Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Ainsworth, A. J., Penner, E. K., & Liu, Y. (2024). Less is more: The causal effect of four-day school weeks on employee turnover (EdWorkingPaper No. 24-1035). Annenberg Institute at Brown University. https://doi.org/10.26300/qgtj-mj51
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of Oregon’s four-day school week (4dsw) policy on employment and earnings and wages.
- The authors used a difference-in-differences design to estimate the impact of Oregon’s 4dsw policy on public school employment and teacher earnings, using Oregon Department of Education administrative records. They used a statistical model to compare changes in outcomes over time between districts that did and did not adopt a four-day school week.
- The study found that adoption of a four-day school week in Oregon was associated with statistically significant increases in teacher turnover both immediately after adoption and in years five through nine, and a statistically significant decrease in teacher salaries in the long term.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is moderate because it was based on a well-implemented non-experimental design. This means we are somewhat confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the four-day school week (4dsw) policy, but other factors might also have contributed.
Features of the Intervention
Four-day school week adoption has expanded nationally over the past two decades. Oregon was an early and widespread adopter, with four-day schedules used in the state since the 1980s and substantial growth in adoption over time. Districts or schools adopt the policy by switching from a five-day school week to a four-day school week schedule, typically by eliminating Friday or Monday each week and adding days to the yearly school calendar.
Features of the Study
The study used a two-stage difference-in-differences approach to compare changes in school employee turnover and teacher earnings over time between districts in Oregon that adopted a four-day school week and districts that did not. The study focuses on Oregon public school districts that adopted the schedule during the study window (2007-2023).
Because treatment status varied by district and year of policy adoption, the authors do not present a single fixed treatment vs control participant count. The treatment condition comprised employees in districts operating on a four-day schedule, and the comparison condition included employees in districts operating on a typical five-day per week schedule (including never-treated and not-yet-treated districts).
The authors used Oregon Department of Education administrative data for all public school employees. The authors demonstrated that the districts in the study displayed parallel trends before the policy. The authors conducted multiple subgroup analyses, including teachers and non-teaching staff, employees who changed districts versus left the profession altogether, and subgroups defined by demographic characteristics required by the protocol. For teacher analyses, the authors restricted the analytic sample to employees with more than 0.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) in a teaching position and excluded virtual charter schools and urban schools because no urban districts adopted a four-day schedule.
The two-stage difference-in-differences analysis first accounted for variation in adoption year and district and then included school-level characteristics. The authors omitted data for the two years before each district adopted the policy to guard against participants anticipating the policy implementation. Because of the staggered policy adoption among districts, the study defined immediate turnover based on whether an employee observed in year t remained in the same district the following year (t+1). The authors estimated effects in the immediate term (t+1) as well as the short-term (years 1-4) and long-term (years 5-9).
Findings
Employment
- The study found that adopting a four-day school week was associated with statistically significant increases in teacher turnover immediately after adoption (2.3 percentage points) and in the long term3.9 percentage points in years five through nine after adoption)
Earnings and wages
- The study found that adopting a four-day school week was associated with a statistically significant decrease in teacher salaries in the long term, with 4dsw district teachers earning approximately $3,200 less than their five-day counterparts at nine years after adoption.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The authors noted that four-day schedules vary across districts, and the study does not capture details such as which day was taken off, how daily hours changed, or how staff used the day off, which may limit interpretation of the mechanisms driving turnover. There is also potential for spatial spillover effects, such as increased turnover in nearby districts, though the authors controlled for distance between districts. Finally, since the authors could not distinguish between voluntary and involuntary exits, some turnover may reflect layoffs, but the authors contend that school-level controls, such as consistency of student enrollment, make this unlikely.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is moderate because it was based on a well-implemented non-experimental design. This means we are somewhat confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the four-day school week (4dsw) policy, but other factors might also have contributed.