Story at a glance
- Schools have traditionally shortened weeks to save costs.
- The coronavirus pandemic disrupted the education landscape and forced schools to think outside the box to retain teachers and salvage student achievement.
- Although the teacher shortage pre-dates the pandemic by decades, the burnout felt by front line educators has led some districts to instill four-day weeks as an incentive to apply for openings and to stay.
A long-term nationwide teacher shortage, fueled by a dwindling pipeline and pandemic-related burnout, has led school districts around the U.S. to offer four-day school weeks. Some of these districts hope a shortened week will incentivize weary teachers to stay put.
But would a shortened week benefit educators in practice while limiting consequences for students? And is this enough to slow the exodus? Recent surveys show pandemic-induced stress is causing teachers to consider leaving the industry earlier than they expected.
A cross-industry analysis of professionals and stress co-authored by Seth Gershenson, an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University, found similarities in the stress levels and mental health of college-educated professionals.
“What we found is that everybody’s stressed and teachers are no better off, no worse off than other similar looking professionals. That was a little bit surprising at first, given the discussion and news attention that teachers got,” Gershenson told Changing America.
That was before the pandemic.
“There’s a little bit of evidence that teachers in particular might have had a bigger uptick in stress due to pandemic related events than other professionals,” Gershenson said. “Namely, because teachers have become embroiled in this broader political partisan debate about what curriculum should look like. And how to address current political events and how to address January 6, and the election and things like that in school.”
Schools traditionally shortened weeks to save costs. Then the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the education landscape and forced schools to think outside the box to retain teachers and salvage student achievement.
Before the pandemic, districts in at least 24 states moved to shortened school weeks to attract teachers. This represented a more than 600 percent increase since 1999, according to a Brookings Institution analysis.
And although the teacher shortage pre-dates the pandemic by decades, the burnout felt by front line educators has led some districts to use four-day instruction weeks as an incentive to apply for openings and stay in their positions.
Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, is skeptical that a four-day week would solve the challenges created by the nationwide shortage.
“A shortened workweek is not a ‘magic pill’ to solve the problem of educator shortages and, in some cases, could be wielded as an excuse by administrators not to invest in schools. Teachers want to be in school helping kids—with the conditions they need to succeed. Providing them with flexible schedules is useful, as is lowering class size,” Weingarten told Changing America.
“The problem has never been about working five days a week. It’s what happens during those days and the overwhelming lack of support and respect. If we don’t improve working conditions and compensate educators properly, the length of the workweek will not matter, and kids’ ability to recover and thrive will be wounded,” Weingarten concluded.
Nevertheless, a school board in Texas voted unanimously last month not only to adopt a four-day school week model, but also to give out retention bonuses to teachers and staff — a move Jasper Independent School District Superintendent John Seybold told Changing America was a product of collaboration with the community.
“We have seen a dramatic increase in applications since the board passed the incentives and the 4-day week calendar,” Seybold said. “As a school district we have to look out for our students. The best thing we can do for them is put the best possible teacher we can in their classroom.”
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There are pros and cons to the four-day strategy, Michael Hansen, chair of Governance Studies at Brookings Institution, told Changing America.
“There are studies that have looked at other alternative schedules, for example, a year around schedule for schools that have shown those kinds of alternative schedules do offer some kind of flexibility.”
“That does attract the teacher so it’s not unreasonable to think that the four-day school week is something that could attract some teachers.”
Yet some educators might also see this move in a negative light, he added. It could potentially prolong their work day as more time would be needed for adequate instruction, which could end up costing them family time.
Districts must also consider students’ needs when weighing a shift to shorter weeks.
“With a four-day school week, they’re just not getting as much instructional time. They’re not getting as much on a number of different dimensions,” Hansen continued. “They’re not getting as much as they’d like, or as much as we would expect them to in a typical school year – compared to peer schools nearby.”
Schools might mitigate some potential harm to students by adjusting schedules to include an appropriate amount of core instructional time, especially in math, reading and science.
Another dynamic to consider is how burnout affects an educator’s relationship with students. Like other front line jobs, Gershenson said, work performance depends on the relationship with the client — in this case, the students.
“Teachers are working with students, and they sort of co-produce with students. To get a good outcome they need buy in from the students as well,” he said. “And so that requires having good relationships and trusting relationships. And just like a teacher can have a bad day, a student can have a bad day.”
As for teacher retention, according to Gershenson, “working conditions matter.” This requires a two-pronged approach.
“At the organizational level, at the school level, having supportive principals is huge,” Gershenson said. “The other important thing is providing health care – health insurance that does include mental health as well as physical health supports.”
“That and the other big thing there is mindfulness training – just opportunities for teachers or professionals, any field to just relax and take some time away from work. And think about how to deal with their stress and to deal with their emotional exhaustion,” he added.
For four-day work weeks to effectively curb job stress for the nation’s teachers, they need to benefit their work-life balance.
“Really leveraging the four-day workweek means leveraging that extra day off, and it doesn’t have to be a full day off. But giving teachers time to unwind, giving teachers time to plan for the upcoming week, on their own terms on their own time schedule, that’s what could be really effective,” Gershenson said.
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