CASA GRANDE, AZ — With students heading back to school, some are seeing benefits to a new schedule right now: four days a week.
The Casa Grande Elementary School District is going into its third year on the new schedule. Superintendent Adam Leckie says they’re seeing positive impacts so far.
One of the big reasons the board and district moved this direction is to help find solutions for staffing, as there is a shortage of educators. Leckie said this school year, they have no open positions for teachers but do have openings for classified staff such as food service workers, paraprofessionals and others.
“We just did a staff survey and over 75% really agreed with the four-day week as a driving factor in maintaining employment with us and continuing year over year. So, we’re seeing it pay off,” Leckie told ABC15.
The Cartwright Elementary School District in Phoenix also moved its staff to four days a week last school year after its students had been on the schedule for several years. A spokesperson for Cartwright told ABC15 they’re also seeing benefits to the schedule with fewer open positions in the district as well.
“We also know that there’s no one solution that’s going to solve the retention and recruitment issue we have in our profession,” Leckie added.
According to data from the Arizona Department of Education, the number of emergency certified teachers did go up after the change in the scheduling in the district, however, there could be other factors into play as well.
Child care could also be a big barrier with the schedule, however, Leckie said they’ve strengthened their partnerships with the Boys and Girls Club as well as another organization called the Casa Grande Alliance to help with child care for families who need it on that Friday they’re all out of school.
As for student achievement, Leckie said they are seeing slight improvements.
“I’m really proud to say that we’ve been making steady incremental progress in student achievement despite the move to a four-day week,” he said. “I think it’s been a benefit to us. It’s forced us to really prioritize what’s important to student learning.”
According to the district’s school letter grades from the first year to the second with the schedule, six of its schools bumped up and five remained the same.
Paz Lawton, a kindergarten teacher at Cottonwood Elementary, says they’re able to teach students the same material twice.
“I feel like the retention piece is a lot better because I can do a teach and then a reteach,” she said. “So, we have our first content lesson in the morning and then we can do another reteach in the afternoon.”
Lawton added that having that third day to recoup and rest has been better on her mental health, which in turn, she feels helps her with teaching students.
“Because I teach kindergarten, they’re our youngest learners especially. It’s their first time coming to school,” she continued. “It’s high energy, they need that engagement and having that extra day to relax, get myself together and also just plan and be more here, more present for everything we need to do as teachers.”
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It can be exhausting for kids with an average of two extra hours of school on a shorter week. Districts have to meet a minimum requirement of instructional minutes throughout a school year.
For second-grader Leighton, she said she comes back more excited to learn despite the long hours during the school week.
“I get more sleep and when I come back, I’m like, ‘Yay, this is so fun,’” she said.
Arizona State University Professor and founder of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, Paul Hill, says he’s been studying four-day school weeks across the country. The states he’s researched include Oregon, Idaho, Missouri and more; Arizona is not included in those studies.
He confirmed that more districts, nationwide, are moving to four days with about 2,100 schools in nearly 900 districts across the nation on that schedule from recent numbers.
As for student achievement, at least in the states they studied, it remained stagnant or fell.
In Arizona, only time will tell, but for right now, at least in the Casa Grande Elementary School District, they’re seeing success.
“We’re always making small tweaks and small changes that we are using to be responsive to the needs of our community,” Leckie said of any changes they’ve had to make since implementing the new schedule. “We haven’t really felt like we need to make big structural changes.”
