A Comparative Study of Student Achievement Between Four-Day School Week and Five-day School Week in Montana

Abstract

The ability for school districts in Montana to move to a four-day school week (4dsw) schedule began following the 2005 legislative session when the annual attendance requirement was changed from 180 days to 1080 hours. While movement to the four-day week was slow at first, since that time, as of 2023, 141 school districts in Montana were utilizing the 4dsw schedule. This comprehensive study of student achievement in the 4dsw schedule as compared to the five-day school week (5dsw) schedule involved a census of all Montana student achievement data from 2008-2023. The results indicated that student achievement suffered in the 4dsw schedule.