Four day school weeks: why no online instruction?

A small but growing number of school districts, mostly rural, are implementing four day school weeks. As this phenomenon has been growing, I’ve been wondering—are some of these districts using online instruction to pick up some of the instructional gap? The short answer appears to be no. Even more interesting, perhaps, is the apparent lack of even considering some sort of hybrid approach that might meet the needs of schools, students, and teachers.
 
Four day school weeks: how, why, and where
The National Conference of State Legislatures reported (as of summer 2023) that
 
“A four-day schedule involves reducing the number of school days to four, usually from Monday to Thursday, while increasing the length of each school day. The idea of a four-day school week has gained popularity over the last decade, especially in rural areas where schools face budgetary constraints and staff shortages. 
 
Reasons for implementing the shorter week vary, but most school districts choose a shorter week to cut costs due to budget constraints. Research shows that the maximum possible cost savings for districts on a four-day week is 5.43%, but average savings range from 0.4% to 2.5%. One factor affecting savings is whether the school remains open on the fifth day. Some school districts opt for four-day school weeks to attract and retain teachers. Most four-day-a-week schools are in small, rural districts; however, in recent years, some larger, more urban districts have begun to consider the option of a shorter week. 
 
Most four-day-a-week schools operate Monday through Thursday, with a few opting for Tuesday through Friday. School days are lengthened to deliver the same amount of instructional time over fewer days, as required by state law.”
 
How does a four day week fit into scheduling and instructional time requirements? As NCSL explains on the same page, “Statutory guideline…may allow calendar flexibility by expressing that the minimum instructional day requirement can also be counted in the hour or minute equivalent.” 
 
How common are four day weeks? Education Week reports (as of May 2024) that nearly 1,000 districts are running four day weeks. These are almost all small districts, with a few districts with enrollments between 20,000 – 25,000 students (e.g. Brighton, CO) and most much smaller. I haven’t found any sources estimating the total number of students in four day week districts, but it seems likely that the number is more than a million—which is a small percentage but still a lot of students.
 
Teacher retention and the collective action problem
Sources above discuss cost savings as the main reason for the shift, with teacher recruitment and retention a secondary consideration. Here in Colorado, however, that dynamic is flipped, according to a study from the Keystone Policy Center, which reports that in their research “recruiting and retaining teachers emerged as far and away the biggest factor for switching to a four-day week.” In other words, a four day work week is mostly a benefit in enticing teachers to choose to move to or stay in the district. The interesting factor though is that with so many rural districts shifting to the four day week, each district no longer has a competitive advantage from the shift. Arguably, in rural western Colorado, the four-day school week may become an expectation for teachers. It may help districts recruit from urban and suburban districts, but not from each other.
 
How well are students performing?
Research is limited and outcomes appear mixed. From Education Week:
 
“Researchers continue to paint a mixed picture of the effects of four-day school weeks. A study published in February by Missouri’s state education department found no significant difference in academic achievement regardless of the length of the school week. A RAND study in 2023, meanwhile, found small decreases in the growth of student achievement in districts with four-day weeks.”
 
The Keystone study paints a more negative picture:
 
“Most studies found that four-day school weeks had a negative impact on student achievement and academic growth. There are also indicators that it can lower student graduation rates.”
 
It does seem logical that cramming the same amount of instructional time into 20% fewer days per week would result in some learning loss relative to a five-day week.
 
The curious case of the missing online learning
All this raises a question: why is consideration of online or hybrid learning as a way to create flexibility, while bolstering instruction, missing from these reports and discussions?
 
I can’t say it’s never come up. But it is certainly not prominent in any of the reports or websites I’ve been reviewing, nor does a web search turn up any relevant links.
 
This is curious in part because some of the states discussed in the research, including Colorado and Oklahoma, have significant online and hybrid schools. But these schools, advocates, and leaders do not appear to be part of the four day week discussion.
 
Perhaps the issue is that it’s not obvious how an online or hybrid instructional model would be implemented across a district. But we know that such schools can and do:

• Provide teachers with much more flexibility than traditional school schedules.

• Improve student outcomes for students who are not well served by traditional models, suggesting that a hybrid model might bolster four day week outcomes.

• Offer a variety of benefits including online career readiness and dual credit, which could be part of a cross-district digital approach.

 
Why, then, are such options apparently not even being considered? There are at least three possible, related answers:

• Education leaders are more focused on overall budget concerns rather than teacher recruitment and retention, and adding a digital component would increase costs.

• Districts and state leaders aren’t aware enough of online and hybrid options to consider them; this might be especially true because many of these districts are small and rural, and have limited resources.

• Digital learning leaders aren’t seeking to address this emerging issue, so nobody is presenting a digital instruction option to these districts.

 
Again, the digital learning approach that might be put in place by districts using or contemplating four day school weeks is not obvious. But it’s still surprising that there’s no sign of such deliberation.

Another possible conclusion is sobering for everyone working in the innovative segments of public education, who see and work with entrepreneurial educators daily. This situation may be a reminder that such innovation-minded educators and policymakers remain unusual.
 
When faced with a challenge (budget constraints and recruiting/retaining teachers) that calls for innovative solutions, the response instead of a thousand districts is to cut a school day out of the schedule. And nobody in the policy or research fields seems to be asking if there’s a better way.

Am I missing something that suggests a more optimistic conclusion? If so let me know!