A growing number of school districts have turned to abbreviated weeks over the past two decades, sometimes in a bid to save money, other times to give themselves the upper hand in recruiting teachers, and sometimes to alleviate teacher burnout.
The change, in which schools often drop either Monday or Friday from class schedules, is thought by some to be a useful tool to give teachers more planning time and decrease student absences.
Some districts use the day off to offer supplemental instruction for struggling students, provide professional development opportunities for staff, or partner with community colleges on new course offerings.
The schedule also, in theory, reduces districts’ operating costs by trimming the number of days schools have to open their doors (depending on their specific arrangement) and transport students.
But in practice, the payoff is not always as clear-cut, according to a growing body of research on the effects of four-day weeks.
Most districts that have switched to the four-day schedule have experienced limited benefits with teacher recruitment and retention and limited savings. And researchers caution against changing the schedule in a way that cuts instructional time.
Here’s what we know about how common four-day schedules are, their efficacy, and levels of support among parents and educators. Use the links below to navigate to specific questions.
- How common are four-day school weeks?
- What effect do four-day school weeks have on students’ academic progress?
- Do four-day school weeks help or hurt kids in other, nonacademic ways?
- Do four-day school weeks help with staff recruitment and retention?
- Do four-day school weeks save schools money?
- Do parents support four-day school weeks?
How common are four-day school weeks?
The adoption of four-day weeks increased around 2008 as a number of mostly rural districts tried to cut costs during the Great Recession. But the rise in districts using four-day weeks has been particularly pronounced since the pandemic, and some larger districts in metropolitan areas have since adopted the schedule as well.
Four-day weeks have been adopted in more than 2,100 schools in 26 states as of the 2024-25 school year. That’s up from about 1,600 schools in 24 states six years before that. Despite the growth, the schools using a four-day week still represent a small share of the nation’s nearly 100,000 public schools and 13,000 school districts.
The schedule is more popular in some states than others.
In Colorado, nearly two-thirds of districts run on four-day schedules, along with individual schools elsewhere in the state, according to the Colorado School Finance Project. And more than a quarter of Missouri districts have four-day weeks.
But because the districts using four-day weeks still skew small and rural, they represent a smaller share of the student population.
What effect do four-day school weeks have on students’ academic progress?
When it comes to academic outcomes, research on four-day weeks has yielded mixed reviews. One study, out of Oregon State University in 2022, found significant differences in achievement between students in schools with four-day weeks and those with a traditional five-day schedule, with those on the abbreviated schedule lagging behind.
But when they dug deeper, the researchers found no significant differences in academic achievement between districts that used five-day schedules and those that used four-day schedules, as long as the districts with shorter weeks maintained a high or medium amount of instructional time.
Another analysis, published in February 2024 by Missouri’s state education department, found no significant difference in academic achievement in the state regardless of the length of the school week. A RAND Corp. study in 2023, meanwhile, found less growth in student achievement in districts with four-day weeks.
Do four-day school weeks help or hurt kids in any other, nonacademic ways?
A study of Oklahoma middle and high school students, published in 2022 in the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, tracked student performance over a dozen years and attendance and discipline over nine years, as 411 districts across the state adopted the four-day model for at least some of their schools.
After switching to four-day weeks, schools saw on average a 39% drop in bullying and a 31% decline in the number of fights and assaults on campus, the study found.
However, shortened schedules had no effect on discipline problems related to drugs or alcohol, vandalism, truancy, school bus misbehavior, or weapons at school. The study also found no significant difference in students’ SAT scores or attendance rates.
A separate study, published in 2021 in the Journal of School Health, found that students who attended school four days a week reported consuming more sugary drinks and less water and having access to fewer days of physical education. They also were more likely to report being food insecure and to report using drugs—specifically marijuana—than their peers attending school five days a week.
The study used self-reported data from students in grades 8-11 in Oregon between 2007 and 2015.
Do four-day weeks help with staff recruitment and retention?
Four-day weeks are commonly touted as a tool to help schools combat teacher burnout and attract new talent while retaining educators they already employ.
Two-thirds of teachers, principals, and district leaders who responded to an EdWeek Research Center survey in December 2023 said they’d be either slightly or much more willing to accept a job offer from a district with a four-day school week.
A 2021 RAND Corp. study of four-day school weeks in Idaho, New Mexico, and Oklahoma found that leaders in districts with the abbreviated schedule believed it gave them a competitive edge in recruitment and retention, with many reporting long-empty vacancies finally being filled and more job applications when there were openings.
In reality, the effect may be more muted.
In a recent study of schools in Texas—where nearly 200 districts had adopted the truncated schedule by the 2025-26 school year—Georgia State University economist Cade Lawson found that turnover fell about 2.7 percentage points in districts that moved to four-day weeks over the course of 17 years.
But Lawson said teacher retention remained a problem, with more than 1 in 5 teachers leaving each year in those districts both before and after the schedule changes.
In essence, the change helped, but by a modest amount.
The study also found that the schedule change did not attract an especially skillful set of teachers—there was no significant improvement in the education or experience levels of teachers working in districts with adjusted weeks.
A 2023 report examined one of the first metropolitan districts in the nation to adopt a four-day school week, the Brighton district outside of Denver. It concluded that larger districts that make the change could see a drop in teacher retention, student achievement, and local home values, at least in the short term.
The report estimates that switching to a four-day school week decreased the probability that teachers would return the next year by 3 percentage points.
And the impact was greater on midcareer teachers—those with five to 15 years of experience—who were 5 percentage points less likely to return to the district.
Do four-day school weeks save schools money?
Rural districts are most likely to adopt a four-day school week for budgetary reasons—specifically if their per-pupil transportation costs are high, according to one report. The idea is that stopping buses for an additional day can save fuel and delay some maintenance needs.
And some districts have made the switch in anticipation of saving on utilities and other facility expenses from shutting down buildings an additional day each week.
In reality, the cost savings are relatively small, research has found.
Districts operating on an abbreviated schedule generally save about 0.4% to 2.5% of their overall budget, according to a study by the Education Commission of the States.
The cost of new initiatives established to fill kids’ off days or to provide additional staff development largely offset any potential savings, the report said.
Do parents support four-day school weeks?
As part of their 2021 analysis of four-day weeks, RAND researchers asked parents of elementary students in Idaho, New Mexico, and Oklahoma how satisfied they were with the shortened schedule. Nearly three-quarters said they were very satisfied, and just 6% said they were either mildly or quite dissatisfied.
Parents of younger kids held those opinions despite the fact that about 90% of them reported that their children primarily spent the fifth day of the week at home. Less than 1% said their children were at home without adult supervision.
Support for four-day school weeks has also grown among the general public.
A 2023 PDK International poll showed that more than half of U.S. adults, 53 percent, said they back the concept. That was nearly twice the share of adults who supported the schedule two decades before.
