IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rfa/jetsjl/v13y2025i3p1-10.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Comparative Study on Graduation Rates, Attendance, and Student Behavior Between Four-Day School Week and Five-day School Week in Montana

Author

Listed:
  • Liqin Tang
  • John Matt
  • Erica Allen
  • Bill McCaw

Abstract

More and more schools are interested in the four-day school week (4dsw) schedule. However, the existing research on the effects of the (4dsw) schedule in Montana is limited. This quantitative census study was conducted to address this gap and offer valuable insights to the literature about 4dsw schedule. The purpose of this quantitative census study was to investigate whether there are differences in student graduation, attendance, and behavior between the 4dsw schedule and the 5dsw schedule in Montana school districts. The research results revealed that schools utilizing the 5dsw schedule had a slightly higher overall graduation rate, compared to those that utilized the 4dsw schedule. The overall attendance rates in schools that utilized the 5dsw schedule were slightly higher compared to those of the 4dsw schedule. School districts utilizing a 4dsw schedule reported fewer incidents of fights compared to those with a 5dsw schedule. However, the data also showed higher incidents of alcohol and marijuana use among students in 4dsw districts compared to 5dsw districts. In summary, the 4dsw schedule in Montana school districts didn’t improve student graduation rates and attendance rates. Additionally, these schools had an increase of substance use. Based on the findings, the researchers of this quantitative census study rendered recommendations and encouraged school district policy makers to evaluate the broader trade-offs of implementing a four-day school week as a strategy for improving student attendance and graduation rates, offering a nuanced framework for informed decision-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Liqin Tang & John Matt & Erica Allen & Bill McCaw, 2025. "A Comparative Study on Graduation Rates, Attendance, and Student Behavior Between Four-Day School Week and Five-day School Week in Montana," Journal of Education and Training Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 13(3), pages 1-10, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:rfa:jetsjl:v:13:y:2025:i:3:p:1-10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://redfame.com/journal/index.php/jets/article/download/7696/6892
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://redfame.com/journal/index.php/jets/article/view/7696
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fischer, Stefanie & Argyle, Daniel, 2018. "Juvenile crime and the four-day school week," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 31-39.
    2. Paul N. Thompson & Emily J. Tomayko & Katherine B. Gunter & John Schuna, 2022. "Impacts of the four-day school week on high school achievement and educational engagement," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 527-539, September.
    3. D. Mark Anderson & Mary Beth Walker, 2015. "Does Shortening the School Week Impact Student Performance? Evidence from the Four-Day School Week," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 10(3), pages 314-349, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thompson, Paul N., 2021. "Is four less than five? Effects of four-day school weeks on student achievement in Oregon," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Thompson, Paul N., 2019. "Effects of Four-Day School Weeks on Student Achievement: Evidence from Oregon," IZA Discussion Papers 12204, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Valerie Bostwick & Stefanie Fischer & Matthew Lang, 2022. "Semesters or Quarters? The Effect of the Academic Calendar on Postsecondary Student Outcomes," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 40-80, February.
    4. Morton, Emily & Thompson, Paul N. & Kuhfeld, Megan, 2024. "A multi-state, student-level analysis of the effects of the four-day school week on student achievement and growth," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    5. Thompson, Paul N., 2019. "Does a Day Lost Equal Dollars Saved? The Effects of Four-Day School Weeks on School District Expenditures," IZA Discussion Papers 12698, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Thompson, Paul N. & Ward, Jason, 2022. "Only a matter of time? The role of time in school on four-day school week achievement impacts," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Graves Jennifer & McMullen Steven & Rouse Kathryn, 2018. "Teacher Turnover, Composition and Qualifications in the Year-Round School Setting," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(3), pages 1-27, July.
    8. Berthelon, Matias & Kruger, Diana & Lauer, Catalina & Tiberti, Luca & Zamora, Carlos, 2020. "Longer School Schedules, Childcare and the Quality of Mothers’ Employment: Evidence from School Reform in Chile," GLO Discussion Paper Series 525, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Derek Wu, 2020. "Disentangling the Effects of the School Year from the School Day: Evidence from the TIMSS Assessments," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 15(1), pages 104-135, Winter.
    10. Thompson, Paul N. & Ward, Jason, 2021. "Only a Matter of Time? The Role of Time in School on Four-Day School Week Achievement Impacts," IZA Discussion Papers 14461, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Fischer, Stefanie & Argyle, Daniel, 2018. "Juvenile crime and the four-day school week," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 31-39.
    12. Brandon Sheridan & Ben Smith & Erin Pleggenkuhle-Miles, 2017. "Short vs. long: cognitive load, retention and changing class structures," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 501-512, September.
    13. Murray, Alan T., 2016. "Assessing the impacts of traditional school year calendar start dates," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 28-36.
    14. Figlio, David & Holden, Kristian L. & Ozek, Umut, 2018. "Do students benefit from longer school days? Regression discontinuity evidence from Florida's additional hour of literacy instruction," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 171-183.
    15. Leonardo Rosa & Raphael Bruce & Natália Sarellas, 2022. "Effects of school day time on homicides: The case of the full-day high school program in Pernambuco, Brazil," Working Papers 16, Instituto de Estudos para Políticas de Saúde.
    16. Dills, Angela & Hernández-Julián, Rey & Rotthoff, Kurt W., 2016. "Knowledge decay between semesters," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 63-74.
    17. Delavande, Adeline & Del Bono, Emilia & Holford, Angus J. & Williams, Kevin, 2025. "Timetables, Attendance and Academic Achievement in Higher Education," IZA Discussion Papers 17979, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Jon Scott Turner & Kim Finch & Ximena Uribe-Zarain, 2018. "The Economics of a Four-Day School Week: Community and Business Leaders¡¯ Perspectives," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 5(2), pages 168-174, March.
    19. Timothy M. Diette & Manu Raghav, 2016. "Longer Classes Versus More Frequent Classes: Which Wins? Evidence from a Liberal Arts College," Working Papers 2016-03, DePauw University, School of Business and Leadership and Department of Economics and Management.
    20. Kevin P. Belanger & Angela K. Dills & Rey Hernández-Julián & Kurt W. Rotthoff, 2019. "Class Size, Course Spacing, and Academic Outcomes," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 301-320, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rfa:jetsjl:v:13:y:2025:i:3:p:1-10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Redfame publishing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.