Planet Money Episode, Wednesday, October 24

NPR’s popular economics podcast Planet Money recently did an episode focusing on the rise of the four-day school week in the United States. Sarah Gonzales lays out the situation: many school districts, often small, often rural, are facing difficulty retaining teachers. In an effort to make their districts more attractive, administrators are moving to a 4-day model. The hope is that the appeal of a three-day-weekend every weekend is enough to attract and retain excellent teachers in these districts.

The idea

The growth of the 4-day week has been rapid. In 2017 CBS reported that “At least 120 school districts have adopted the 4-day week” by 2023 “nearly 900 school districts in the United States currently use a four-day weekly academic schedule. The Planet Money episode does a good job of summarizing the reasons why a school district would make this choice. In the 70’s and 80’s, there was a small wave of tiny rural districts deciding that a 4-day week met their community’s needs better - kids could work on the farms on their days off from school. Later, in the Aughts and Teeens there was a wave of schools thinking that a 4-day week would lead to savings: you don’t have to pay for busses and support staff on days the schools are closed. The guest on Planet Money, OSU’s Paul Thompson, Sarah Gonzales’ guest on the episode explains that this doesn’t really work and districts only save 1-2%.

So now there is this third wave of schools who are making the choice because of teacher-shortages. Data from January of 2023 reveals unfilled positions in each State, though it varies wildly with Idaho, for example, reporting a drop from 900 to 134 vacancies, while Mississippi reported over 3000 vacancies. This data is spread out over years though, and does not represent the most up-to-date numbers. The government posts its teacher shortage data here.

outcomes

The first outcome is the expense. Gonzales points out that with as much as a 20% cut in instructional time (and no cut in education expenses) plus the costs in childcare - she cites one parent paying an additional $1260 a year - this method of attracting teachers is much, much more expensive to a community than simply raising teacher salaries.

However, despite the expense, the shorter week seems to be more popular. In the district cited in the podcast, voters twice rejected $60-a-year tax increases to fund higher salaries, but are pleased with the shorter week, even though it’s so much more expensive. Paul Thompson reports that studies show anecdotal evidence that teachers, parent, and students all love the shorter weeks, though there is not yet data on whether it retains quality teachers.

Where there is data is on student behaviors and educational outcomes. Thompson claims that it’s clear students: eat less breakfast, and consume more sugary beverages; and that rates of juvenile crime increase from 12-20% in districts that go to a 4-day week. There are also reports of drops in reading and mathematics scores specifically on the 11th Grade Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. You can decide for yourself the value you place on standardized test scores, but they are one of the key data points we have for student achievement - for better or worse.

A caveat to the drop in achievement, Thompson says that increasing the remaining days in school so that total time in school remain consistent sees no similar achievement gaps forming.

effectiveness

So, fewer days at school, but the same amount of time, for the same pay. An attractive proposition for teachers, yes? But a second problem rears it’s head. As more and more school districts opt for the 4-day week, the effectiveness of it as an attractive perk starts to diminish. If only one district in a State or region is offering the schedule, then it becomes something teachers need to seriously consider. However, if most or all the districts are taking it up, it suddenly becomes the norm, what’s expected and teachers will go back to making decisions based on class sizes and salary as they always have.

thoughts

Would I take a job - all other things being equal - that offered a four-day-week? Absolutely! But the point is that things are clearly not equal, hence the drive for the four day week. So now I start asking myself, what are the trade-offs, and can I expect this policy to expand nationwide?

First of all, I doubt that we will see this policy taken up by large urban districts. I suspect that the reported decrease in academic success and the increase in child-care expenses and juvenile crime will prove to be too much for urban areas to swallow. Which, based on the lifestyle that suits me, is probably me out of the four-day-week teaching world. I can’t see myself making the sacrifice to move to a small, rural district in search of this schedule.