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Only a matter of time? The role of time in school on four-day school week achievement impacts

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  • Thompson, Paul N.
  • Ward, Jason

Abstract

Previous evidence has shown disparate achievement impacts of the four-day school week within specific states. This paper examines the effects of the four-day school week on achievement across 12 states to contextualize these four-day school week impacts nationally. We estimate these effects using a difference-in-differences design with data from the Stanford Educational Data Archive and a proprietary longitudinal national database of four-day school week use from 2009 to 2018. We find reductions in both math and English/language arts achievement when examining four-day school weeks nationally, but these aggregate effects appear to be masking important heterogeneity due to differences in overall time in school across districts. When stratifying four-day week districts into districts with low, middle, and high levels of time in school, we find statistically significant negative effects on math achievement for four-day school week districts with low time in school, but no statistically significant effects for four-day school week districts with middle or high time in school. Our findings suggest that maintaining sufficient overall time in school should be a key consideration for school districts contemplating four-day school week adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Thompson, Paul N. & Ward, Jason, 2022. "Only a matter of time? The role of time in school on four-day school week achievement impacts," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:86:y:2022:i:c:s0272775721001138
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102198
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    2. Morton, Emily & Thompson, Paul N. & Kuhfeld, Megan, 2024. "A multi-state, student-level analysis of the effects of the four-day school week on student achievement and growth," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Four-day school week; Time in school; Achievement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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