The four day school week : a case study examining three stages of implementation

Abstract

The four day school week is one option rural schools are considering when trying to preserve financial stability in a time of restricted budgets. This case study examines a rural school in the Midwest in its first year of implementing the four day school week. Staff was interviewed through focus groups, building administrators through email, and the district administrator was interviewed one-on-one. The following question drives this research: How did a small school district install and implement a four day school week as it relates to school leadership, students, parents, and community? A subquestion that will be looked at is: Did the school look at the four day week calendar as a type of school reform or did they view it as just a calendar change? A qualitative case study design is used for this research study. Interviews and document collection drive the data collection. This study will use the stages of implementation from National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) for the conceptual framework. Using the stages of implementation as the guide to analyze the findings allows for attention to data pertinent to this study.