including weapons possession, vandalism and truancy, did not change, according to the analysis, based on a variety of student and school data collected through 2019 from the Oklahoma State Department of Education and National Center for Education Statistics.

“Results indicate that 4-day school weeks decrease per-pupil bullying incidents by approximately 39% and per-pupil fighting incidents by approximately 31%,” writes the author, Emily Morton, a research scientist at NWEA, a nonprofit research organization formerly known as the Northwest Evaluation Association.

Morton did not investigate what caused the reduction in bullying and fighting. She did find that moving to a four-day schedule had “no detectable effect” on high school attendance or student scores on the ACT college-entrance exam.

Only a Matter of Time? The Role of Time in School on Four-Day School Week Achievement Impacts
Paul N. Thompson and Jason Ward. Economics of Education Review, February 2022.

Summary: Student test scores in math and language arts dipped at some schools that adopted a four-day schedule but did not change at others, according to this analysis of school schedule switches in 12 states.

Researchers discovered “small reductions” in test scores for students in grades 3 through 8 at schools offering what the researchers call “low time in school.” These schools operate an average of 29.95 hours during the four-day week. The decline in test scores is described in terms of standard deviation, not units of measurement such as points or percentages.

At schools offering “middle time in school” — an average of 31.03 hours over four days — test scores among kids in grades 3 through 8 did not change, write the researchers, Paul N. Thompson, an associate professor of economics at Oregon State University, and Jason Ward, an associate economist at the RAND Corp., a nonprofit research organization.

Scores also did not change at schools providing “high time in school,” or 32.14 hours over a four-day school week, on average.

When describing this paper’s findings, it’s inaccurate to say researchers found that test scores dropped as a result of schools adopting a four-day schedule. It is correct to say test scores dropped, on average, across the schools the researchers studied. But it’s worth noting the relationship between test scores and the four-day school week differs according to the average number of hours those schools operate each week.

For this analysis, researchers examined school districts in states that allowed four-day school weeks during the 2008-2009 academic year through the 2017-2018 academic years. They chose to focus on the 12 states where four-day school weeks were most common. The data they used came from the Stanford Educational Data Archive and “a proprietary, longitudinal, national database” that tracked the use of four-day school weeks from 2009 to 2018.

The researchers write that their findings “suggest that four-day school weeks that operate with adequate levels of time in school have no clear negative effect on achievement and, instead, that it is operating four-day school weeks in a low-time-in-school environment that should be cautioned against.”

Three Midwest Rural School Districts’ First Year Transition to the Four Day School Week
Jon Turner, Kim Finch and Ximena Uribe-Zarain. The Rural Educator, 2019.

Abstract: “The four-day school week is a concept that has been utilized in rural schools for decades to respond to budgetary shortfalls. There has been little peer-reviewed research on the four-day school week that has focused on the perception of parents who live in school districts that have recently switched to the four-day model. This study collects data from 584 parents in three rural Missouri school districts that have transitioned to the four-day school week within the last year. Quantitative statistical analysis identifies significant differences in the perceptions of parents classified by the age of children, special education identification, and free and reduced lunch status. Strong parental support for the four-day school week was identified in all demographic areas investigated; however, families with only elementary aged children and families with students receiving special education services were less supportive than other groups.”

Juvenile Crime and the Four-Day School Week
Stefanie Fischer and Daniel Argyle. Economics of Education Review, 2018.

Abstract: “We leverage the adoption of a four-day school week across schools within the jurisdiction of rural law enforcement agencies in Colorado to examine the causal link between school attendance and youth crime. Those affected by the policy attend school for the same number of hours each week as students on a typical five-day week; however, treated students do not attend school on Friday. This policy allows us to learn about two aspects of the school-crime relationship that have previously been unstudied: one, the effects of a frequent and permanent schedule change on short-term crime, and two, the impact that school attendance has on youth crime in rural areas. Our difference-in-difference estimates show that following policy adoption, agencies containing students on a four-day week experience about a 20 percent increase in juvenile criminal offenses, where the strongest effect is observed for property crime.”

Staff Perspectives of the Four-Day School Week: A New Analysis of Compressed School Schedules
Jon Turner, Kim Finch and Ximena Uribe–Zarian. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 2018.

