A four-day school week is not working miracles for students or teachers in Colorado.
A new report from Summit County’s own Keystone Policy Center found no evidence this strategy improves learning. The report, titled “Doing Less With Less,” cites several national studies that found a shortened week might even harm students.
There is also no evidence it attracts and keeps teachers.
Cost cutting is one big reason schools will trim the week. Teacher retention is another. Says Keystone Policy Center, “student achievement is not even the top consideration.”
And yet, the strategy is growing. More than half of the 185 public school districts statewide have adopted four-day weeks in recent years, from 82 districts in 2016-2017 to 119 in 2022-2023.
But most Colorado students (86%) still go to school five days a week, including Summit School District. Four-day weeks are more popular with cash-strapped rural districts serving fewer than 1,000 students.
Keystone Policy Center experts want the state department of education to “take a long, hard look at this practice as soon as possible.”