Nine Missouri school districts established four-day school weeks this school year. That brings the state’s total to about 160 — which is more than 30% of all school districts in Missouri.
The four-day school week first became an option for Missouri schools 14 years ago, when the legislature removed a minimum school day requirement and set a mandate of 1,044 hours of learning instead.
“Those first few years, there were very few adopters,” said Jon Turner, associate professor of education at Missouri State University. But recently, he added, “You've seen the numbers grow astronomically.”
Warren County R-III School District Superintendent Gregg Klinginsmith managed his district’s switch to a four-day school week in 2019. He said that both students and teachers love the new schedule and that teacher retention is up after four years.
“When we made the transition, we did a deep study on all the school districts in the state [and] what made an impact on student achievement, and time really was not the factor that impact[ed] student achievement,” Klinginsmith said. “What impacts student achievement the most … is having the best teachers and keeping them.”
Klinginsmith and Turner joined St. Louis on the Air to discuss how four-day school weeks help districts recruit and retain teachers, how they affect student well-being and learning and the unique opportunities many of these schools provide students on the fifth weekday when they aren’t in traditional classroom settings.
Listen to the conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production intern. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
