How Does a Shorter School Week Affect Academic Performance? Evidence from Oklahoma’s Elementary Schools

• In Event: 3429 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 20. K-12 Interventions and Academic Achievement

Abstract

This study examines the effects of changing from a five-day to a four-day school week on academic achievement for students in public elementary schools in Oklahoma, a state which ranks high on poverty and 47th on educational quality compared across the 50 states. Yet since 2013, Oklahoma school districts have increasingly adopted the four-day school week in response to less state spending on education. We use clustered-regression analysis and a sample of 633 elementary schools from public-use Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) data to examine the effect on student’s academic achievement when elementary schools shifted from a five-day to a four-day school week over the period 2012 to 2016. This research finds a negative relationship between the change to a four-day school week and school report card scores, compared to schools that maintained a five-day school week. This result differs from similar studies in other states, highlighting the unique socioeconomic factors inherent to a state. Moreover, the Oklahoma shift to a four-day school week has been felt by rural children, who are already economically challenged, so this shift stands to widen the existing urban-rural, richer-poorer academic achievement gap.

Authors

• Melissa Maxey, University of Oklahoma

• Loretta Bass, University of Oklahoma