Abstract: “The four-day school week is a concept that has been utilized in rural schools for decades to respond to budgetary shortfalls. There has been little peer-reviewed research on the four-day school week that has focused on the perception of staff that work in school districts that have recently switched to the four-day model. This study collects data from 136 faculty and staff members in three rural Missouri school districts that have transitioned to the four-day school week within the last year. Quantitative statistical analysis identifies strong support of the four-day school week model from both certified educational staff and classified support staff perspectives. All staff responded that the calendar change had improved staff morale, and certified staff responded that the four-day week had a positive impact on what is taught in classrooms and had increased academic quality. Qualitative analysis identifies staff suggestions for schools implementing the four-day school week including the importance of community outreach prior to implementation. No significant differences were identified between certified and classified staff perspectives. Strong staff support for the four-day school week was identified in all demographic areas investigated. Findings support conclusions made in research in business and government sectors that identify strong employee support of a compressed workweek across all work categories.”

The Economics of a Four-Day School Week: Community and Business Leaders’ Perspectives
Jon Turner, Kim Finch and Ximena Uribe–Zarian. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 2018.

Abstract: “The four-day school week is a concept that has been utilized in rural schools in the United States for decades and the number of schools moving to the four-day school week is growing. In many rural communities, the school district is the largest regional employer which provides a region with permanent, high paying jobs that support the local economy. This study collects data from 71 community and business leaders in three rural school districts that have transitioned to the four-day school week within the last year. Quantitative statistical analysis is used to investigate the perceptions of community and business leaders related to the economic impact upon their businesses and the community and the impact the four-day school week has had upon perception of quality of the school district. Significant differences were identified between community/business leaders that currently have no children in school as compared to community/business leaders with children currently enrolled in four-day school week schools. Overall, community/business leaders were evenly divided concerning the economic impact on their businesses and the community. Community/business leaders’ perceptions of the impact the four-day school week was also evenly divided concerning the impact on the quality of the school district. Slightly more negative opinions were identified related to the economic impact on the profitability of their personal businesses which may impact considerations by school leaders. Overall, community/business leaders were evenly divided when asked if they would prefer their school district return to the traditional five-day week school calendar.”

Impact of a 4-Day School Week on Student Academic Performance, Food Insecurity, and Youth Crime
Report from the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s Office of Partner Engagement, 2017.

Summary: “A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) utilizes a variety of data sources and analytic methods to evaluate the consequences of proposed or implemented policy on health. A rapid (HIA) was chosen to research the impact of the four-day school week on youth. The shift to a four-day school week was a strategy employed by many school districts in Oklahoma to address an $878 million budget shortfall, subsequent budget cuts, and teacher shortages. The HIA aimed to assess the impact of the four-day school week on student academic performance, food insecurity, and juvenile crime … An extensive review of literature and stakeholder engagement on these topic areas was mostly inconclusive or did not reveal any clear-cut evidence to identify effects of the four-day school week on student outcomes — academic performance, food insecurity or juvenile crime. Moreover, there are many published articles about the pros and cons of the four-day school week, but a lack of comprehensive research is available on the practice.”

Does Shortening the School Week Impact Student Performance? Evidence from the Four-Day School Week
D. Mark Anderson and Mary Beth Walker. Education Finance and Policy, 2015.

Abstract: “School districts use a variety of policies to close budget gaps and stave off teacher layoffs and furloughs. More schools are implementing four-day school weeks to reduce overhead and transportation costs. The four-day week requires substantial schedule changes as schools must increase the length of their school day to meet minimum instructional hour requirements. Although some schools have indicated this policy eases financial pressures, it is unknown whether there is an impact on student outcomes. We use school-level data from Colorado to investigate the relationship between the four-day week and academic performance among elementary school students. Our results generally indicate a positive relationship between the four-day week and performance in reading and mathematics. These findings suggest there is little evidence that moving to a four-day week compromises student academic achievement. This research has policy relevance to the current U.S. education system, where many school districts must cut costs.”

Other resources

• The Education Commission of the States offers a 50-state comparison of public school students’ instructional time requirements. For example, students in Colorado are required to be in school for a minimum of 160 days each academic year while in Vermont, the minimum is 175 days and in North Carolina, it’s 185.
• The State of the American Teacher project offers insights into how teachers feel about their jobs and the education field as a whole. In early 2022, RAND Corp. surveyed a nationally representative sample of teachers, asking questions on topics such as job-related stress, school safety, COVID-19 mitigation policies and career plans. Survey results show that 56% of teachers who answered a question about their attitude toward their job “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed with the statement, “The stress and disappointments involved in teaching aren’t really worth it.” Meanwhile, 78% “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed with the statement, “I don’t seem to have as much enthusiasm now as I did when I began teaching.”
• Opinions about the four-day school week vary among school board members, district-level administrators, school principals and teachers. These organizations can provide insights: the Schools Superintendents Association, National School Boards Association, National Association of Elementary School Principals and National Association of Secondary School Principals.

This article first appeared on The Journalist’s Resource and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

 

 

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