Examining the four-day school week, as more Idaho districts adopt it…

Tonight’s “Idaho Reports” looks at the expansion of the four-day school week in Idaho, as part of a joint reporting project between Idaho Reports and Idaho Education News. Among the findings of the project: Nearly 40 percent of Idaho’s school districts now have students on four-day school weeks, compared to just 1 percent of school districts nationwide; that’s 26,881 Idaho students, about 9 percent of all students in Idaho. While school districts largely made the switch to save money, savings have been meager, and there’s little data on how the change has affected student achievement, though some initial indicators aren’t promising. Many now say they like the four-day schedule for other reasons and don’t want to switch back; one Idaho district, Preston, voted this week to stay on the four-day schedule.

I join Jim Weatherby, Idaho EdNews reporters Clark Corbin and Kevin Richert, and Idaho Reports co-host Melissa Davlin to discuss the issue on tonight’s show;  it airs at 8. After it airs, you can watch it here online any time. It also re-airs Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Mountain time, 9:30 Pacific. And the full reporting project is available online at www.idahoednews.org .