If one Louisiana legislator has her way, school districts which don’t perform highly that contemplate but haven’t made the switch to a four-day a week of instruction will miss the boat – which, given the dynamics of which districts have chosen to pursue it, might be an idea whose time has come.
SB 82 by Republican state Sen. Beth Mizell would prohibit any school system that already doesn’t operate on a four-day a week from doing so unless it scores an ‘A’ in performance, requiring instruction five days a week (with holidays as exceptions). Only 15 have gone in this direction at present (one is planning to do that for academic year 2027). The minimum instruction time of over 63,000 minutes annually doesn’t change, although many districts have students spend more than that time in the classroom regardless of how many days a week incorporate instruction.
Should the bill become law, practically speaking that limits future conversions severely. This is as public schools become subject to a new scoring system stricter (and more realistic) than the one used through this year. Only 10 districts ranked as A as a result in simulation, but only nine would be eligible as Vernon Parish already has gone to the four-day schedule, so unless this changes 45 districts for now would be out of luck.
Over half are northeast of the Red River. Vernon has the highest population, as with this system rural parishes in per capita terms save the most money relative to more populated parishes.
There are other reasons why districts made the switch. Compressing instruction – typically a combination of longer school days and calendar – into four days weekly improves attendance, reduces disciplinary problems, and helps staff with more time for class preparation and professional development, adopters report anecdotally.
However, these reporters come from rural districts, where the impact may differ from that in larger systems. Indeed, one study found decreased attendance from the shorter week in urban districts, which translated into slightly lower mathematics achievement and on-time graduation.
Some districts assert academic performance has improved since adoption, as reflected in test scores. No study reviewing Louisiana districts, in comparing performance changes between four-day and five-day districts both before and after a district made the switch, has been publicized, but national studies indicate that, as long as instructional time remains the same, students in the more compressed environment do as well academically as their peers on the more traditional schedule that 95 percent of districts nationally follow.
However, administrators and school boards, even those who made the change, note the logistics in making the switch and making it work can be problematic. Further, even if popular among teachers, it appears not to impact their retention positively save exceptional instances. Finally, while increased flexibility for families may result from it, there are spillover effects outside of school. For example, an extra day off appears to increase criminal activity among juveniles because there is one less day of required supervision of youths.
It all may be question of which districts have selected this option already. It seems that rural districts potentially can experience greater benefits and fewer costs, and many already have jumped on the chance to switch. The bill assumes it’s a kind of luxury that only higher-achieving districts can afford, which as of now don’t include any urban districts (of the A-rated districts, the highest-populated in Ascension, although DeSoto and Livingston are semi-suburban and Central and Zachary are suburban enclaves in East Baton Rouge). As such, it might be an appropriate time, or perhaps add a year’s grace, to close the door.
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