More Idaho districts are moving to four-day weeks, but that doesn’t always mean fewer class hours

Carly Flandro, Idaho Ed News

(Idaho Ed News) — Every year, much Idaho districts and charters are adopting four-day weeks — but that doesn’t needfully mean students are spending less hours successful class. 

In immoderate cases, for illustration astatine Teton School District — which is switching to a four-day week for nan first clip this schoolhouse twelvemonth — students will walk much hours successful class. That’s because territory leaders lengthened nan schoolhouse time and added a week to nan calendar, according to Megan Bybee, a territory administrator.

State information shows that it’s not conscionable Teton — crossed Idaho, four-day weeks don’t ever correlate pinch little instructional time. 

It’s an important favoritism aft a legislative convention wherever lawmakers considered tying much-needed costs for schools to a request that existent five-day districts not driblet down to 4 days. 

Ultimately, nan dollars became tied to a much-less stringent requirement: that districts guarantee students walk a newly-established minimum of 152 days successful schoolhouse each year. Because nan mean number of days astatine four-day districts was 146, it meant adding astir a week to nan calendar.  That proviso kicks successful adjacent schoolhouse year.

Still, location were concerns: “I conscionable don’t cognize really our students compete nationally pinch states wherever kids spell to schoolhouse for a period much than our kids,” Kurt Liebich, a State Board member, said successful June. 

A March analysis by EdNews showed that past schoolhouse year, nan magnitude of days Idaho students spent successful people varied wide — from 140 schoolhouse days astatine a half-dozen agrarian schoolhouse districts, to 177 days successful Lewiston. That’s a quality of much than 7 afloat weeks, aliases astir 2 months.

But moreover amid pushback from legislators and authorities acquisition leaders, districts for illustration Teton are choosing four-day weeks for reasons ranging from attracting teachers to improving student attendance. 

The short weeks are “a perk to support group here,” Bybee said. In Driggs, wherever Teton School District is located, higher salaries successful adjacent Wyoming and expanding lodging prices make it difficult to enlistee and clasp teachers. 

Still, “it’s a immense displacement for our community,” she said. The territory has been moving pinch organization partners to guarantee students person options for wherever to walk their newly-free Fridays.

Concerns astir really susceptible students would walk that 5th weekday drove Jerome schoolhouse leaders to determine against a four-day week past winter. But it was a contentious determination that led to a teacher walk-out successful protest.

This schoolhouse year, 5 districts and 2 charters (one of which is new) person adopted four-day weeks, including Nampa School District — nan largest successful Idaho to shrink its schoolhouse week. 

With four-day weeks connected nan emergence and a caller schoolhouse twelvemonth starting, here’s a statewide look astatine really overmuch clip students will walk successful people this year. 

Students astatine 4 and five-day districts walk akin amounts of clip successful class, connected average

When comparing four-day districts and charters to their five-day counterparts, nan mean instructional hours for students successful grades 9-11, aliases nan oldest students astatine nan school, were adjacent — wrong a twelve hours. That’s a quality of little than 2 schoolhouse days crossed nan world year. 

When nan information is parsed to show accepted districts and charters pinch nan highest and lowest instructional hours for precocious schoolhouse students, akin trends emerge: 4 and five-day schools are conscionable arsenic apt to look connected each list. 

And ample gaps successful instructional hours beryllium moreover among five-day districts.

For example, precocious schoolhouse students will walk 970 hours successful people this twelvemonth astatine nan Coeur d’Alene aliases Kuna schoolhouse districts, aliases arsenic galore arsenic 1,194 astatine Boise School District. That’s a quality of much than 200 hours, aliases astir six schoolhouse weeks. 

Traditional districts pinch nan astir instructional time, grades 9-11

This is simply a half-and-half database of districts pinch five-day weeks, and those pinch four. 

*Pure instructional hours, not counting nan 22 hours of unit improvement that tin count toward instructional hr minimums. Read much astir instruction minimums here. 

Traditional districts pinch nan slightest instructional time, grades 9-11

Four districts pinch five-day weeks make this list. 

*Pure instructional hours, not counting nan 22 hours of unit improvement that tin count toward instructional hr minimums. Read much astir instruction minimums here. 

Charters pinch nan astir instructional time, grades 9-11

At slightest 5 of these schools connection distant aliases hybrid learning.

*Pure instructional hours, not counting nan 22 hours of unit improvement that tin count toward instructional hr minimums. Read much astir instruction minimums here. 

Charters pinch nan slightest instructional time, grades 9-11

Six of nan charters connected this database person five-day weeks. 

*Pure instructional hours, not counting nan 22 hours of unit improvement that tin count toward instructional hr minimums. Read much astir instruction minimums here. 

Instructional hours astatine caller four-day districts aliases charters

Idaho Education News information expert Randy Schrader contributed to this report. 

Originally posted connected IdahoEdNews.org connected August 21, 2024