VIENNA — A researcher for the four-day school week was at the Maries R-1 School Board meeting with a presentation that gave board members solid data and information about the four-day school model that recently has been a topic of discussion for Maries R-1.

At the school board’s January meeting, John Turner of the Missouri State University Four-Day School Week Resource Center, was present to speak to the board members. In addition to his presentation, Superintendent Mark Parker gave board members the local survey results that included parent and staff comments. The survey was on the school district’s website and each R-1 student was given a survey to bring home. Parker said Visitation Inter-Parish School students were part of the community survey.

Turner began his presentation by saying last year he visited 33 school districts in Missouri that are using the four-day school week model. This year 21 more schools joined that group at next year they expect the number of school using the four-day school week to total 82. Every state west of the Mississippi River has school using the four-day school week. Recently Arkansas added a school district and next year that state is expected to have 30 schools using it. Turner said it is a growing trend in the western part of the state. Of the current schools using the four-day week calendar, only seven of these districts have a K-12 enrollment of more than 1,000 and 28 of the districts have a K-12 enrollment of less than 400. Warren County Schools in Warrenton, west of St. Louis, is the largest school district that next year will begin using the four-day school week with its 3,400 students.

Turner said he does not have an opinion for or against to give to the board members. What he does have is data and he presented the key points. The top reasons given for the switch in Missouri to four days is to attract and retain high quality teachers; additional time for professional development and collaboration; increase student and teacher attendance; financial saving and less “wear and tear” on school equipment such as buses; increased time for students and family; and less out of school time for students and coaches to attend extra-curricular events.

The key research findings were firstly, there was little long term academic impact found. Secondly, the maximum financial savings were less than five percent. And thirdly, it was strongly supported by parents and staff.

For the most part, staff and faculty have supported the four-day week after completing one year of school. When the four-day school calendar rolled out, most of them liked it. One study that looked at drivers of the economy and the school as a main employer found most people in the business community liked it. The only negative group in the business community the research found was people who didn’t have kids in school. The ones who had kids in school liked it. The research found there was no impact on the economies of business and may actually have caused some business owners to rethink their schedule and be open on Mondays.

Turner said the reasons against the four-day calendar by parents were concerns about kids who use the free/reduced school lunch will miss lunches/meals. Also, single parents would have trouble with daycare and payment for it. Families with young children were more included to be against it than families with older students. He said there were a lot of demographics and they never found a group of parents who wanted to go back to a five-day school week. But, there were two groups that were very close. One was parents of IEP students and their approval of the four-day school week was in the lower 50 percent in support. The second group was parents with only kids in preschool, first and second grades and their support also was in the low 50’s. Turner said the researchers will dig deeper into this.

Child care comes up and every district worries about it, he said. It’s a common theme and they’ve seen concern for child care for the children of others but not their own. Some districts have a child care at school on Mondays. In one school it was free but the students who attended never reached above 17 and by Thanksgiving they were down to four students. Some districts partnered with a church or a Boys/Girls Club. In Clinton County they operate a child care on the day off which is run by teachers and they never get more than 20 kids.

Board member Dave Long asked about the in-school child care and who provides the insurance. Turner said the school does as faculty and aides work there. Board member Dave Garro asked about the largest school using the four-day calendar and Turner said Warrenton with 3,400 students.

Board Vice President Penny Schoene asked about gauging academics with the four-day school calendar. Turner said they have no perfect assessment because the state keeps changing the MAP tests and they don’t have a consistent baseline and won’t until they can use the same assessment system four years in a row. “One year of data doesn’t work. We need four years of consistent assessment,” he said, adding they are using research from other states, such as Colorado, which has a large number of schools using the four-day calendar and the findings are more consistent.

In Oregon, research found during the first four years the schools saw an “academic bump” in reading and math and then it stabilized. Over 10 years “it was a wash.” They think the initial academic bump was because there was more time for professional development. With the additional time, teachers were able to do more intensive looks at how they teach and in some areas they refocused how they taught. They developed new strategies for teaching. “They may have fewer days but they had more time for teachers to work together and focus on instruction,” Turner said.

Nobody is more committed to students than the school members, Turner said. Only one district changed back to five days after trying the four-day school week and that was Lexington. School leaders were concerned  about the length of the school day for young students. Board member Dave Garro said Maries R-1 is a rural school district with many students riding the bus. Some students get on the bus early and off the bus late. If time is added to the school day for the four-day school week, “It’s a long time and a long day” for those students, Garro said. Turner said most schools add 20 minutes per day. At first most of the school districts split the minutes, adding them at both the beginning and at the end of the day. Later they began to put the 20 minutes at the end because otherwise school was starting too early. At this point, Turner said the Missouri State researchers know more about the four-day school week than DESE does because they have looked closely at each school district.

Now, there are new schools coming on to use the model and Missouri State is doing programs about it, streaming information they can use and answering their questions. Almost all of them are responding to the surveys and Missouri State partners with the four-day calendar schools.

One thing many are doing is offering dual credit courses on Mondays only. Students on the free/reduced lunch program can take the dual credit class for free. Districts have to set up a plan to do this at school. Missouri State offers $70 per credit hour, which it uses as a recruitment tool.

Garro asked if the four-day school week does indeed help attract and retain teachers. Turner said it appears that it does and as more and more school do this researchers will find similar schools and make comparisons. He said as the map of school using the four-day school week fills in, the competitive advantage goes down. There are many schools using it now in southeast Missouri.

Long asked if they foresee the map filling in and Turner said they think so. It will top out at some point. Now, there is a lot of attention and interest in the St. Louis area. If Warrenton has success, “It could be a deal changer.”

Turner said when there are enough schools using the four-day week and if it shows negative academic performance by students, “The legislature would stop it. Academics will drive it.” In fact, the state of Oklahoma put a stop to it. There is only one school in Arkansas using the four-day school calendar but Arkansas has school choice. The school in Kirby went to four-days to attract students as well and increased enrollment from 280 to 350 students.

Turner told the board members he was in New Bloomfield that day. On Monday they work with the students using dual credit. They identify struggling students and work with them on Mondays. “It’s not a day off for all,” he said. The schools can get additional funding for remediation work with students. Schools out but they are still working with students on careers, internships, although only a few schools are doing this. It doesn’t have to be a day off.

He added that the four-day calendar has shown no negative impact on students.

Historically the four-day school week was used during The Great Depression and in the 1970’s Arab Oil Embargo some schools implemented the four-day school week to save on heating and transportation costs Within the last 20 years states such as Utah, Hawaii, and Oklahoma have implemented four-day school calendars to deal with state budget issues. Currently over half of the school districts in Colorado use the four-day school week along with significant percentages of New Mexico, Idaho, South Dakota and Oregon. Recently New Mexico placed a freeze on adding any additional four-day districts until more research can be done. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently awarded a $1 million grant to the Rand Corporation to evaluate four-day school week policies in the United States that will investigate the long-term academic impact.