******************************
From Education Week [American Education's Newspaper of Record], Tuesday,
September 17, 2013, Volume 33, Issue 04, p.10 See
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/09/18/04fourdays.h33.html?tkn=WTCCrVPVdai8ogZeuIaYFR5NoQ%2Bt8kMnDWgf&cmp=clp-sb-ascd
******************************
Iowa District Puts Twist on Four-Day Week
By Alyssa Morones
As more districts adopt four-day weeks to
cope with budget crunches, one rural Iowa district says it is embracing the
practice for a different reason: to squeeze more time out of the school calendar
for student enrichment and teachers' professional development.
Starting this school year, students in the 550-student WACO community
school district will attend school Monday through Thursday, spending an hour
longer in class each day so that no classes will need to be held on Fridays.
Students in the district-which serves the communities of Wayland,
Crawfordsville, and Olds-have the option of attending remedial or enrichment
classes every other Friday or to enroll in college-level classes.
This new plan for the school year follows the June 2013 passage of
Iowa's House File 215, which officially defines the state's school year length
requirements in both days and hours. Under the new law, a full school year is
defined as having at least 1,080 hours, or an equivalent 180 days, of
instruction, but it's up to districts to inform the state of which metric they
will use to measure their school year-in hours or days.
Iowa isn't alone in this shift. More states nationwide are altering
their definitions of the school year from days to hours to allow more scheduling
flexibility, according to Kathy Christie, the chief of staff at the Education
Commission of the States, based in Denver. More than 20 states have districts
operating on four-day weeks, according to the Center for Evaluation and
Education Policy at Indiana University Bloomington.
Cost-Cutting Measure?
According to Ms. Christie, districts-especially those in rural
areas-are typically lured to the four-day week as a possible form of relief from
budget woes. They see the condensed schedule as a way to reduce costs associated
with busing and utilities.
In rural southern Idaho, for example, officials of the Wendell school
district say budget concerns are driving their district's move to a four-day
week this academic year. The 1,200-student district hopes that the new schedule
will cut down on transportation and utility costs and on student absences, since
schools receive much of their funding based on how many students attend.
Superintendent Gregory Lowe said: "With the cuts we had here in Idaho,
we thought this would lead to savings for our struggling budget, but we also
felt like it was a good thing for students."
However, like Iowa's WACO
district, Wendell isn't planning on letting its Fridays go to waste. It will use
those days for teacher professional development, to provide extra help for
students through a program called the Success Alliance, or for enrichment
activities, depending on the week.
The Fridays set aside for professional development will be focused on
instructional strategies for the Common Core State Standards.
Results in Practice
Meanwhile, another rural district, the MACCRAY school system,
which serves Maynard, Clara City, and Raymond in Minnesota, is entering its
fifth school year with a four-day week. For the most part, community feedback on
the switch has been positive, according to the 650-student district.
"Parents really like it," said Gary Simms, the principal of MACCRAY
Senior High School, "and because we have one less day, we save on busing, on
utilities, on maintenance time. We save a bit on food service."
The district decided to cut Monday out of its school week to reduce
absenteeism as well, since parents can now schedule doctor or other appointments
for their children on that day, and now absenteeism rates are "maybe a little
better than before," according to Mr. Simms.
While child care is one concern often brought up with four-day-week
districts, Mr. Simms said the MACCRAY district hasn't heard many
complaints.
"If parents know when they will need a babysitter, 99 percent are
responsible enough to get one," he said.
Even though belt-tightening is driving many of the switches to four-day
schedules, Ms. Christie of the ECS said that "cost-saving is not a reason to
make the switch."
That's because calculations of the savings produced by the schedule
change have shown them to be minimal, she said.
--------------------------------------------------------
Shortening the Schedule: Pros and Cons
Reducing the school week from five days to four doesn't
automatically translate to big savings, according to analysts.
Potential Benefits
* Increased attendance rates for teachers and students
* Boosts morale among teachers and students
* Additional time available for professional development and teacher
planning
* Savings on transportation and heating and cooling costs
* Decreased need for substitute teachers; savings in substitute- teacher
wages
* More efficient use of classroom time
* Fewer discipline problems
Potential Drawbacks
* Difficulty finding child care on fifth day
* Actual savings often less than anticipated savings
* May have negative effects on at-risk students and those with special
needs
* May be difficult for younger students
* Decreased wages for cafeteria workers and bus drivers, who lose one day
of work per week
Unknowns
* Effectiveness and appropriateness in large/urban school districts
* Impact on student achievement
Source: Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, Indiana University
Bloomington
------------------------------------------------------
Moreover,
the educational value of the time added on to each day, to account for the lost
day of instruction, hasn't been examined in depth. "Most of the research is
anecdotal," Ms. Christie said.
A report from Indiana University's CEEP says that there is no strong
evidence that a four-day week has either a positive or negative effect on
achievement.
In Iowa, the state education department appears to concur with Ms.
Christie's assessment of the fiscal benefits of such a change.
"The state has taken the stand that if a district is doing this just to
save money, that's not something they're OK with. Historically, they haven't
approved those calendars," said WACO Superintendent Darrell Smith. "And I'm OK
with that. Education shouldn't be about money."
Looking to Improve
Though WACO wasn't the first district in Iowa to make the
request to the state for such a schedule change, it was the first to gain
approval, largely because the district's motivation has not been
budget-based.
"In fact, it could end up costing us money," said Mr. Smith.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires that districts make
"adequate yearly progress" on state academic tests. But, Mr. Smith said, "when
we looked at our data, it was flat."
So the district decided a four-day week might offer an opportunity to
improve learning through additional assistance and educational enrichment
opportunities for students and professional development for teachers.
For 13 Fridays throughout the school year, beginning this week,
students in all grades will have the opportunity to attend a half-day, when all
teachers will be on hand for office hours, during which students can get
remedial tutoring or opportunities for credit recovery.
For students seeking an additional challenge, the district's schools will
also offer enrichment classes, such as music, engineering, or exploration
science classes, on those Fridays or will allow for concurrent enrollment
through the local community college, giving students the opportunity to acquire
college credits.
All other Fridays will be used for professional development, allowing
teachers time to meet with fellow department members and collaboratively plan
their lessons, or learn how to bring technology into their classrooms.
"What we're looking at is the opportunity to change the way our
teachers teach," said Mr. Smith. "We're really interested in using technology as
an instructional tool, and in putting it in the hands of kids. But we have to
get our teachers ready first."
As of last week, 95 percent of WACO's students had expressed interest in
coming into school for the Friday programs.
Mr. Smith said the district may use the time to bone up on computerized
textbooks to develop more flexible curricula and digital assessments that will
give teachers better feedback on what their students are learning and what
knowledge they're still lacking.
"We don't want to waste time teaching students what they already know.
We want to teach what they don't know," he said.
The WACO district plans to follow the schedule for at least three years to
fully weigh its effectiveness based on student results from state and district
assessments and teacher feedback
"[This plan] puts everybody on the same wavelength," Mr. Smith said. "It
takes everybody working toward the same thing to make something
work."
-------------------------------------
Coverage of more and better learning time is supported by a grant from
the Ford Foundation at www.fordfoundation.org. Education Week retains sole
editorial control over the content of this coverage.
**************************************
--
Jerry P. Becker
Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction
Southern
Illinois University
625 Wham Drive
Mail Code 4610
Carbondale, IL
62901-4610
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903
[H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: jbecker@siu.edu
